Receptive-Expressive Emergent Language Scale (REELS)

•by Kenneth R. Bzoch, Richard League, et al

•infants from birth through 36 months

•Extended REELS (3 to 7 years)

•3 scores

•Receptive Language Age (RLA)

•Expressive Language Age (ELA)

•Combined Language Age (CLA)

•Individually administered

•Hand scored

•approximately 10 minutes for administration

•items derived from patterns of normative language development among children from birth to 36 months

1
 REELS

• scoring is based on information by an informant

• Uses observational information reported by

parents or other caregivers to identify
provisionally any major receptive and expressive
language problems in infants and toddlers up to
3 years of age.
 REELS
• REELS can be administrated by any one who is reasonably competent in the

administration of assessment devices in Language, Education, in the administration

of assessment devices in Language, Education, Psychology, or a related discipline.

• Interviewers should be able to put informants at ease and should be

knowledgeable about the REELS-scales

• Interviewer must be thorough with every item orally before administering REELS
 Administration
• The chronological age establishes the initial interview items as
those in the interval below the chronological age on receptive scale.

• the first part of the conversation will focus on what the child
appears to understand when spoken to or when near someone who
is taking in the environment (receptive language).

• Only later will the interview focus on how the child vocalizes or now
speaks(expressive language)
 Purpose & Population

• a diagnostic test using information from primary

care givers to assess an infant or toddlers language
abilities.
• most easily applicable to children with English as
their primary home language , can be adapted to
other languages.
 Structure
• at first year of life – items arranged in one
months interval
• at second year of life – items arranged in 2
months interval
• at third year of life – items arranged in 3
months interval