Speech and Language

As Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs) at the California School for the Blind, we address the communication needs of students with visual impairment (VI). Working closely with the student's educational team, we provide assessment, therapy and consultation for disorders involving:

• Expressive and Receptive Language
• Social/Pragmatic Language
• Speech Articulation
• Oral Motor Skills
• Speech Fluency
• Feeding/Swallowing
• Aural Rehabilitation

Speech Language Assessment Resources

As speech language pathologists (SLPs) working with students with visual impairment (VI), we are continually learning about the role of vision in speech-language and social communication development, as well as working to develop effective assessment, instructional strategies, and facilitative techniques.

Few tests are standardized on a population with visual impairment and many depend on pictures or other visual stimuli that are inaccessible to our students. Enlargement, in the case of low vision, may seem appropriate, but can often distort and confuse images rather than making them accessible. While we are providing a list of standardized tests/subtests that do not rely on visual stimuli on this website, we strongly recommend the inclusion of language samples, non-standardized measures, and dynamic assessment* in a speech language evaluation.

Please call or email one of the CSB speech language pathologists for additional assessment information that may be more specific to your student's age, cognitive level, and visual impairment:

Vic Trierweiler, MA, CCC-SLP
CSB Student Services
510-936-5589
vtrierweiler@csb-cde.ca.gov

Tamar Solomon, MS, CCC-SLP
CSB Student Services
510-936-5549
tsolomon@csb-cde.ca.gov

Speech-Language Tests/Subtests Without Visual Stimuli

Boehm-3 K-2, Test of Basic Concepts, Third Edition: Tactile Edition Kit
Object adaptation of the Boehm-3, available through American Printing House for the Blind

Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals - Fifth Edition (CELF-5)
Subtests: Understanding Spoken Paragraphs, Recalling Sentences, Word Classes (ages 11-21 only), Word Definitions

Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language, Second Edition (CASL-2)
Subtests: Antonyms, Synonyms, Grammaticality Judgment, Idiomatic Language, Nonliteral Language, Meaning from Context, Double Meaning, Inference (ages 11-21 only), Pragmatic Judgment (ages 8-21 only)

Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing-Second Edition (CTOPP-2)

Test of Auditory Perceptual Skills-Fourth Edition (TAPS-4)

Test of Language Development: Intermediate - Fourth Edition (TOLD-I:4)
Subtests: Sentence Combining, Word Ordering, Relational Vocabulary, Morphological Comprehension, Multiple Meanings

Test of Verbal Conceptualization and Fluency (TVCF)
Subtests: Categorical Fluency, Letter Naming

The Expressive Language Test- 2
Subtests: Subtest A: Sequencing, Subtest B: Metalinguistics - Defining, Subtest C: Metalinguistics - Generating Examples, Subtest D: Grammar and Syntax, Subtest E: Defining Categories

The Word Test-2: Adolescent

The Word Test-3: Elementary

* Dynamic assessment is an evidence based Test-Teach-Retest procedure that combines both assessment and teaching processes. This type of assessment allows the examiner to use intentional questions and cues to support language learning within meaningful events as opposed to measuring specific skills on a decontextualized standardized test. Using dynamic assessment, the examiner is able to differentiate between independent and assisted functioning by observing the student's learning processes, strategies, and capacities for change with scaffolding.