Preschool Language Scales, Fifth Edition - Australian and New Zealand Language Adapted Edition

The PLS-5 is a comprehensive developmental language assessment, providing you with reliable and trusted information about language skills for children up to 7 years 11 months.

The PLS-5 is an interactive, play-based assessment featuring:

• Progress tracking using Growth Scores
• Items to address a wider variety of early play behaviours
• Better elicit target responses
• Streamlined administration with minimised transitions between the play and picture pointing tasks
• Colourful instructions to engage children
• The brief Articulation Screener, enabling targeting of multiple phonemes within words
• More plastic manipulatives (including Mr. Bear!) so they can be wiped clean after each administration

(U.S. kit is pictured)

Content & Administration

• Administer PLS-5 to test a full range of language skills across the developmental language spectrum
• Link the Home Communication Questionnaire items directly to test tasks to serve as a baseline for testing. This frees testing time for observing natural interactions between parents and children from Birth–2:0.
• Address the needs of children up to 8 years of age who have severe, persistent deficits such as autism or severe developmental delays

Use PLS-5 to:

• Target interaction, attention, vocal/gestural behaviours, and different levels of play for children from Birth to 2:11
• Assess preschoolers with new items for letter naming and book handling, and updated school readiness skills
• Target language skills that tap Theory of Mind and emergent literacy skills for 6- and 7-year-olds
• Assess children at age 7 with new language tasks such as assessing use of irregular plurals and synonyms, constructing sentences using two or three target words in the sentence, and answering questions about a story

PLS-5 Items: Changes from PLS-4 during U.S. Development

Features & Benefits

• NEW! Track progress using Growth Scores to monitor a child’s skills from Birth through to 7:11
• Address a wider variety of early play behaviours
• Better elicit target responses due to test item modifications that are based on examiner feedback
• Minimise transitions between the play and picture pointing tasks now that test items with manipulatives are grouped to streamline administration
• Engage children with the new Picture Manual featuring large, colourful illustrations
• Target multiple phonemes within words using the brief Articulation Screener, which now includes picture stimuli
• Many of the manipulatives are plastic (including Mr. Bear!) so they can be wiped clean after each administration

Psychometric Information

• 1,400 children participated in the standardisation normative sample, collected in more than 45 states in the United States
• Norms are reported for 3-month intervals for children Birth to 11 months and 6-month intervals for ages 12 months through to 7 years, 11 months
• Clinical studies include a developmental delay study and three language disorder studies (children with receptive language disorder, expressive language disorder, and both receptive and expressive disorder)
• Case studies include children identified as high risk (environmental risk) and children identified with autism
• Multiple reviews for bias were conducted throughout the test development. Nationally recognised U.S. experts in assessment and bias issues conducted a thorough review of test items and art. An additional sample of African American and Hispanic children were tested to conduct the statistical analysis of bias.
• Split half reliabilities range from .80 to .97. Sensitivity for the Total Language score is .83; and specificity is .80.

Materials

In addition to the Examiner's Manual, Administration Scoring Manual, Picture Manual, Record Forms, and Home Communication Questionnaire, the following manipulatives are needed for administration:

 

The following resources are available for PLS-5.

• PLS-5 Norms in 1-Month Increments for Children Ages 2:6 to 2:11 years