Developing Tests of Grammar and Phonology
The basic research testing the RDDR hypothesis has made clear the need for the development of a comprehensive syntactic test battery for assessing language impairment. So far, our investigations have resulted in the development of three tests of syntax as well as a non-word test of phonology, which are now used by researchers investigating SLI (e.g., Bishop, 1997, et al., 2000), William's syndrome (Clahsen & Almazan, Cognition, 1999), neurologically impaired adults (Ullman) and dyslexic subjects (Ramus, work in progress). Two of the syntactic tests have been translated into 6 languages. The increasing requests by clinicians for these tests, which target specific aspects of linguistic functioning, highlight the need to further develop such targeted language tests for general clinical use.
We are currently developing a five-seven minute screening test for grammar and phonology (The Grammar and Phonology Screening test - GAPS) to assess "school-readiness" that is, whether children have the necessary grammatical language ability and pre-reading skills for starting school.
