1. TACL-3 Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language
By: Dr Kersting

2. TACL-3 Written by Elizabeth Carrow-Woolfolk Developed in 1965
Last Revised in 1999

3. Purpose
It provides an inventory of grammatical forms for observing a child’s auditory- comprehension and helps identify individuals having receptive language disorders.
The TACL-3 is used for identifying a subjects language problems, planning intervention, monitoring progress, and parent communication.
It is also an excellent tool for use in research studies

4. Description
It measures the literal meaning of words, grammatical morphemes, and syntactic constructions, within a specific linguistic environment and in contrast to related grammatical structures.
Test ages 3.0 to 9.11
Test contains 139 items
grouped into three subtest

5. Description continued
Subtest include
Vocabulary
Grammatical morphemes
Elaborated Phrase
Each item consist of three color drawings
One picture illustrates the meaning of the word or phrase being tested
The other two pictures illustrate a semantic or grammatical contrast to the stimulus
Or in some cases, one picture illustrates a contrast to the stimulus and the other is a decoy

6. Standardization
Norms based on 1102 normal developing children , ages 3.0 to 9.11, from 24 states.
When standardizing this test the following were considered:
Geographic area
Age
Gender
Race
Ethnicity
Disability status
Education of Parents

7. Reliability
Validity and Reliability was based on the results from 991 normal developing children, 66 with speech and language disorders, and 33 with learning disabilities.
Test-retest reliability and Inter-scorer reliability was used on TACL-3 and for all three subtest.

8. Validity The TACL-3 has Content-Description Validity
Construct-Identification Validity

9. Administration The examiner reads the stimulus out loud.
“Show me _____”
The subject is directed to point to which picture best represents the meaning.
No oral responses are required
Stimulus is given only once, except for children 5 years and younger.
FOR CHILDREN 5 AND UNDER: If child does not respond in 10 seconds, give the stimulus a second time.

10. Administration continued
If subject does not correctly answer one of the three example items, then test should not be administered
Test begins after one example is answered correctly
Subtest should be administered in order
Always begin with the first item of each subtest and test until ceiling is achieved or final item is administered
Ceiling is achieved when child misses three items in succession

11. Administration continued
Test should be administered in a non-distracting environment
Quiet room, comfortable furniture, good lighting, ect.
Give Breaks when needed
The test is not timed, they can work at their own pace
Test does not have to be administered in one setting
Stop test if client tires or seems disinterested, continue administration later

12. Administration continued
Be aware of fatigue, nervousness, attention, and the child’s attitude towards taking the test.
Make a note of these on the score sheet, they could affect results
Examiner should consistently praise and encourage the examinee
Test administration takes minutes

13. TEST DEMONSTRATION

14. Scoring Give a 1 for correct, 0 for incorrect
Record the raw score for each subtest on the score sheet.
Use appendix A to find the percentiles ranks and standard scores for each subtest.
Use appendix C to convert scores into age equivalences.
Use the sum of the standard scores from each subtest in appendix B to find the quotient score and overall percentile rank.

15. Scoring continued
Over all age equivalence can be calculated using the following formula
AE= (age in months) (TACL-3 quotient)
100

16. Writing Goals
The client will increase the use of adjectives in daily conversation by 20%.
The client will increase the use of pronouns in conversation by 30%.
The client will begin to use different types of sentences (negative, interrogative, active and passive voice, etc.) 30% of the time

17. Why chose this test It is quick and easy to administer
It is simple and easy to score
Subject is not required to make verbal responses
It allows the examiner to make diagnostic interpretations
The pictures are universal, rather than cultural bound depictions of the items and events

18. THE END