Ca. Riccio et al., USE OF THE DIFFERENTIAL ABILITY SCALES (DAS) SPECIAL NONVERBAL COMPOSITE AMONG YOUNG-CHILDREN WITH LINGUISTIC DIFFERENCES, Journal of psychoeducational assessment, 15(3), 1997, pp. 196-204
The Differential Ability Scales (DAS) was administered to young childr
en (ages 3 to 6) to determine the appropriateness of the instrument wi
th children with linguistic differences. Specifically, the Special Non
verbal Composite (SNC) of the DAS was investigated for children with l
inguistic differences and children who speak English as their first la
nguage. The ability of the SNC to differentiate children with linguist
ic differences as opposed to more global developmental delays was also
of interest. The children who participated in the study were grouped
as: (a) no identified concern, English as primary language (control);
(b) identified as having Specific Language Impairment (SLI); (c) ident
ified as Deaf/Hearing Impaired (Deaf/HI); (d) identified as Developmen
tally Delayed (DD); or (e) no identified develop mental concern, Engli
sh as a Second Language/Limited English Proficiency (ESL/LEP). Childre
n in the SLI, Deaf/HI, and DD groups had been identified previously by
their school district, local Speech and Hearing Clinic, or other agen
cy. Children in the ESL/LEP group were from a variety of cultural back
grounds and spoke minimal English. Results indicate that SNC scores ob
tained for children in the ESL/LEP group were comparable to those obta
ined by the control group. Children in the SLI and Deaf/HI groups obta
ined scores lower than those of the control and ESL/LEP groups; howeve
r, their scores were significantly higher than those obtained by the c
hildren in the DD group. Implications for the use of the SNC in the as
sessment of young children with linguistic differences are discussed.