Social Language Assessments for Your Middle and High School Students

Social Language is SO very difficult to assess. I’ve found that students often know how to “answer” questions but not apply the concepts in real life.  However, it’s also great to have some hard data when it comes to social language so I set out to create assessments that would give me a snapshot of strengths and weaknesses in this area. I created grades K-5 a while back and now can also assess my older students!

The term “curriculum-based assessment” (CBA) simply means measurement that uses “direct observation and recording of a student’s performance in the local curriculum as a basis for gathering information to make instructional decisions”(Deno, 1987, p. 41). I would like to specify upfront that no, these do not include cut-off scores or values. Neither are these assessments norm-referenced tests. Because social language is so complex, these tests rely heavily on your clinical judgment as a trained therapist.

Instead, Curriculum-Based Assessments provide a picture of what the child’s strengths and weaknesses based on what they are expected to do in their grade-level. I used the Common Core Standards as a guide for what students are expected to do in each grade level as it relates to social interaction. (for more information, see www.corestandards.org).
The main CCSS you will see addressed in this packet include the following: SL1, SL4, SL6, and L5.

This packet comes with one assessment for middle school students and one assessment for high school students. These assessments gather data on the following areas and use real life stock photos:
♦eye contact
♦turn-taking
♦active listening
♦participating in group work
♦literal vs. nonliteral
♦initiating and maintaining conversations
♦speech adaption to various conversation partners

I find these especially helpful during a student’s first week in speech/language therapy or prior to writing a student’s IEP. They provide a picture of how my students are performing on each standard and what areas to target. Click to check them out in my shop!

If you REALLY love assessing, I added them to my Curriculum-Based Assessment Bundle to save you money!