The Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities–Third Edition (ITPA-3) is an effective measure of children's spoken and written language. All of the subtests measure some aspect of language, including oral language, writing, reading, and spelling. The content in this edition is consistent with Charles Osgood's original communication model and also with the adaptations of that model made by Samuel Kirk, James McCarthy, and Winifred Kirk. Chief among the assumptions underlying this model are:
- language is an important part of a child's development,
- the essential components of language are measurable,
- these language components can be improved through instruction, and
- instruction in language is relevant to success in basic school subjects, particularly reading and writing.
The ITPA-3 can primarily help you:
- determine children's specific strengths and weaknesses among linguistic abilities;
- document children's development in language as a result of intervention programs;
- identify children with general linguistic delays in the development of spoken and written language;
- contribute to an accurate diagnosis of dyslexia (adequate spoken language with poor word identification and spelling skill), using the oral language/written language discrepancy score;
- clarify the aspects of language that are difficult for a particular child (e.g., phonology, syntax, semantics);
- identify specific strengths and weaknesses in language to assist with the development of appropriate instructional goals, and
- differentiate between children with poor phonological coding (ability to read and spell phonically regular pseudowords) and those with poor orthographic coding (ability to read and spell words with an irregular element). Furthermore, the Sight-Symbol processing and Sound-Symbol processing scores help identify deficits in written symbol processing, which can aid in planning appropriate strategies and accommodations.
SUBTESTS–Spoken Language
- Spoken Analogies: The examiner says a four-part analogy, of which the last part is missing. The child then tells the examiner the missing part. For example, in response to "Birds fly, fish _____," the child might say, "swim."
- Spoken Vocabulary: The examiner says a word that is actually an attribute of some noun. For example, the examiner may say, "I am thinking of something with a roof," to which the child might respond, "house."
- Morphological Closure: The examiner says an oral prompt with the last part missing. For example, the examiner says, "big, bigger, ___," and the child completes the phrase by saying the missing part, "biggest."
- Syntactic Sentences: The examiner says a sentence that is syntactically correct but semantically nonsensical (e.g., "Red flowers are smart"). The child repeats the sentence.
- Sound Deletion: The examiner asks the child to delete words, syllables, and their phonemes from spoken words. For example, the examiner might ask the student to say "weekend" without the "end."
- Rhyming Sequences: The examiner says strings of rhyming words that increase in length, and the child repeats them (e.g., "noon," "soon," "moon"). Written Language
- Sentence Sequencing: The child reads a series of sentences silently and then orders them into a sequence to form a plausible paragraph. For example, if the following three sentences were rearranged in B, C, A order they would make sense: A. I go to school. B. I get up. C. I get dressed.
- Written Vocabulary: After reading an adjective (e.g., "A broken ____"), the child responds by writing a noun that is closely associated with the stimulus word (e.g., "vase" or "mirror").
- Sight Decoding: The child pronounces a list of printed words that contain irregular parts (e.g., "would," "laugh," "height," "recipe").
- Sound Decoding: The child reads aloud phonically regular names of make-believe animal creatures (e.g., Flant, Yang).
- Sight Spelling: The examiner reads aloud irregular words one by one in a list. The child is given a printed list of these words, in which the irregular part of the words and one or more phonemes are missing. He or she writes in the omitted part of the words. For example, the examiner says, "said," the child sees s___d, and he or she writes in the missing letters, "ai."
- Sound Spelling: The examiner reads aloud phonically regular nonsense words, and the child writes the word or the missing part.
COMPOSITE SCORES
To enhance the clinical and diagnostic usefulness of the ITPA3, the subtests can be combined to form 11 composites. These composites are:
Global Composites
- General Language Composite: Formed by combining the results of all 12 subtests. For most children, this is the best single estimate of linguistic ability because it reflects status on the widest array of spoken and written language abilities.
- Spoken Language Composite: Formed by combining the results of the six subtests that measure aspects of oral language. The subtests assess oral language's semantical, grammatical, and phonological aspects.
- Written Language Composite: Formed by combining the results of the six subtests that measure different aspects of written language. The subtests assess written language's semantic, graphophonemic, and orthographic aspects. All subtests that involve graphemes (printed letters) to any degree in reading, writing, or spelling are assigned to this composite.
Specific Composites
- Semantics Composite: Formed using the results of the two subtests that measure the understanding and use of purposeful speech.
- Grammar Composite: Formed using the two subtests that measure grammar used in speech (one measures morphology, the other, syntax).
- Phonology Composite: The two subtests that make up this composite measure competency with speech sounds, including phonemic awareness. One subtest involves deleting parts of words, and the other involves recalling strings of rhyming words.
- Comprehension Composite: The results of the two subtests that measure the ability to comprehend written messages (i.e., to read) and to express thoughts in graphic form (i.e., to write) make up this composite.
- Spelling Composite: The results of the two subtests that measure spelling form this composite.
- SightSymbol Processing Composite: The two subtests in this composite measure the pronunciation and spelling of irregular words. A part of these words has to be mastered by sight because it does not conform to the most common English spelling rules or patterns (e.g., thumb).
- SoundSymbol Processing Composite: The two subtests in this composite measure the pronunciation and spelling of pseudowords (phonetically regular nonwords). These nonwords conform to the standard English phoneme-to-grapheme correspondence rules involved in pronouncing printed words or spelling spoken words.
NEW FEATURES
The ITPA-3 has been improved in the following ways:
- All ITPA-3 subtests now measure linguistic abilities, both spoken and written.
- New subtests have been developed to be appropriate for elementary schoolage children.
- Evidence is provided to show that the basic principles in the test model are still current.
- New normative information was collected during the years 1999 and 2000.
- The normative sample reflects the population characteristics of the United States for 1999 and projected for the year 2000 relative to ethnicity, race, gender, disability status, geographic region, parental education, rural/urban residence, and family income.
- The normative data have been stratified for the categories listed in #5.
- Internal consistency, stability, and interscorer reliability for all subtests and composites are high enough to allow ITPA-3 scores to be used as the basis for making clinical judgments (i.e., rs greater than .90).
- Validity evidence shows that all ITPA-3 subtests are useful for measuring both spoken and written language.
- Studies showing the absence of gender, ethnic, and racial bias have been included.
- Evidence is provided to show that the test is reliable and valid for specific gender, ethnic, and racial groups, as well as for a general population.
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