ACQ Vol 10 No 1 2008

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Ethical Practice: PERSONAL CHOICE or moral obligation?
ACQuiring knowledge in speech , language and hearing, Volume 10, Number 1 2008 13
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Williams, M. L. (1982).Validation of an early language mile­
stone scale in a high risk population. Pediatrics, 70(5), 677–683.
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development from 0–2 years: Data from the Early Language in
Victoria Study (ELVs) . Paper presented at SPAA Conference,
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children: systematic evidence review for the US Preventive
Services Task Force. Paediatrics 117(2)(February): e 298–319.
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Zimmerman, I. L, Steiner, V. G., & Pond, R. E. (1979).
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ELM-2 means the nature of the communication disorder and
its severity can be established quickly without prolonging the
initial assessment. This is especially useful when meeting
with very active toddlers with short attention spans. The
ELM-2 has also been useful as a quick screen of expressive
language ability. While thirteen of the children referred for
expressive language difficulties failed the expressive section
of the ELM-2, the one child who passed had been referred for
speech difficulties so the ELM-2 was efficient for expressive
language screening.
The test form itself, while visually dense, helps emphasise
to parents the importance of critical milestones for early
language development – for example, black bands on the test
form indicate when 90% of children have mastered particular
milestone. The Visual section of the ELM-2 has been helpful
in identifying children with autism as it contains items such
as imitating gesture games and response to facial expressions.
Two children with percentiles less than two were admitted
into special education facilities on the suspicion of autistic
spectrum disorder and two were admitted with speech-
language impairment. Coplan (1993) asserts that the ELM-2
can assist in distinguishing language disorder from intellectual
impairment and autism spectrum disorder, and adds that
though the test is not “definitive for specific developmental
disabilities … patterns of failure may suggest a specific
developmental diagnosis” p. 77). Formal developmental
testing should then be carried out.
Regarding the auditory receptive section of the ELM-2, six
children passed this section. Of these, it has been possible to
test two with either the PLS–4 (Zimmerman, Steiner & Pond,
2002) or the PLAI–2 (Blank, Rose & Berlin, 2003) soon after.
Though this is a small sample, age-appropriate receptive
language functioning was confirmed.
Conclusions
Despite some reservations concerning sample size and age of
test norms, the author has been using the ELM-2 since 2004
and has confidence this test, especially in the hands of a
speech pathologist, will correctly identify normally develop­
ing children and those with speech and language delays.
Without extensive knowledge about early language develop­
ment, other professionals may need some guidance though
the manual instructions are specific.
For the author’s purposes which have so far included
screening toddlers 18 months – 3 years in an early childhood
centre (using the pass/fail method) and as part of formal
assessment of high-risk toddlers (using the point-score
method), the ELM-2 has proven to be a useful and valid
procedure for this population.
References
Bayley, N. (1969). Bayley scales of infant development. New
Work: Psychological Corporation.
Black, M. B., Freeland, C. A. B., Nair, P., Rubin, J. S., &
Hutcheson, J. J. (1988). Language screening for infants prone
to otitis media. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 13, 423–433.
Blank, M., Rose, S. A., & Berlin, L. J. (2003). The Preschool
Language Assessment Instrument-2. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
Bzoch K. R., & League, R. 1971. Receptive–Expressive
Emergent Language Test. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
Bzoch, K., League, R., & Brown, V. (2003) Receptive and
Expressive Emergent Language Test (3rd ed.; REEL-3). Austin,
TX: PRO-ED.
Coplan, J. (1983). Early Language Milestone Scale. Tulsa, OK:
Modern Education Corp.
Coplan, J. (1993). Early Language Milestone Scale (2nd ed.).
Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
Correspondence to:
Katherine Osborne
12 Smugglers Place
Runaway Bay, Qld 4216
phone: 07 5528 9357
email:
Katherine Osborne is a speech pathologist working in
the Gold Coast Qld. She worked for Education Qld for 12
years before commencing a private practice which has
been operating for the last 10 years. She has a keen
interest in early intervention and prevention. Katherine
assists PRO-ED (Australia) at SPAA national conferences
each year.