Abstract:
The Texas-Acevedo Screening of Speech and Language (TASSL) is an English/Spanish articulation screening test developed by the Texas Department of Health for children from 3 to 6 years of age. The purpose of the TASSL is to identify children with possible speech or language deficits and may be administered by non-professionals who have completed a training workshop conducted by a representative of the Texas Dept. of Health. After preliminary identification using the TASSL, children are referred to certified speech/language pathologists for in-depth testing. The test is administered individually in the child's primary language, but words in both languages may be elicited for comparison in bilingual children. The test materials are 18 pictures of common objects which test 31 sounds in English and 28 sounds in Spanish. A list of acceptable ethnic variations may be used in scoring and include Black dialect, Spanish dialect in English, and variations in Spanish pronunciation. If a child misarticulates 3 or more sounds at his age level on the age-referenced list, he is considered "at risk". Separate test forms for the four levels (3-6 years) are available and scoring is done directly on the response sheet. Although the TASSL is criterion-referenced by age, no norms are available except for percentages of passes and failures obtained through a random sampling. Reliability is not assessed by the authors, but criterion validity is high since testing is direct. The Instructional Manual for Screeners includes a chart showing normal rates of language development, a list of common speech and language problems, and sample letters to be sent to parents.