Purpose: Language sample analysis (LSA) represents an ecologically valid method for diagnosing, identifying goals, and measuring progress in children with developmental language disorder (DLD). LSA is, however, time consuming. The purpose of this study was to determine the length of sample needed to obtain reliable LSA measures for children in kindergarten and first grade with typical language (TL) and DLD using automated analyses from the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts software. Method: Play-based conversational language samples collected on kindergarten to first-grade children with TL ( n = 21) and DLD ( n = 21) from a community-based sample were analyzed. Eight LSA measures were calculated from 1-, 3-, 5-, 7-, and 10-min sample cuts and compared to 20-min samples for reliability. Results: Reliability estimates were similar for the TL and DLD groups except for errors and omissions, which showed overall higher levels of reliability in the DLD group and reached acceptable levels at 3 min. Percent grammatical utterances were reliable at 7 min in the DLD group and not reliable in shorter samples in the TL group. The subordination index was reliable at 10 min for both groups. Number of different words reached acceptable reliability at the 3-min length for the DLD group and at the 10-min length for the TL group. Utterances and words per minute were reliable at 3 min and mean length of utterance at 7 min in both groups. Conclusions: Speech-language pathologists can obtain reliable LSA measures from shorter, 7-min conversational language samples from kindergarten to first-grade children with DLD. Shorter language samples may encourage increased use of LSA. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.19529287

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Seventeen years ago, Redmond reviewed five standardized behavioral rating scales and identified several aspects of their design that made them prone to mischaracterize language impairments as socioemotional behavioral disorders. The purpose of this report is to provide an update and extension of the original audit. We consulted test manuals to evaluate: (1) representation of children with language impairments in their standardization samples; (2) presence of language, or academic items within their inventories; (3) accommodations for administering the measure to children with language impairments; and (4) procedures for identifying inordinately punitive ratings. Overlapping language and academic symptoms continued to be a problem across current behavioral rating scales. Improvements since Redmond occurred in the representation of children with language impairments in standardization samples and in procedures for identifying inordinately punitive ratings. We discuss implications for clinical assessment, research programs, and instrument development.

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This article explores the role of the human body as an important consideration for group work. It discusses six concepts related to how the body can be paid attention to and utilized within the realm of practice. These concepts include the idea of the body as related to the sense of self; physical experience as metaphor; the body as a barometer of group experience; shared physical experience and group cohesion; physical experiences and behavior; and the notion of somatic intelligence and communication. Examples of each are discussed from the lens of the author's practice.