The SPELT®-P 3: Structured Photographic Expressive Language Test (Third Edition) analyzes specific language structures in young children.

Ages: 4-0 through 9-11
Administration Time: 15-20 minutes

The SPELT®-3 includes 54 full colour photographs of everyday situations and objects paired with simple verbal questions and statements to elicit specific morphological and syntactical structures. It allows for analysis of specific language structures that may not occur in spontaneous language samples. 

A study examining the evidence for using the SPELT®-3 to diagnose language impairment found, “…that the data provide empirical support for the use of theSPELT®-3 for the purpose of differentiating between children with normal language and those with impaired language.”*

Features of the SPELT® 3

• Standard scores, confidence intervals, percentile ranks, percentile bands and test-age equivalents are provided for females and males, ages 4 through 9-11.
  
• Normative tables are based on a national sample of over 1800 children from the four geographical areas specified by the U.S. Census Bureau.
  
• Fifty-four 4" x 6" real life colour photos in an album provide larger improved stimulus pictures.
  
• Morphological and syntactical structures have been added such as “wh” clause, relative clause, front embedded clause, and propositional complement.
  
• A chapter on African American English and scoring guide are provided by Nola T. Radford, Ph.D.
  
• A chapter on the technical qualities of the SPELT®-3 standardization sample scores is provided by Laura Barnes, Ph.D.
  
• Reliability and validity studies are reported.

SPELT in its Third Edition

This new edition assesses 4 target areas using 54 photographs to probe the young child's ability to generate early developing morphological and syntactical forms. The child's strengths and weaknesses can be readily identified. 

4 Target Areas

Test items target the child’s use of:

1. Inflectional Morphology (plurals, possessive nouns, verb tense endings)
2. Verb Form (present progressive, regular and irregular past, future, contractible/uncontractible copula, contractible/uncontractible auxiliary)
3. Pronoun Usage (subject pronoun, possessive pronoun, reflexive pronoun)
4. Syntax (negative, conjoined sentence, “Wh” question, interrogative reversal, negative infinitive phrase, propositional complement, relative clause, and front embedded clause)

The SPELT® 3 Complete Kit includes: 

• Manual
• 54 colour photographs (4" x 6") in a bound album
• 50 response forms
• Surdy storage box

*Perona, K., Plante, E., & Vance, R. Diagnostic Accuracy of the Structured Photographic Expressive Language Test: Third Edition (SPELT®-3). Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 36, 103-115.