Assessment of semantic knowledge: use of feedback and clinical interviewing

Assessment of semantic knowledge is particularly challenging for clinicians working with children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Vocabulary often reflects individual experiences, home language, and familiarity with school curriculum. Research demonstrates that children from nonmainstream backgrounds often score poorly on vocabulary tests yet may possess knowledge that is not evident in the kinds of tests that they take. Thus, a single word vocabulary test may not adequately capture the scope of such children's semantic knowledge. It is important that, before a diagnosis of language impairment is made, clinicians gain insight into children's semantic knowledge. This article describes the use of two procedures, feedback and the clinical interview, that can be utilized to probe children's language abilities.