Language Testing in Adolescents With Brain Injury: A Consideration of the CELF-3

The validity of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Third Edition (CELF-3, Semel, Wiig, & Secord, 1995) for the identification and description of language disorders following traumatic brain injury (TBI) was considered in 11 adolescents with TBI. In general, the CELF-3 identified only the individuals who had previously been diagnosed as language impaired, not the individuals with verbal information processing impairments but no diagnosis of language impairment. The test did not permit the identification of strengths and weaknesses. Intercorrelations among subtest standard scores were as high in the TBI group as in the standardization sample, which is consistent with the CELF-3 being a one-factor test. Test performance may have been influenced by the interaction of the subjects' memory abilities and the subtests' memory demands, although this relationship was not statistically significant in the present data.