Effect of elicitation variables on analysis of language samples for normal and language-disordered children

To evaluate the effect of elicitation stimuli and situations, expressive language samples were obtained from 10 normal children and 10 language-disordered children in four location-stimulus combinations and from wireless radio telemetry. These language samples were analyzed using the procedures of Developmental Sentence Scoring, Mean Length of Utterance, and inflectional scoring. No differences existed between the locations of home and clinic, but significant differences were noted among samples elicited using pictures as oppossed to open-ended questions as compared to telemetry samples. Normal and language-disordered children responded differently to these elicitation variables. Open-ended questions and telemetry yielded the highest performances on Developmental Sentence Scoring and inflectional scoring. Telemetry samples yielded the shortest response lengths. The two groups of children also responded differently in the specific scoring categories.