The Expressive Portion of the NSST Compared to a Spontaneous Language Sample

Abstract

This study was undertaken to determine the relationship between syntactic structures produced on the expressive portion of the NSST and those produced in a spontaneous language sample. The NSST was administered to 12 children previously diagnosed as delayed in language. In addition, spontaneous language samples were collected by a speech clinician and by the child’s mother. The children ranged in age from four years one month to five years 11 months. We found that 30% of those syntactic structures incorrectly produced on the NSST were correctly produced spontaneously in the language sample. Furthermore, the sample obtained by the clinician was significantly richer in terms of number of structures produced correctly than the sample collected by the mother. Overall results indicate that an item analysis of the expressive portion of the NSST does not present an accurate representation of the child’s language performance and therefore cannot be interpreted beyond its stated purpose, namely that of a screening instrument.