Overview
The Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals – Fifth Edition (CELF-5; Semel, Wiig, & Secord, 2013) is an individually administered, norm-referenced instrument used for identifying and diagnosing language disorders in individuals ages 5 years through 21 years, 11 months. The CELF-5 is also used for identifying strengths and weaknesses as a basis of intervention recommendations. The instrument includes a battery of structured tasks, observation, and interaction-based tasks. The subscales include: Sentence Completion, Linguistic concepts, Word Structure, Word Classes, Following Directions, Formulating Sentences, Recalling Sentences, Understanding Spoken Paragraphs, Word Definitions, Sentence Assembly, Semantic Relationships, Reading Comprehension, Structured Writing, Pragmatics Profile, and a Pragmatics Activity Checklist. Scoring options included Q-global Web-based administration, scoring, and reporting; manual scoring is also an option. A CELF-5 Screening Test is also available separately, which is completed in 15 minutes.
Summary
Age: 5 years 0 months to 21 years 11 months
Time to Administer: 30–45 minutes for core tests; 90-120 minutes for full battery
Method of Administration: Individually administered, norm-referenced measure of comprehensive language skills. Requires verbal response to visual stimuli
Yields standard scores for composite and index scores (M = 100, SD = 15), scaled scores for subtests (M = 10, SD =3), percentile ranks, growth scale values, and age equivalents
Includes Observational Rating Scale (optional)
Subscales: Overall Composite Score: Core Language
Index Scores: Receptive Language, Expressive Language, Language Content, Language Structure, Language Memory
Subtest Scores: Sentence Completion; Linguistic Concepts; Word Structure; Word Classes; Following Directions; Formulating Sentences; Recalling Sentences; Understanding Spoken Paragraphs;Word Definitions; Sentence Assembly; Semantic Relationships; Reading Comprehension; Structured Writing; Pragmatics Profile; Pragmatics Activity Checklist
Autism Related Research
None found. However, its predecessor (CELF-4; Semel, Wiig, & Secord, 2003) has been shown to be a sensitive marker of language impairment in ASD (Condouris, Meyer, & Tager, Flusberg, 2003; Rapin et al., 2009). Moreover, the CELF-4 manual (Semel et al., 2013) noted Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients ranged from .86 to .93 in the normative sample and .97 in an ASD sample.