Description
TAPS – 4
Language Processing Skills Assessment
The TAPS-4 provides information about language processing and comprehension skills across three intersecting areas: phonological processing, auditory memory and listening comprehension.
These areas underpin the development of effective listening and communication skills and are critical to the development of higher order language skills, including literacy skills. AGES 5-21 years. Testing time 60 minutes or less.
The TAPS-4 features new subtests along with revisions to subtests, fully updated norms, and an expanded age range. The TAPS-4 subtests were also reorganized into Index and Supplemental subtests, reducing testing burden and increasing flexibility in administration. The TAPS-4 also features audio administration for the subtests in which proper pronunciation of speech sounds is critical, providing a greater degree of standardization and accuracy during the testing process (directly download audio files).
The TAPS-4 has 11 subtests, organized into three indices:
Includes: manual, 25 test booklets, administration CD for the optional figure-ground listening subtest.
Phonological Processing Index:
- Word (Pair) Discrimination: Assesses ability to discriminate whether a given word pair is the same or different
- Phonological Deletion: Assesses ability to manipulate phonemes within words
- Phonological Blending: Assesses ability to synthesize a word given the individual phonemes
- Syllabic Blending (Supplemental): Assesses ability to synthesize a nonsense word given the individual syllables
Auditory Memory Index:
- Number Memory Forward: Assesses ability to recall an auditory sequence of numbers in the given order
- Word Memory: Assesses ability to recall an auditory sequence of words in the given order
- Sentence Memory: Assesses ability to recall a spoken sentence
- Number Memory Reversed (Supplemental): Assesses ability to recall a reverse auditory sequence of numbers
Listening Comprehension Index:
- Processing Oral Directions (without background noise): Assesses ability to process and recall oral directions when presented in quiet listening conditions
- Auditory Comprehension: Assesses ability to comprehend oral language at the sentence and narrative level, including literal recall, inference, and higher order language tasks such as idioms and figurative language
- Auditory Figure-Ground (Processing Oral Directions with 4-speaker babble background noise) (Supplemental): Assesses ability to process and recall oral directions when presented with competing background noise
Assesses 5 narrow abilities across 3 broad skill areas as defined in the CHC theory of cognitive abilities:
Short-Term Memory:Memory Span (MS); Working Memory Capacity (MW)
Auditory Processing: Phonetic Coding (PC); Resistance to Auditory Stimulus Distortion (UR)
Comprehension-Knowledge: Listening Ability (LS)
Administration and Scoring: TAPS-4 Index subtests can be administered in one hour or less. Scaled scores are provided for subtests; standard scores are provided for cores and the overall score. Discrepancy scores allow comparison of performance across subtests. Must have had educational evaluation training to administer. The new norming did include a sample of children with hearing loss and cochlear implants.