A Comparison of Developmental Sentence Scores from Head Start Children Collected in Four Conditions

Abstract

A comparison was made among Lee’s (1974) Developmental Sentence Scores and percentile scores computed from oral language samples elicited from 20 children in four conditions: single-object picture, toy, multiobject picture, and adult-child conversation. Each subject responded to the four elicitation conditions in a counterbalanced order. The experimenter typed verbatim protocols, segmented them, and computed Developmental Sentence Scores and percentiles on all 80 language samples. Analysis of the data revealed that less-structured elicitation conditions produce the highest Developmental Sentence Scores and percentiles.