You may know the Vocabulary Assessment Scales™ (VAS™) is a picture vocabulary test that uses high-quality digital photographs to measure vocabulary and language throughout the life span. Here are five things you may not know.

1. Assess with greater iconicity and ecological validity. Full-color photographs provide the highest degree of realism possible. Beyond simply improving aesthetics, using photographs instead of drawings may allow for a more accurate assessment of an individual’s vocabulary.


2. Choose between paper or digital stimuli. The VAS stimulus books are available digitally, for use on your tablet, or on paper, for traditional administration.


3. Free training is available. PAR offers a free training course to assist users in becoming acquainted with the measure. This interactive online presentation is available on demand through the PAR Training Portal.


4. Evaluate hard-to-test individuals. Ideal for use with nonreaders, beginning communicators, or people who have reading or written language impairments, the VAS requires no reading or writing. The response format places a low demand on motor skills.


5. Obtain an enhanced skill assessment. Composite and discrepancy scores enhance your ability to interpret expressive and receptive scores. When both the VAS-E and VAS-R are administered, examiners can calculate a Vocabulary Composite Score as well as an Expressive-Receptive Discrepancy Score.

 

To learn more about the VAS, visit the product page.

PAR is pleased to announce the release of the Vocabulary Assessment Scales™–Expressive (VAS™-E) and Vocabulary Assessment Scales™–Receptive (VAS™-R). Together, these measures present full-color photographs to evaluate the breadth of an individual’s vocabulary and oral language development throughout the lifespan.

• Choose between paper or digital stimuli. The VAS stimulus books are available digitally, for use on a tablet, or on paper, for traditional administration.

• Experience greater ecological validity. Full-color photographs provide the highest degree of realism possible.

• Obtain an enhanced skill assessment. Composite and discrepancy scores enhance the user’s ability to interpret expressive and receptive scores.

• Monitor effectiveness of interventions. Reliable change scores enable the user to measure growth over time and in response to targeted interventions; equivalent, co-normed forms reduce the occurrence of practice effects that can result from repeated administrations.

• Assess throughout the lifespan. Offering both age- and grade-based norms, the VAS-E and VAS-R are suitable for evaluating individuals ages 2.5 to 95 years in clinical, school, occupational, and industrial settings.

To learn more about the VAS or to order it today, visit www.parinc.com or call 1.800.331.8378.