Essential for effective use of the Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills™ (TILLS™), this in-depth Examiner’s Manual walks professionals through administration and scoring of the assessment. With this start-to-finish manual, TILLS examiners will:
review the purposes, uses, background, and components of TILLS
get comprehensive instructions on administering all 15 TILLS subtests
find answers to frequently asked questions about TILLS
learn specific considerations for testing students with previously identified special needs
get the normative data tables needed to complete TILLS scoring
understand how to interpret scores with the help of sample profiles for different types of students
The manual also includes the detailed instructions examiners need to complete the four charts of the Examiner Record Form:
Scoring Chart. Calculate subtest scores and enter corresponding standard scores and percentile ranks, four composites based on subtest standard scores, and the student’s identification core score.
Identification Chart. Identify when a student’s score is consistent with a language/literacy disorder.
Profile Chart. Produce a visual display of patterns of relative strengths and weaknesses based on standard scores and graph your selected confidence interval.
Tracking Chart. Document changes in language and literacy skills over time.
Clear and comprehensive, this indispensable guide helps professionals administer and score TILLS accurately and use the results to inform next steps.
Test of Integrated Language & Literacy Skills (TILLS) is the reliable, valid assessment professionals need to test oral and written language skills in students ages 6 - 18 years. TILLS is a comprehensive, norm-referenced test that has been standardized for three purposes:
To identify language/literacy disorders
To document patterns of relative strengths and weaknesses
To track changes in language and literacy skills over time
To achieve these purposes, TILLS is constructed to allow you to derive scores for identifying, tracking, and profiling a student’s strengths and weaknesses and interpreting the results to support decisions about what to do next.
15 Extensively Researched Subtests
The TILLS assessment is all professionals need to capture the complete picture of students’ oral and written language skills. TILLS is composed of 15 subtests that allow examiners to assess and compare students’ language-literacy skills at both the sound/word level and the sentence/discourse level across the four oral and written modalities—listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Curriculum Relevant
TILLS measures integrated language-literacy abilities that reflect the complex language and literacy demands of the general education curriculum.
Backed By Unparalleled Data
Each TILLS subtest has been fine-tuned to meet strong psychometric standards using scientific evidence gathered in numerous pilot studies and field trials, a national beta trial, and a standardization study with more than 1200 children and adolescents.
Strong Specificity and Sensitivity
TILLS tested both sensitivity and specificity across the full age range covered by the test. In the manual, diagnostic accuracy data are broken down into nine different “age bands” meaningful to the development of language and literacy skills. Sensitivity ranges from 81% to 97%, and specificity ranges from 81% to 100%.
Streamlined Assessment
Professionals can administer the entire test, single subtests, or combinations of subtests in one or more sessions. Comprehensive assessment can typically be administered in 90 minutes or less.
Useful for a Wide Range of Students
TILLS is ideal for evaluating students:
suspected of having a primary language impairment, also called specific language impairment
suspected of having a learning disability, reading disability, or dyslexia
known to have an existing condition associated with difficulties in spoken and written language (such as deaf or hard of hearing, autism spectrum disorder, or intellectual disability)
struggling with language and literacy comprehension and social communication skills (such as social communication disorder)
Here’s how to use the TILLS Examiner’s Kit to screen for and diagnose language and literacy disorders, including dyslexia:
First, you’ll identify at-risk students with the evidence based Student Language Scale (SLS), a quick and easy one-page, 12-question screener filled out by the teacher, parent, and student. Complete in less than five minutes, the SLS helps you:
Screen for language/literacy disorders by gathering teachers’ and parents’ ratings of students.
Gather input about a struggling student’s strengths and needs from multiple sources—a key requirement of IDEA.
Enhance home–school communication by gaining new insight into student performance, whether or not there are concerns.
After the SLS helps you identify children at risk for a language/literacy disorder, use TILLS for diagnosis. Here’s how:
Administer all 15 TILLS subtests.
Complete the first page of the Examiner’s Record Form, a chart that helps you score the subtests, compare the scores to those of the student’s same-age peers, and compare the sound/ word composite score to the sentence discourse composite score.
Complete the Identification Chart to determine if the student has a disorder.
Complete the Profile Chart for an at-a-glance, big-picture look at the student’s current language and literacy skills.