The use of rating scales with children who have language impairments

Several reports suggest that socioemotional disorders and language impairments frequently co-occur in children receiving special education services. One explanation for the high levels of co-occurrence is that limitations inherent to linguistic deficiencies are frequently misinterpreted as symptomatic of underlying socioemotional pathology. In this report, five commonly used behavioral rating scales are examined in light of language bias. Results of the review indicated that children with language impairments are likely to be overidentified as having socioemotional disorders. An implication of these findings is that speech-language pathologists need to increase their involvement in socioemotional evaluations to ensure that children with language impairments as a group are not unduly penalized for their language limitations. Specific guidelines for using ratings with children with language impairments are provided.