The OWLS test or OWLS assessment

Wondering about the Oral and Written Language Scales (OWLS) test, aka the OWLS assessment?

This article contains key info about the OWLS speech test.

The Oral and Written Language Scales, Second Edition (OWLS-II or OWLS-2) is a popular choice for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) seeking a holistic view of a child’s language skills.

Designed for pediatric clients ages 3-21, the OWLS assessment covers listening comprehension, oral expression, reading comprehension, and written expression.

These four language scales allow SLPs to obtain data about a client’s expressive and receptive language alongside literacy and written expression skills. This makes the OWLS test a top pick among speech therapy assessments.

The OWLS-II is the most recent version of the test available at this time. It was published in 2011 and created by Elizabeth Carrow-Woolfolk, PhD.

Getting familiar with the OWLS-2

The OWLS-II comprises a receptive language scale (listening comprehension) and an expressive language scale (oral expression) geared toward clients from 3-21 years old.

The Oral and Written Language Scales-II also features two written language scales: reading comprehension and written expression. These have been normed on children ages 5-21 and are useful in assessing language-based learning disabilities.

Each of the Oral and Written Language Scales-II subtests assesses the same four linguistic structures:

• Syntactic: Grammatical morphemes and sentence structure
• Lexical/Semantic: Vocabulary including nouns, verbs, idioms, prefixes, and suffixes
• Supralinguistic: Nonliteral language such as multiple meaning words, inference, indirect requests, and humor
• Pragmatic: Functional and appropriate language use

Listening comprehension and oral expression scales

For SLPs seeking a better understanding of pediatric clients’ expressive and receptive language skills, the OWLS assessment offers an ideal starting point.

Its Listening Comprehension (LC) and Oral Expression (OE) scales are designed to measure these aspects of language within the lexical/semantic, syntactic, supralinguistic, and pragmatic domains.

Clients receive standard scores for both the LC and OE scales, making it easy to compare an individual’s receptive and expressive language skills side-by-side.

The LC scale involves use of an easel with picture stimulus items.

After the SLP reads aloud a target word or phrase, the client must indicate which of the four picture stimulus items presented is the best match. Test items increase in difficulty from the beginning to end of the assessment. It takes roughly 10-20 minutes to administer this scale.

The OWLS-II OE scale requires the examinee to finish sentences, answer questions, and generate their own sentences by responding with spoken language.

When administering the OE scale, the speech-language pathologist presents increasingly difficult test items visually (using an easel) or aloud.

The OWLS test record form includes common responses to OE prompts to make scoring easier for clinicians. The OE scale takes approximately 10-30 minutes to administer.

Reading comprehension and written expression scales 

The Oral and Written Language Scales-II is different from many other speech therapy assessments in that it evaluates literacy and writing skills via its Reading Comprehension (RC) and Written Expression (WE) scales. It’s a great option for clinicians seeking more data beyond receptive and expressive language.

Suitable for clients ages 5-21, the RC scale involves the presentation of written words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs.The examinee is given four choices and must point to or state the correct answer aloud. At the beginning of this scale, some picture stimulus items are provided.

The RC scale can support clinicians in identifying language factors that affect a child’s reading comprehension skills. It measures the same four language domains as the LC and OE scales, with the addition of a text structure category.

The WE scale assesses an individual’s ability to communicate information through writing. Writing tasks are organized based on the client’s age. Some involve fill-in-the-blank responses or writing dictated sentences in a response booklet.

Other test items are more open-ended and complex, necessitating production of written paragraphs or stories. The SLP administering the OWLS-II WE scale provides a mix of spoken, written, and picture-based prompts.

This scale measures the same linguistic domains as the RC scale, but includes a sixth language structure—conventions—which evaluates the client’s spelling, punctuation, and letter formation skills.

OWLS-2 scoring

The Oral and Written Language Scales, Second Edition offers five different composite standard scores: Oral Language, Written Language, Receptive Language, Expressive Language, and Overall Language.

For each composite, the OWLS-II provides percentile ranks and standard scores based on the child’s age or grade in school.

Speech-language therapists can compare standard scores between scales to determine if score differences are clinically significant, for example, between Listening Comprehension and Oral Expression.

This gives a full glimpse into specific areas of strength or need within the client’s individual language profile.

It’s not necessary to administer all of the OWLS-II subtests to obtain scores. Speech-language therapists can pick and choose the scales that best align with a client’s reason for referral.

Wondering what an OWLS-II sample report looks like? The assessment’s publisher, WPS, provides an OWLS template report for SLPs seeking a comprehensive example of score reporting and analysis.

As an SLP, you need the right tools at your fingertips to succeed in private practice.

That includes formal assessments, such as the  OWLS assessment, to aid in diagnosis and therapy planning.

If you’re aiming to gather more data about a pediatric client’s language and literacy skills, the OWLS test is a great place to start.

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