Dynamic Assessment of Narratives with Grade 3 Children in a First Nations Community

Diagnostic accuracy of the Dynamic Assessment and Intervention (DAI) tool (Miller, Gillam & Peña, 2001) was examined with 17 Grade 3 children belonging to a First Nations community who were classifi ed either as normal language learners (NLL) or as having possible language learning diffi culties. The DAI was designed to provide a culturally sensitive evaluation of language learning abilities. Results showed that both groups benefi ted from direct teaching of specifi c targets, but children in the NLL category benefi ted to a greater extent and generalized more often to targets not directly addressed. A discriminant analysis resulted in high specifi city and sensitivity. These results suggest that DAI is a useful diagnostic tool for identifying children with language learning diffi culties in this population.