Harcourt Assessment Offers Spanish Edition of Its Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals(R); CELF(R) - 4 Spanish Helps Clinicians Serve Spanish-Speaking Children and Young Adults.

SAN ANTONIO -- Leading test developer and publisher Harcourt Assessment, Inc. has launched a Spanish edition of its flagship speech and language product, the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals - Fourth Edition, or CELF(R) - 4 Spanish.

Published under Harcourt's PsychCorp(TM) brand, the new assessment is designed to help clinicians effectively serve Spanish-speaking children and young adults. The assessment can be administered by speech-language pathologists, school psychologists, special educators and qualified diagnosticians to help them determine if a Spanish-speaking student has a speech-language disorder or delay.

While CELF - 4 Spanish parallels the earlier English edition, it is not a translation. Harcourt developed the Spanish edition especially for the U.S. Spanish-speaking population and relied on extensive input from a professional review panel from many countries of origin to ensure cultural appropriateness.

The assessment is designed to evaluate U.S. Spanish-speaking students from Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean, and it assesses both interpersonal communication and the academic language that students use in school.

"Because of the diversity of U.S. spoken Spanish, our challenge was to develop a Spanish edition of CELF - 4 that could help clinicians serve a broad spectrum of Spanish-speaking students," said Dr. Carol Waryas, vice president of communication and allied therapies products for Harcourt Assessment. "Thanks to a dedicated team of researchers and developers, we have met that challenge."

Like the earlier English edition, CELF - 4 Spanish uses a four-level process to evaluate all four aspects of language -- structure, content, use and sound awareness. By following this four-level assessment process, clinicians can obtain up to seven different index scores that provide insight into a student's language ability.

These index scores are Core Language, Receptive Language (comprehension), Expressive Language, Language Content, Language Structure, Language Memory and Working Memory.

The last index is unique to CELF - 4, which is the first language test to incorporate a working memory component.

As an option, clinicians can purchase the CELF - 4 Spanish Scoring Assistant, which provides results rapidly. To ensure parents understand their child's CELF - 4 Spanish results, Harcourt offers parent reports in Spanish as well as English.

The authors of CELF - 4 Spanish are Elisabeth H. Wiig, Ph.D.; Wayne A. Secord, Ph.D.; and Eleanor Semel, Ed.D.

The publication of CELF - 4 Spanish reflects Harcourt's commitment to Spanish-language testing. Last year, the company introduced the third edition of its Spanish-language Aprenda(C) achievement test for grades K - 12, as well as a Spanish edition of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children(R) - Fourth Edition (WISC(R)-IV Spanish).

Based in San Antonio, Harcourt Assessment is a leading provider of high-quality assessment instruments and testing programs used by educators, psychologists, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, human resource professionals, admissions and credentialing professionals, and businesses. The company is a unit of Harcourt Education, which is the global education brand of Reed Elsevier Group plc (NYSE:RUK) (NYSE:ENL). Reed Elsevier is a world-leading publisher and information provider operating in the science and medical, legal, education and business-to-business industry sectors. Visit Harcourt Assessment on the Web at www.HarcourtAssessment.com.