Assessment Tools

Status: Current Last updated: 2026-03-30 16:35 EDT

The assessment tools — KidEval, Eval, and Eval-D — compare a speaker’s language measures against normative databases. Instead of reporting raw numbers (MLU = 3.2), they tell you how that number compares to age-matched peers (z-score = -1.5, below average).

These tools have dedicated commands and panels, separate from the general CLAN analysis picker. They are the primary workflow for clinical assessment and research benchmarking.

KidEval — Child Language Assessment

KidEval computes a battery of language measures (MLU, MLT, VOCD, DSS, IPSyn, and others) and compares each against normative data from age-matched, typically developing children.

How to run KidEval

1. Open a .cha file containing child language data.
2. Right-click in the editor and choose Run KidEval, or use the Command Palette: TalkBank: Run KidEval.
3. The KidEval panel opens with characteristic selection controls.

Step 1: Select language and activity

The panel presents two cascading dropdowns:

• Language — choose the child’s language (English NA, English UK, French, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, Dutch, Cantonese)
• Activity Type — choose the data collection context (Narrative or Toyplay). The activity dropdown filters automatically to show only the activities available for the selected language.

If the CHAT file has @Languages and @Types headers, the panel auto-detects the correct language and activity — no manual selection needed.

Below the dropdowns, an availability grid shows all language × activity combinations at a glance. Click any cell to select it:

              Narrative    Toyplay
English (NA)   ● 375       ● 3503
English (UK)   ● 540       ● 3459
French         ● 399       ● 627
Japanese       —            ● 167
Spanish        ● 106       ● 936
Chinese        ● 392       ● 1196
Dutch          —            —       *
Cantonese      —            —       *

● = available with sample count
— = not available
* = general database (not activity-specific)

When a language + activity is selected, a matching database card appears showing the database filename, sample count, and metadata.

The activity type matters: narrative tasks (story retelling, picture description) and toy play sessions elicit different language patterns. Use the database that matches your data collection protocol.

Step 2: Filter by age and gender

After selecting language and activity, you can optionally narrow the comparison group:

• Gender — filter to Male, Female, or All
• Age range — enter minimum and maximum age in months to compare against children within a specific developmental window

Leave these fields blank to compare against the full normative sample.

(SCREENSHOT: KidEval panel showing language/activity dropdowns, availability grid with a cell selected, and the matching database card) Capture this: open the KidEval panel on an English narrative .cha file. The language should be auto-selected to “English (NA)”, activity to “Narrative”, and the grid should highlight the eng/narrative cell. Show the matching database card below.

Available KidEval databases

Step 3: View results

Click Run to compute the analysis. Results appear in three sections:

Stat cards at the top of the panel show the key measures with color-coded z-score indicators:

• Green: within 1 standard deviation of the mean (typical range)
• Yellow: between 1 and 2 standard deviations (borderline)
• Red: more than 2 standard deviations from the mean (atypical)

(SCREENSHOT: KidEval results showing stat cards with z-scores and comparison table) Capture this: KidEval results after clicking “Compare with Database” for an English narrative file, showing colored stat cards (green/red z-scores) and the detailed comparison table with Measure, Child, Norm Mean, Norm SD, z-score, N columns.

Comparison table showing side-by-side values:

Per-measure breakdown with additional detail for each metric.

What each measure means

For detailed explanations of each measure, see Profiling Commands.

Eval – General Language Assessment

Eval uses the same panel interface as KidEval but with databases designed for adult or general language assessment rather than child development norms.

How to run Eval

1. Open a .cha file in the editor.
2. Right-click and choose Run Eval, or use the Command Palette: TalkBank: Run Eval.
3. Select a database, optionally filter, and click Run.

Available Eval databases

Eval databases contain normative data from healthy adult speakers, useful as a baseline for comparing clinical populations.

Eval-D – Dementia Assessment

Eval-D is a specialized assessment mode for evaluating language in dementia contexts. It uses normative databases from DementiaBank.

How to run Eval-D

1. Open a .cha file in the editor.
2. Right-click and choose Run Eval-D (Dementia), or use the Command Palette: TalkBank: Run Eval-D (Dementia).
3. Select a database and click Run.

Available Eval-D databases

Eval-D results use the same panel layout as KidEval and Eval: stat cards with z-scores, comparison table, and per-measure breakdown. The normative groups include control participants and multiple dementia subtypes, allowing clinicians to see where a patient falls relative to each group.

Exporting assessment results

All three assessment tools support CSV export:

1. After results are displayed, click Export CSV in the panel toolbar.
2. Choose a save location.
3. The CSV includes all stat card values, z-scores, and the full comparison table.

This is useful for:

• Importing results into a clinical report template
• Longitudinal tracking (export at each visit, combine in a spreadsheet)
• Research data collection across multiple participants

Choosing the right assessment tool

Next steps

• Profiling Commands – understand what MLU, DSS, and IPSyn measure in detail
• Running CLAN Commands – how to run analysis commands in general
• Command Reference – all 33 commands