Boehm Test-R in practice

Recently during my practicum experience, I gave the Boehm Test-R to a child who was enrolled in an inclusion preschool classroom. This child is four years old and is an English Language Learner (ELL; formerly known as ESL). The purpose of this assessment tool, as mentioned in a previous blog of mine which gave an overview of the Boehm Test-R, is "...to assess language comprehension. The child must interpret the structure and form of the syntax in the verbal statement given to them and identify the pictured item correctly."

For the child I had selected, I predicted that there might be some difficulty in interpreting the verbal statement given, which in turn would affect what picture item was selected. The picture items in the Boehm Test-R range from least difficult to most difficult. The child had little difficulty identifying the pictured item correctly for the first several pages, but as the structure and syntax of the verbal statements given concerning different concepts such as relationship, space, time, etc. became harder to interpret, the more mistakes were made.

Example 1: Picture Item description - (low level of difficulty)
Four children in a line waiting for a turn at the computer. Select the
child that is first in line.
Response: The child selected the correct picture item, marking the first child in line with an "X".

Example 2: Picture Item description - (higher level of difficulty)
There are four cups and a table (cups are located next to, under, on the
corner of the tabletop, and in the center of the table). Select the cup that
is on the corner of the table.
Response: A minute or two passed before the child selected the cup located next to the table and while marking the picture item, sought my approval of the picture item chosen.

There were several times where a break was needed because I could see that the child was becoming more and more frustrated; not because she realized she was making a mistake, but because the statements were becoming too difficult to understand. I noticed that as the pictured items and statements given became harder for the child to grasp, approval was looked for as each of the more difficult items were now tentatively selected.

The apparent frustration of the child along with the inability to interpret and understand some of the more complex statements and verbal concepts presented towards the end of the test gave me reason enough to end the assessment, though it was not fully completed. Because the "BTBC-R is a screening and teaching instrument and is not intended as a measure of mental ability," the results of the assessment tool can be used by the classroom teacher to further support instruction of language comprehension and verbal concepts the child needs to master as an ELL student.



Boehm, A.E., Ph.d. (2001). Boehm-3 Preschool. San Antonio, TX: Pearson