Developmental language disorders (DLD) and dyslexia overlap about 50 percent of the time. This means that although they often co-occur, each can occur without the other. The profiles—DLD alone, DLD with dyslexia, and dyslexia alone—have unique implications for planning individualized interventions.

What does that mean for you and your everyday practice? Find out in this in this 2-hour webinar recording with Dr. Nickola Nelson, first author of the Test of Integrated Language & Literacy Skills™ (TILLS®) and the Student Language Scale (SLS). This intermediate-level webinar will help language and literacy professionals hone their skills and increase their confidence and expertise in differential diagnosis and individualized intervention.

Dr. Nelson provides exercises in scoring TILLS subtests and interpreting TILLS profiles relative to the quadrant model. You’ll see how these results, along with input from parents and teachers on the SLS, can help you arrive at differential diagnoses and select the best pathways for intervention. Case examples will illustrate content, contexts, and activities for intervention.

Learning Outcomes:

Following this webinar, you’ll be able to:

  • Interpret assessment profiles using TILLS results and the quadrant model to differentially diagnose DLD, DLD with dyslexia, and dyslexia
  • Apply your new knowledge of how intervention goals and methods should differ for students with DLD + dyslexia, dyslexia only, and DLD only
  • Provide contrasting examples of intervention activities focused on sound/word structure problems and sentence/discourse problems, including vocabulary

About the Presenter:

courseNickola Wolf Nelson, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BCS-CL, is Professor Emerita in the Department of Language, Speech, and Hearing Sciences at Western Michigan University, where she previously served as Director of the Ph.D. program in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences. A Board-Certified Specialist in Child Language (BCS-CL), she conducts research and provides consultation regarding language/literacy development and disorders among school-age students. She is the first author of the Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills™ (TILLS®) and the Student Language Scale (SLS). Dr. Nelson has been awarded Fellowship in and Honors of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). She is also a Fellow in the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities and recipient of the Kleffner Clinical Career Award from the ASHFoundation. She now lives in Wichita, Kansas, with her husband, Steve Nave.

About TILLS:

Test of Integrated Language & Literacy Skills™ (TILLS®) is the reliable, valid assessment professionals need to test oral and written language skills in students ages 6–18 years. TILLS is a comprehensive, norm-referenced test that has been standardized for three purposes: to identify language/literacy disorders, to document patterns of relative strengths and weaknesses, and to track changes in language and literacy skills over time. The Examiner’s Kit contains everything you need to administer, score, and interpret the TILLS test.

About the SLS:

For use on its own or with the Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills™ (TILLS®), the Student Language Scale (SLS) reliably screens students ages 6–18 years for language/literacy disorders, including dyslexia. Filled out by parents, teachers, and students, the screener is a quick, cost-effective way to see how students are performing on academic tasks as compared to their same-age peers.


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