Using the MELS

About the MELS©

It only takes 20 minutes to administrate the MELS©.

This includes:

Test Administration
Scoring
Providing parents with a written report. A template has been included in tick box format.

Scoring is easy once you are familiar with the layout of the score sheet. Workshops are to familiarise you with how to score and interpret the results. The test also comes with a training DVD which is also useful to refresh your memory on sections of the test.

Feedback from Teachers who have attended a MELS© workshop.

The test is easy to follow
It was great to see a video on how to administer the test and to have time to discuss and collaborate on findings.
The workshop was great - very interesting and informative.
Excellent clarification of speech difficulties and excellent to have the test format and questions to ask on paper.

The results help me to plan the focus areas for our Oral Language Programme. We use the Blank Questionning Scores to group children into small groups to focussing on the language areas they need support with.
I administer the MELS in Kindergarten and our Pre-Primary teacher re-administers again to the children it at the beginning of the following year. It gives us a way of evaluating our oral language programme and identifies children we need to continue to work with.
Some of the results were really surprising. It really highlighted some children who appeared to be coping but were obviously having oral language difficulties.

It is optimal to provide intervention during the critical brain development periods. The graph below illustrates this. Children commence kindergarten during these critical periods so they are in a position to really benefit from early identification and intervention.

Melstable
Reference : Shonkiff, J.P andd Phillips, D.A. Eds 2000 From Neurons to Neighbourhoods The Science of Early Childhood Development. National Research Council, Canada