LSA approaches
Five ways to get from a sample to a report.
Language sampling can inform an initial evaluation, a reevaluation for continued services, treatment goals, or progress monitoring. The findings contribute to clinical decisions: whether a student needs services, what to address in therapy, and whether intervention is making a difference.
Most SLPs who analyze language samples do it with a method of their own. In a 2024 survey of 337 SLPs practicing in the United States, 60% had used language sample analysis in the past year; of those, 62% used a protocol of their own design, 23% used SALT, and 12% used SUGAR. Wilder and Redmond, 2024
SALT, SUGAR, SLAM, the ENNI, and CHAT/CLAN offer different approaches to collecting and analyzing the language that informs those decisions. They differ in their procedures, areas of emphasis, reference data, and use of software. Choosing among them means considering what evidence you need for the evaluation or treatment decision, which approach fits the client, and what the findings can support.
Compare the approaches
Each name links to a page on that approach’s collection and analysis requirements, with links to instructions, materials, and worked examples.
| Approach | Practical benefit | Effort and limitations |
|---|---|---|
| SUGAR | A defined conversational procedure with age-group norms and grammatical subanalysis, using Microsoft Word or Google Docs. | Requires manual transcription and counting according to SUGAR’s rules. Focuses on expressive grammar; normative comparisons require following its sampling procedure. |
| SALT | Combines multiple sampling protocols, automated analyses, and normative comparisons in one program. | Requires paid software and training in transcription and coding. To use the normative data, collection and analysis must follow the corresponding protocol. |
| SLAM | Provides downloadable picture sets, questions, and scoring guidance for examining narrative, comprehension, and inference. | Responses are scored and examined manually. Provides no normative scores. |
| ENNI | Provides free picture stories, a scripted procedure, and norms for ages 4 to 9 covering story content, character introductions, and sentence length and complexity. | Requires giving the stories as specified and transcribing in C-units. Story content and character introductions are scored by hand; the word-count measures expect SALT or CLAN. Norms describe stories told from the ENNI pictures, not retells. |
| CHAT/CLAN | Provides free automated analyses of grammar, vocabulary, discourse, and fluency. | Requires software setup, learning analysis commands, preparing CHAT-formatted transcripts, and reviewing automated grammatical annotations. |
Using the approaches in clinical practice
Each approach can serve more than one clinical purpose. The table below shows what you can draw on for evaluation and goal development.
| Approach | Evaluation or reevaluation | Developing treatment or IEP goals |
|---|---|---|
| SUGAR | Compare four conversational measures with age-group norms; examine grammatical structures through subanalysis. | Use grammatical subanalysis to identify structures to probe and potential targets. |
| SALT | Compare results with norms for the selected protocol; examine errors, vocabulary, syntax, and narrative organization. | Examine coded errors and patterns in syntax or narrative to identify potential targets. |
| SLAM | Examine responses to story questions, including explanations and inferences, using the scoring guidance. | Identify specific difficulties in explaining events, making inferences, or organizing a story for further probing. |
| ENNI | Compare Story Grammar, First Mentions, and language measures with age norms for stories told from the ENNI pictures. | Use the separately scored measures to see whether difficulty lies in story content, introducing characters, or sentence structure. |
| CHAT/CLAN | Generate grammatical and lexical profiles, including analyses of sentence structure beyond MLU. | Use grammatical analyses such as Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS) and the Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn) to examine structures produced and identify areas to probe. |
Planning, collecting, transcribing and reporting a sample, whichever approach you use, are covered in Resources.
You make the call. Arc does the counting.
Review the transcript, grammatical labels, and speech sound productions. Arc calculates measures from the sample you’ve checked.
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