SUGAR for language sample analysis

This page focuses on the collection and analysis conventions described in Pavelko and Owens’s A Sweet Tutorial to the SUGAR Method of Language Sampling, published in 2023.

Is there anything specific to SUGAR when eliciting the sample?

SUGAR’s collection procedure uses back-and-forth conversation about topics such as family, school, activities, and interests. Prompts can invite the child to recount an event or explain a process. These personal accounts can be part of the conversation. Asking a child to tell a story from a picture book or retell a book sets up a different elicitation task from the conversation used for SUGAR’s norms. The 2023 tutorial describes the conversational procedure and examples on pages 34–36.

SUGAR also checks how many one-word responses were prompted by the examiner.

If there are ten or more one-word responses, examine the preceding prompts. When ten or more were appropriate one-word answers to those prompts, SUGAR calls for collecting another sample with more opportunities to elaborate. If the examiner invited longer responses but the child answered briefly, the sample meets this aspect of the procedure. The tutorial’s elicitation section, pages 34–35, describes this check.

Which 50 utterances do I use?

SUGAR’s four measures and age-group norms are based on an analysis set of 50 child utterances. After any initial warm-up, choose a starting point and take consecutive utterances, applying SUGAR’s exclusions until the set contains 50.

An utterance with one or two unintelligible words can be included, with each unclear word marked “X.” Exclude utterances with three or more unintelligible words, entirely unintelligible utterances, and memorized or routinized language such as reciting the alphabet. These exclusions can mean continuing beyond the first 50 spoken utterances. SUGAR tutorial, pp. 35–36

Which SUGAR transcription conventions should I keep in mind?

Several conventions affect the transcript used for SUGAR’s calculations:

• Child turns only: the analysis transcript contains the child’s utterances rather than both speakers’ turns.
• Mazes omitted from the analysis transcript: filled pauses, false starts, and reformulations are removed rather than retained with maze codes. Repeated words remain when used for emphasis.
• A specific rule for clauses joined by “and”: when more than two independent clauses are linked with “and,” retain the first two as one utterance and begin a new utterance with the next clause, omitting its linking “and.” This rule does not apply to every use of “and” or to other conjunctions.
• SUGAR-specific morpheme counting: the count includes selected derivational endings, such as “-ly” and “-ful,” as well as inflectional morphemes. Forms such as “wanna” and “gonna” are expanded according to SUGAR’s rules.

The 2023 tutorial gives the segmentation examples on pages 36–37 and the bound-morpheme list in Table 3. These conventions matter when using SUGAR’s norms, even if you already transcribe samples using another system.

How are the four measures calculated?

The four measures use different portions of the transcript. TNW and MLUS include all 50 utterances in the analysis set. WPS and CPS include only the utterances that qualify as sentences.

For WPS and CPS, qualifying sentences include imperatives and elliptical responses that contain a verb or part of one. Utterances without a verb are excluded from these two measures. WPS therefore uses the words in the qualifying sentences, rather than the TNW total from all 50 utterances. CPS uses the clauses within those same sentences. Both measures divide by the number of qualifying sentences.

How do I use SUGAR’s norms?

The Norms by Age download supplies age-group means and standard deviations for all four measures, covering ages 3;0–10;11. Locate the child’s age band and compare each calculated value with the corresponding mean and standard deviation. This identifies how far above or below the age-group mean the result falls.

These comparisons use samples collected, transcribed, and analyzed according to SUGAR’s procedure. A value calculated using another method’s conventions is not interchangeable with the corresponding SUGAR measure. The norms also appear in Table 1 of the 2023 tutorial.

What does SUGAR provide for identifying goal areas?

SUGAR’s grammatical subanalysis forms organize the transcript around noun-phrase elaboration, verb-phrase elaboration, and grammatical morphemes. The forms and accompanying age-group information help connect patterns in the sample to specific areas for intervention:

• Noun-phrase elaboration: limited use of details within noun phrases can point toward targets for expanding how the child describes people, objects, or places.
• Verb-phrase elaboration: patterns in auxiliary verbs, copulas, and other verb constructions can help identify which sentence structures to address.
• Grammatical morphemes: recurring omissions or errors involving plurals, possessives, tense, or agreement can point toward targets for those particular forms.

For example, the 2023 tutorial’s intervention discussion, pages 39–40, describes a child whose subanalysis showed few noun-phrase elaborations, omitted copulas and third-person singular markers, and no infinitive verbs. Those findings identify specific grammatical areas to examine for goal development, beyond a general aim to increase sentence length. An omitted form and a construction that simply did not occur in the conversation warrant different follow-up.

The forms are organized by age group, with space for examples and notes. Their value for goal planning is the connection between the child’s actual utterances and the grammatical structures that may need attention.

Useful SUGAR materials

• A Sweet Tutorial to the SUGAR Method of Language Sampling, Pavelko & Owens (2023). Published in ASHA’s Perspectives. Contains the collection and counting rules, normative table, and an annotated example showing how one transcript is adapted for each calculation. Access is through ASHA Publications or your university library, depending on your subscription.
• Training modules and sample transcripts. Demonstrations of collection, transcription, quantitative analysis, and grammatical subanalysis, with practice materials.
• Norms by Age. The reference table for comparing the four measures with age-group values.
• Subanalysis forms and handouts. Age-group forms for examining grammatical structures, plus supporting materials on noun and verb phrases.