ABSTRACT
Accurate assessment of the morpho-syntactic skills of Spanish-speaking children depends
on the clinician's understanding of the morpho-syntactic system and on the development
of tasks that obligate the use of structures of interest. In this article, the nature
and acquisition of the Spanish morphosyntactic system is outlined. The aspects of
the system that are likely to be difficult for children with language impairments
and those that are critical to communicative competence are emphasized, as the clinician
must take these into account when planning assessment tasks. The analysis of spontaneous
language samples and the use of structured probes are discussed as alternatives for
assessment. The naturalness and linguistic demands of assessment tasks are also considered
because they are critical to understanding children's performance on morpho-syntactic
tasks.
KEYWORD
Spanish-speaking children - morphosyntax - language assessment
