(TOSS-P) Test of Semantic Skills Primary

The TOSS-P is a receptive and expressive diagnostic test designed to assess a student’s semantic skills and it yields specific information about a student’s vocabulary and semantic abilities.

Children with language and learning disorders are often severely hampered when facing words out of context, new words in reading passages, or when trying to determine word meaning by using context clues. A wide range of receptive and expressive tasks, including skills in categorizing, describing, and defining (not just naming) means the TOSS-P will accurately assess students’ competency with semantics. 

The test is built around six common themes and composed of 20 realistic line illustrations depicting natural, real-life scenes. Test items emphasize vocabulary that is meaningful and relevant to the experiences of young children. There are five subtests and 10 semantic and vocabulary tasks in the TOSS-P. Five tasks are receptive and five are expressive. This parallel allows for analysis and comparison of verbal and nonverbal performance. The multiple question types give students ample opportunities to demonstrate the flexibility, diversity, and richness of their language.

TOSS-P Subtests

The pictures are based on the themes of Learning and Playing, Shopping, Around the House, Working at School, Eating, and Health and Fitness.

• Subtest A: Identifying Labels—point to an item that is named
• Subtest B: Identifying Categories­—point to a member of a category that is named
• Subtest C: Identifying Attributes—given an attribute, point to the appropriate item
• Subtest D: Identifying Functions—point to an item whose functions have been described
• Subtest E: Identifying Definitions—point to an item that has been defined
• Subtest F: Stating Labels—name an item in a picture
• Subtest G: Stating Categories—given three members of a category, name the category
• Subtest H: Stating Attributes—describe an item by stating one of its attributes
• Subtest I: Stating Functions—describe what an item does or what we do with the item
• Subtest J: Stating Definitions—define an item