If the Model Fits ‐‐ an Analysis of the Structure of the Revised Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities for Moderately Mentally Retarded Children∗

From ITPA Language Profiles to the Componential Analysis of Early Reading Processes

“…It was within this context that I conducted a study to test whether the ITPA model t children with moderate intellectual disability, as claimed by the authors, or whether the model was sound but the data did not t (Leong, 1974). In essence, I carried out a psychometric study with 98 such children and analysed the factorial structure of their subtest scores on the revised ITPA.…”

“…The "more serious consideration" (Leong, 1974) was the theoretical model of the ITPA in light of what was known of psycholinguistics in the 1960s and 1970s. In two subsequent papers on language behaviour and functional diagnosis of children with intellectual disability, Leong (1978aLeong ( , 1978b) discussed aspects of the development of phonological skills and grammatical structure of these children.…”

“…The examination of psycholinguistic pro les from the ITPA (Leong, 1974) is a precursor into my inquiry into the phonological and morphological processing of words in children learning to read and spell and in those with reading and spelling dif culties (Leong, 1988(Leong, , 1989a(Leong, , 1992(Leong, , 2000Leong & Parkinson, 1995). Current trends in studying these components of reading and spelling emphasise phonological and morphological processing modulated by psycholinguistic considerations of different language systems (Geva, 1999;Goswami, 2000;Leong & Joshi, 1997).…”

“…The recapitulation of the empirical study on the ITPA (Leong, 1974) is a concrete example of the results of the clinical and statistical training provided to me at the Schonell Research Centre. The clinical aspect taught me to be sensitive to the needs of individual children in the context of the home, school and community.…”

“…In the letter from the Editor of the International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, I was asked as an alumnus of The University of Queensland University and author of several papers published in the Journal to contribute an update to my empirical paper (Leong, 1974) on the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (Kirk & McCarthy, 1961;Kirk, McCarthy, & Kirk, 1968) as applied to children with intellectual disability. The further request was to write "a more conceptual piece, a literature review or a personal re ection" of my research program over some 27 years.…”