TAPS-3: Test of Auditory Processing Skills - Third Edition

Ages: 4-0 through 18-11
Testing time: 1 hour
Administration: individual

TAPS-3 provides a way to identify particular auditory processes that the individual may be having difficulties with, allowing appropriate remediation strategies to be planned. This assessment was developed to be used by speech-language pathologists, audiologists, and other clinicians who are interested in, and have been trained to assess, a child's ability to comprehend auditory information.

Structure of the TAPS-3 represents current views of auditory processing. Subtests (and items within each subtest) progress from the most basic skills to the most complex. Nine subtests provide information for four main areas (reflected as Index scores), confirmed by factor analysis. There is also one optional subtest presented on CD.

Subtests included:

• Word Discrimination
• Phonological Segmentation
• Phonological Blending
• Numbers Forward
• Numbers Reversed
• Word Memory
• Sentence Memory
• Auditory Comprehension
• Auditory Reasoning

Individual subtest scores are combined to derive three Cluster Scores: Basic Auditory Skills (Word Discrimination, Phonological Segmentation, and Phonological Blending), Auditory Memory (Number Memory Forward, Number Memory Reversed, Word Memory, and Sentence Memory), and Auditory Cohesion (Auditory Comprehension and Auditory Reasoning). Overall score is based on the sum of all subtest scaled scores.

Untimed, the TAPS-3 can be individually administered in about 1 hour and scored in 15 to 20 minutes. The Manual provides detailed scoring criteria, with alternate acceptable answers when applicable. Standard scores are generated for individual subtests. Overall and cluster scores take the form of percentile ranks, standard scores, and age equivalents. Norms, based on data from more than 2,000 students, are now nationally stratified to match U.S. Census data in regard to gender, ethnicity, residence, geographic area, and level of parental education.

Complete kit includes Manual, 25 Test Booklets, CD with optional Auditory Figure-Ground task.