The purpose of the study was to determine if short language samples can effectively distinguish children with language impairments from those who are typically developing. Four elicitation methods (individual picture descriptions, multi-scene picture description, narrative, and interview) were administered to 14 typically developing children and 3 children with language impairments in Chapel Hill, NC as well as to 16 typically developing children in Greenville, NC. Each task was administered 3 times and lasted 1 minute. All samples were collected and transcribed by the principal investigator and then analyzed using 5 general language sample measures (Number of Total Words, Number of Different Words, Number of Total Utterances, Mean Length of Utterance, Errors/Omissions). Intercorrelations between the elicitation tasks were found for each measure and then the effect size was determined comparing the typically developing children and children with language impairments in Chapel Hill, NC. Significant correlations were observed between most measures. A review of the correlation strength revealed the strongest relationships between the descriptions of individual pictures and multi-scene picture description tasks. Notable differences were observed between children with language impairments and typically developing children. The largest group differences were observed for the Number of Different Words measure. The results suggest that the short language samples produce meaningful information and are clinically feasible.  M.S
