CASL assessment

The Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language, Second Edition (CASL-2), a robust assessment tool used to complete comprehensive communication evaluations, helps Speech-Language Pathologists evaluate the depths of a client’s language skills.

Let’s break down the components of the CASL-2 and how therapists can effectively use it within their practice.

Summary

• The CASL-2 evaluates receptive, expressive, pragmatic, and higher-level spoken language skills in individuals ages 3 years through 21 years, 11 months.
• Results help SLPs diagnose language disorders, identify communication strengths and weaknesses, and develop individualized therapy goals. Download my SMART goals worksheet.
• The assessment includes multiple subtests that examine vocabulary, grammar, social communication, and supralinguistic language skills.
• Combining CASL-2 results with clinical observations, language samples, and caregiver input provides the most comprehensive picture of communication abilities. Therapists can securely manage documentation and caregiver communication through an EHR like TheraPlatform.

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What is the CASL-2?

Purpose of the CASL-2

The CASL-2 is a research-based standardized assessment that is designed to evaluate the spoken language skills of children and young adults across multiple domains. The assessment provides a comprehensive picture of a client’s receptive, expressive, pragmatic, and higher-level language abilities.

The assessment helps clinicians identify a client’s strengths and difficulties, diagnose language disorders, and develop individualized treatment plans.

Age range and intended population for the CASL-2

The CASL-2 is designed for individuals between ages 3 years, 0 months and 21 years, 11 months. The assessment is often used by SLPs in a variety of settings, including early intervention, schools, private clinics, and young adults transitioning into vocational settings.

When SLPs use the CASL assessment

SLPs often turn to the CASL-2 when evaluating a client who has a suspected language disorder or delay, autism spectrum disorder, learning disability, traumatic brain injury, or cognitive impairment.

The CASL-2 can be used as part of a comprehensive initial communication evaluation. Clinicians can also administer the test during reevaluations to assess a client’s progress and adjust goals over time.

CASL-2 Subtests by Language Domain

Areas measured by the CASL-2 Assessment

The CASL-2 measures 4 specific areas of spoken language, providing an overall look at the client’s communication abilities.

Lexical and semantic language skills

This area measures how well the individual understands and uses vocabulary, including word relationships, synonyms, antonyms, and sentence completion.

Performance on these subtests provides insight into the client’s semantic knowledge and their ability to accurately use language.

Syntactic and grammar skills

These tasks evaluate the client’s ability to comprehend and formulate grammatically correct sentences. It looks at the individual’s understanding and use of various grammatical structures (morphology), such as plurals and verb tenses.

Supralinguistic language skills

This domain measures higher-order language abilities, which are key for supporting academic success as language demands increase. Skills are assessed in the areas of inferencing, figurative language, ambiguous language, and nonliteral meanings.

Pragmatic and social communication skills

The CASL-2 evaluates the client’s use of language in social contexts. This includes the ability to understand social rules, adjust and interpret body language appropriately, and modify language based on the listener.

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CASL-2 subtests overview

The CASL-2 consists of 14 individual subtests. Administration varies according to the individual’s age and the specific areas of concern.

Core subtests

These subtests assess key language domains. Scores contribute to composite scores that are used to provide a summary of the individual’s overall language skills. Clinicians refer to the administration manual to select the appropriate subtests according to the client’s age.

Pragmatic language measures

Unlike many social skills assessments that heavily rely on parent questionnaires, the CASL-2 directly assesses the individual’s social communication skills. The test assesses the client’s ability to interpret social situations, understand expectations within conversations, and select appropriate language for use in various contexts.

Expressive vs. receptive language components

Receptive tasks measure language comprehension, requiring the client to demonstrate understanding or point to specific pictures. Expressive tasks are used to evaluate spoken language, and require a verbal response.

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Administration and scoring of the CASL-2

Administration guidelines and testing time

Administration of the CASL-2 typically takes 45-90 minutes, depending on the client’s age and number of subtests administered. The SLP provides clear administrative prompts and presents stimulus pictures on an easel.

Basal and ceiling rules

To ensure administration is efficient and standardized scoring is maintained, the CASL-2 uses basal and ceiling rules. These rules determine where testing begins and ends for several subtests.

Standard scores and percentiles

Each subtest yields a standard score with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, and a percentile rank to indicate how the client’s performance compares to same-age peers. Age equivalents (where applicable) and composite scores can also be determined.

Interpreting CASL-2 results

SLPs should look beyond the overall composite score and examine index and subtest performance to identify specific language strengths and weaknesses. Identifying discrepancies in these scores helps clinicians identify specific language disorders and make informed clinical diagnoses.

Clinical applications of the CASL-2

Identifying language disorders

The CASL-2 is a comprehensive tool that helps clinicians identify disorders in the areas of expressive language, receptive language, social (pragmatic) communication, and high-level language processing.

Using results for therapy goal writing

SLPs can directly translate the item analysis provided by the CASL-2 into SMART goals. Clinicians are able to use the detailed subtest results to develop targeted goals addressing specific language weaknesses. For example, if a client demonstrates difficulty with inferencing, a SMART goal might target accurately answering inferential questions during structured reading activities with 80% accuracy across three sessions.

Monitoring progress over time

The CASL-2 can be re-administered as part of reevaluations to reliably track a client’s long term progress and adjust therapy recommendations or goals as needed. Clinicians should refer to the CASL-2 manual for guidelines regarding retesting intervals.

Collaboration with parents and teachers

Categorized index scores provide a clear way to explain results to parents and teachers, highlighting the individual’s functional communication strengths and explaining areas of need.

Clinicians can use assessment results to guide discussions with the child’s team on home-based and classroom support strategies.

Strengths and limitations of the CASL-2

Benefits of the assessment

The CASL-2 is especially thorough, providing a comprehensive evaluation of spoken language across several different domains. The assessment is easy to administer and can be used with a broad age range.

Cultural and linguistic considerations

SLPs should consider cultural, linguistic, and dialectal differences when interpreting the results of the CASL-2, as with any standardized assessment. Findings should be interpreted alongside language sampling, dynamic assessment, and other culturally responsive evaluation practices.

When additional assessments may be needed

The CASL-2 assesses spoken language and may not provide a complete picture of an individual's language abilities for clients who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), are non-speaking, or have unintelligible speech. Additional diagnostic tools and play-based assessments should also be integrated as indicated.

Documentation best practices

Writing clear assessment reports

Reports should use clear, understandable language to summarize a client’s overall language performance and explain composite and subtest findings. Clinicians should provide real-world examples of how results relate to functional communication skills.

Documenting strengths and weaknesses

Clinicians should document the client’s relative strengths in addition to difficulties to provide a balanced picture of overall skills. Strengths may indicate ways that families and educational teams can support the client’s communication.

Using EHRs for assessment documentation

Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems can help clinicians streamline assessment documentation. TheraPlatform allows SLPs to build customized evaluation templates, creating reports that automatically populate demographic data and seamlessly integrate standard scores.

The CASL-2 is commonly used to diagnose expressive/receptive language disorders, social (pragmatic) communication disorders, and specific language impairment (SLI). Results can also be used to identify the communication impairments associated with other disorders such as autism and learning disabilities.

The CASL-2 is a comprehensive, versatile assessment that provides highly detailed data on an individual’s language skills across a range of domains. When used alongside clinical observations, language samples, and input from families and educators, it helps SLPs diagnose language disorders and develop individualized treatment plans.

How EHRs can help with documentation

Modern EHR/practice management platforms (such as TheraPlatform) assist greatly with documentation by providing HIPAA‑compliant, integrated systems for note entry, storage, scheduling, and billing.

They allow therapists to:

• Use and customize templates (e.g., SOAP, DAP, and others) or build their own to streamline note writing and ensure consistency.
• Link notes to treatment plans, goals, and session history so client progress is easily tracked over time.
• Utilize e-fax and secure document sharing via client portal to safely exchange information with clients or other providers while maintaining confidentiality.
• Leverage dictation and telehealth transcription, which can automatically convert sessions into therapy or assessment notes, saving time and reducing manual entry.
• Take advantage of AI features that streamline documentation by automatically populating intake form data into assessment templates and generating complete therapy and assessment notes from the information you provide, all with a single click.

Meanwhile, AI‑assisted note tools are emerging which can further help clinicians by:

• Automatically transcribing session audio (if permitted) and highlighting key moments (e.g. emotional shifts, major themes).
• Suggesting draft notes or filling in objective or assessment sections based on observed data, freeing up clinicians’ time.
• Supporting consistency and reducing missing components in notes, which helps from both clinical, legal, and insurance perspectives.

Together, structured SOAP‑type notes, good EHR platforms, and smart AI tools support better therapeutic outcomes, more efficient workflows, and stronger accountability.

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• Billing & payments

• Insurance claims
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• Telehealth
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References

Feehan, A., Pritchard, L., Colozzo, P., Smith, V., & Charest, M. (2025). Language and communication in children with complex tourette syndrome: Insights from five mixed methods case studies. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2025.2529930

Girolamo, T., Ghali, S., Campos, I., & Ford, A. (2022). Interpretation and use of standardized language assessments for diverse school-age individuals. Perspectives of the ASHA special interest groups, 7(4), 981-994. https://pubs.asha.org/doi/abs/10.1044/2022_PERSP-21-00322

Westby, C. (2024). Assessing vocabulary breadth and depth. Word of Mouth, 35(3), 7-9. DOI: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/10483950231211841b