Foundations of TILLS: Full-Day Workshop

Learn the essential foundations of using the Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills (TILLS)—the groundbreaking assessment that tests oral and written language skills in students ages 6–18. Led by an experienced and engaging TILLS expert, this full-day training workshop will show participants how to administer and score TILLS with fidelity and use it for its three intended purposes:

• Identifying developmental language disorder (DLD), dyslexia, or mixed profiles
• Providing a profile of a student’s relative strengths and weaknesses
• Tracking change over time

This interactive workshop will help participants realize the full potential of TILLS, the only school-age comprehensive oral and written language assessment built on an evidence-based model. Participants will get opportunities to complete exercises and work with colleagues in small groups. Each participant will receive a digital course workbook where they will complete activities, reference key information, and collect notes. Those who successfully complete the training will receive a certificate of completion.

Participants will gain a clear understanding of:

• The myths around school-age assessments that may cause confusion in interpretation
• How to use the Student Language Scale (SLS) to screen and plan for assessment
• Fundamentals of the TILLS assessment
• The need for evidence-based models to make sense of results
• Psychometric principles that will help make sense of scores when a variety of tests are used by different team members
• How to administer and score each of the 15 TILLS subtests
• How to save time and ensure accuracy with the TILLS EasyScore^TM
• How to interpret the TILLS Record Form
• Effective use of the TILLS writing report template

After the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Administer and score the SLS and TILLS with fidelity
• Describe the two language levels of assessment that cross oral and written language modalities, and compute the composite scores
• Graphically represent students’ language/literacy strengths and weaknesses, including the profile associated with dyslexia
• Use the TILLS EasyScore^TM to complete the TILLS Record Form
• Decrease the time spent on assessment and report writing
• Effectively communicate and share results with colleagues and students’ families using the TILLS writing report template

Who should attend:

This seminar is designed to meet the needs of the novice as well as intermediate/advanced professionals working with school-age students with language and literacy learning difficulties.

Required products:

A digital course workbook will be distributed to participants before the training begins. Participants are required to have access to a copy of the TILLS Examiner’s Kit and have a blank copy of the TILLS Examiner Record Form, TILLS Student Response Form, and the SLS.