20  Rapid Automatized Naming of Objects

20.1 Task Description

Children are shown a page with 5 unique objects repeated randomly, arranged in five rows of ten. They are asked to name as many objects as quickly as possible.

20.2 Construct

The Rapid Automatized Naming - Objects task measures the construct of automaticity in processing and retrieval of object names. It assesses how quickly and accurately children can name familiar objects, skills that are closely linked to automatic reading.

20.3 Item Development

Target concepts were selected to be appropriate for both English and Spanish speakers in their respective languages. The selection process involved identifying words acquired early in development, characterized by brevity (one or two syllables) in both languages. These words were chosen based on their likely familiarity to students, irrespective of their backgrounds. Additional consideration was given to selecting words from diverse semantic categories, while avoiding phonemes or phonemic clusters known for difficulty in pronunciation in both languages. Additional information about the selected words and their semantic categories, length, frequency, and age of acquisition was also taken into consideration. The five items selected for the English ad Spanish subtest were hand, chair, cheese, moon, and cat.

It is important to note that student performance for completing this task in English and Spanish is not directly comparable. This is due to the rarity of highly imaginable monosyllabic nouns in Spanish. Consequently, while the majority of items in English are monosyllabic –thus, faster to pronounce–, their Spanish counterparts are often disyllabic and phonetically longer, making their labeling slower.

20.4 Scoring

Participating children were presented with a 5x10 grid containing 50 illustrations of the selected objects and were asked to name as fast as they could, and the time taken by the participant to name all objects was recorded. The final score consisted of a rate between the number of accurately named objects (i.e., the total number of objects minus the incorrectly named objects) divided by the total time it took the child to complete namig all items in the grid.

20.5 Samples

Table 20.1: Demographic Characteristics of Samples for the English and Spanish Rapid Automatized Naming of Objects Tasks
Characteristic
English
Spanish
K
N = 2,751
G1
N = 3,104
G2
N = 798
K
N = 1,202
G1
N = 1,192
G2
N = 376
Timepoint





    Fall 2023 461 (18%) 396 (14%) 418 (79%) 438 (44%) 388 (41%) 370 (99%)
    Fall 2024 2,054 (82%) 2,381 (86%) 113 (21%) 568 (56%) 560 (59%) 3 (0.8%)
    Unknown 236 327 267 196 244 3
Administration Format





    Not applicable 2,751 (100%) 3,104 (100%) 798 (100%) 1,202 (100%) 1,192 (100%) 376 (100%)
Race





    American/Alaskan Native 90 (3.6%) 108 (3.8%) 3 (0.4%) 39 (3.4%) 41 (3.5%) 2 (0.5%)
    Asian 181 (7.3%) 222 (7.9%) 83 (11%) 47 (4.1%) 38 (3.2%) 6 (1.6%)
    Black/African American 236 (9.5%) 280 (9.9%) 84 (11%) 12 (1.1%) 17 (1.5%) 3 (0.8%)
    Not reported 295 (12%) 347 (12%) 179 (23%) 422 (37%) 475 (41%) 218 (58%)
    Other 549 (22%) 418 (15%) 92 (12%) 258 (23%) 114 (9.7%) 12 (3.2%)
    White 1,139 (46%) 1,441 (51%) 323 (42%) 361 (32%) 485 (41%) 134 (36%)
    Unknown 261 288 34 63 22 1
Ethnicity





    Hispanic/Latin(o/a) 1,605 (70%) 1,948 (69%) 377 (50%) 1,001 (95%) 1,100 (95%) 345 (92%)
    Intentional nonreport 32 (1.4%) 12 (0.4%) 3 (0.4%) 5 (0.5%) 1 (<0.1%) 0 (0%)
    Not Hispanic/Latin(o/a) 669 (29%) 862 (31%) 374 (50%) 49 (4.6%) 59 (5.1%) 31 (8.2%)
    Unknown 445 282 44 147 32 0
Gender





    Female 1,158 (50%) 1,408 (50%) 360 (47%) 557 (53%) 608 (54%) 195 (52%)
    Male 1,170 (50%) 1,395 (50%) 403 (53%) 496 (47%) 527 (46%) 181 (48%)
    Unknown 423 301 35 149 57 0
Home Language





    English 1,531 (66%) 1,655 (65%) 560 (74%) 167 (15%) 144 (12%) 48 (13%)
    Spanish 702 (30%) 834 (33%) 115 (15%) 956 (85%) 1,018 (87%) 315 (85%)
    Other 93 (4.0%) 75 (2.9%) 81 (11%) 6 (0.5%) 4 (0.3%) 6 (1.6%)
    Unknown 425 540 42 73 26 7
English Proficiency Label





    (Re-)Classified Proficient 87 (4.1%) 139 (5.6%) 61 (8.1%) 94 (9.3%) 138 (12%) 54 (15%)
    English Learner 647 (30%) 758 (31%) 136 (18%) 803 (79%) 861 (77%) 270 (74%)
    English-only 1,394 (66%) 1,569 (64%) 559 (74%) 115 (11%) 122 (11%) 42 (11%)
    Unknown 623 638 42 190 71 10
Ever IEP/504 154 (8.2%) 203 (9.4%) 77 (13%) 79 (8.5%) 93 (9.3%) 33 (12%)
    Unknown 882 938 227 270 187 109

20.6 Score distribution

Figure 20.1: Score Distribution of the English and Spanish Rapid Automatized Naming of Objects Tasks

20.7 Criterion Validity Evidence

20.7.1 Sample

Table 20.2: Demographic Characteristics of the Concurrent Criterion Validity Evidence Samples for the English and Spanish Rapid Automatized Naming of Objects Tasks
Characteristic
English
Spanish
K
N = 209
G1
N = 227
K
N = 163
G1
N = 214
Timepoint



    Spring 2024 209 (100%) 227 (100%) 163 (100%) 214 (100%)
Race



    American/Alaskan Native 2 (1.0%) 4 (1.8%) 5 (3.1%) 3 (1.4%)
    Asian 29 (14%) 30 (13%) 9 (5.5%) 5 (2.4%)
    Black/African American 23 (11%) 26 (11%) 1 (0.6%) 2 (0.9%)
    Not reported 38 (18%) 56 (25%) 64 (39%) 100 (47%)
    Other 50 (24%) 30 (13%) 29 (18%) 8 (3.8%)
    White 67 (32%) 81 (36%) 55 (34%) 94 (44%)
Ethnicity



    Hispanic/Latin(o/a) 99 (47%) 97 (43%) 151 (93%) 199 (93%)
    Intentional nonreport 10 (4.8%) 2 (0.9%) 1 (0.6%) 0 (0%)
    Not Hispanic/Latin(o/a) 100 (48%) 128 (56%) 11 (6.7%) 15 (7.0%)
Gender



    Female 111 (53%) 108 (48%) 95 (58%) 117 (55%)
    Male 98 (47%) 119 (52%) 68 (42%) 97 (45%)
Home Language



    English 151 (73%) 165 (73%) 28 (17%) 30 (14%)
    Spanish 39 (19%) 32 (14%) 135 (83%) 180 (85%)
    Other 18 (8.7%) 28 (12%) 0 (0%) 2 (0.9%)
    Unknown 1 2 0 2
English Proficiency Label



    (Re-)Classified Proficient 17 (9.2%) 26 (12%) 23 (15%) 37 (18%)
    English Learner 38 (21%) 45 (20%) 114 (75%) 149 (71%)
    English-only 129 (70%) 152 (68%) 15 (9.9%) 24 (11%)
    Unknown 25 4 11 4
Ever IEP/504 9 (5.9%) 22 (11%) 8 (5.7%) 17 (9.3%)
    Unknown 57 22 23 32
    Unknown

0 2

English Rapid Automatized Naming of Objects was correlated with two measures: the Objects subtest from the Acadience Learning RAN (Powell-Smith et al. 2020) in kindergarten and first grade, and the RAN Objects subtest from the Rapid Automatized Naming and Rapid Alternating Stimulus Tests (Wolf and Denckla 2003) in second grade.

Spanish Rapid Automatized Naming of Objects was correlated with the Objects subtest from the Acadience Learning RAN (Powell-Smith et al. 2020) in kindergarten and first grade. No rapid naming of objects task could be found in Spanish that was normed on second-grade-aged children in the United States.

These analyses are problematic because of differences in how the measures are scored. The external assessments are scored based on total time, with RAN Objects and RAN Letters being completed in tandem. The Multitudes RANO measure is scored as the number correct divided by the total time and is distinct from RANL. Given these scoring differences, the correlations are difficult to interpret.

Table 20.3: Concurrent Criterion Validity Correlations for the English and Spanish Rapid Automatized Naming of Objects Tasks
English
Spanish
All
EL
All
Grade n r [CI] n r [CI] n r [CI]
K 209 -0.50 [-0.60, -0.39] 38 -0.37 [-0.62, -0.06] 163 -0.58 [-0.67, -0.47]
G1 225 -0.57 [-0.65, -0.47] 45 -0.67 [-0.81, -0.47] 214 -0.61 [-0.69, -0.52]