(CTOPP-2) Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing, Second Edition

BY RICHARD K. WAGNER, JOSEPH K. TORGESEN, CAROL A. RASHOTTE, AND NILS A. PEARSON

Audio files for the CTOPP-2 are available for download here.

The CTOPP-2 is a revision of the widely used CTOPP, which was first published in 1999 to meet the need for an assessment of reading-related phonological processing skills. Since its publication CTOPP has been popular with both psychology and education professionals and has been used in many studies with both typical and clinical populations. For CTOPP-2, new normative data were collected in 2008 and 2009 on a nationally representative sample of 1,900 individuals. 

The CTOPP-2 has four principal uses:

1. Identify individuals who are significantly below their peers in important phonological abilities
2. Determine strengths and weaknesses in already developed phonological processes
3. Document individuals’ progress in phonological processing as a consequence of special intervention programs
4. Serve as a measurement device in research studies investigating phonological processing

In addition to the new normative data, the floor effects in the first-edition version for 5- and 6-year-olds have been eliminated by adding easier items. The ceilings have been extended by adding more difficult items. With the addition of these new items, it is now appropriate to administer CTOPP-2 to 4-year-olds. A new phonological awareness subtest (Phoneme Isolation) has also been added.

CTOPP-2 Subtests:

• Elision
• Blending Words
• Sound Matching
• Phoneme Isolation
• Blending Nonwords
• Segmenting Nonwords
• Memory for Digits
• Nonword Repetition
• Rapid Digit Naming
• Rapid Letter Naming
• Rapid Color Naming
• Rapid Object Naming

The CTOPP-2 yields six types of normative scores: age equivalents, grade equivalents, percentile ranks, subtest scaled scores, composite indexes, and developmental scores. The five composite indexes are:

Phonological Awareness Composite Score (PACS)

Awareness of and access to the phonological structure of oral language

Phonological Memory Composite Score (PMCS)

Ability to code information phonologically for temporary storage in working or short-term memory 

Rapid Symbolic Naming Composite Score (RSNCS)

Ability to include efficient retrieval of phonological information from long-term or permanent memory and execute a sequence of operations quickly and repeatedly

Rapid Non-Symbolic Naming Composite Score (RNNCS)

Ability to include efficient retrieval of phonological memory from long-term or permanent memory and execute a sequence of operations quickly and repeatedly using objects and colors

Alternate Phonological Awareness Composite Score (APACS)

Measures the examinee’s phonological awareness exclusively with nonwords

Terms Often used to search for (CTOPP-2) Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing

CTOPP, CTOPP 2, CTOPP test, manual, scoring