The CALT (Certified Academic Language Therapist) credential is awarded by ALTA (Academic Language Therapy Association) to specialists in Structured Literacy instruction. CALTs primarily serve students with dyslexia and related language-based learning disabilities using the Orton-Gillingham approach — a systematic, sequential, cumulative, explicit, and multisensory method that the neuroscience of reading consistently supports. Practice with the free CALT - Certified Academic Language Therapist practice test on PracticeTestGeeks (7 questions with answer explanations).
Our free printable PDF is packed with exam-style questions covering phonological awareness, phonics and decoding, syllable types, morphology, standardized assessment, and intervention techniques. Print it, work through every question, score your answers, then sharpen your weaknesses with the online CALT practice test for timed practice.
Interactive CALT - Certified Academic Language Therapist resources on PracticeTestGeeks, free to start:
Facts verified Oct 20, 2026 against Academic Language Therapy Association. Dates that have passed are removed automatically.
| Item | Detail | Official source |
|---|---|---|
| Number of questions | 75 multiple-choice questions | Academic Language Therapy Association |
| Time limit | 2 hours | Academic Language Therapy Association |
| Passing score | 76% | Academic Language Therapy Association |
| Exam fee | $180 exam administration fee | Academic Language Therapy Association |
| Retake fee | $180 per retake | Academic Language Therapy Association |
| Retake policy | Unlimited retakes within 1 year; reapply after that | Academic Language Therapy Association |
| Validity | Renewed annually | Academic Language Therapy Association |
| Renewal | 10 CE hours per year | Academic Language Therapy Association |
| Delivery | Prometric test center or remote proctoring | Academic Language Therapy Association |
| Score release | Immediately after the exam; ALTA notified about a week later | Academic Language Therapy Association |
| Testing window | Within 1 year of application approval | Academic Language Therapy Association |
Facts verified Oct 20, 2026 against Academic Language Therapy Association. Dates that have passed are removed automatically.
The CALT exam is built on the structured literacy framework: phonology, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and oral language. Instruction must be systematic, sequential, cumulative, explicit, and multisensory. Candidates must distinguish these attributes from general reading instruction and explain why each is critical for students with dyslexia.
Questions test phoneme identification, segmenting, blending, and manipulation tasks. You must know the difference between phonological awareness (sound structure of spoken language at multiple levels) and phonemic awareness (awareness of individual phonemes only). Phonological memory and its role in decoding are also tested.
The six syllable types are a cornerstone of the exam: closed (short vowel, ends in consonant), open (ends in vowel, long vowel sound), vowel-consonant-e (VCe, silent e makes vowel long), vowel team (two letters make one vowel sound), r-controlled (vowel controlled by r), and consonant-le (unaccented final syllable). Morphology questions address prefixes, suffixes, and Latin/Greek roots. Spelling rules include the doubling rule, the drop-e rule, and the change-y-to-i rule. Candidates must understand the difference between encoding (spelling) and decoding (reading).
The exam covers major standardized tools: CTOPP-2 (phonological processing), TOWRE-2 (word reading efficiency), GORT-5 (oral reading fluency and comprehension), and KTEA-3 (academic achievement). Diagnostic reading inventory and error analysis — categorizing substitutions, omissions, additions, and reversals — are also tested.
Know the standard OG lesson structure: review of previously learned concepts, introduction of a new concept, guided practice with immediate corrective feedback. Multisensory techniques — visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile (VAKT) — must be explained and applied. Progress monitoring methods and how to adjust instruction based on data are tested throughout.
Fluency instruction includes repeated reading, timed reading, and reader theater. Vocabulary instruction covers explicit teaching of academic and tier-two words. Comprehension strategies address text structure, inferencing, and graphic organizers. Written expression — sentence construction, paragraph organization, and essay writing — rounds out the content domain.
The phonological processing model and the dual-route model of reading (lexical and non-lexical routes) are testable. Brain imaging research showing that structured literacy intervention normalizes neural activation patterns in students with dyslexia provides the scientific foundation for the CALT credential.
The printable PDF helps you study away from screens, but timed testing under exam conditions is essential for certification readiness. Use the online CALT practice test to answer questions on a timer, read answer explanations that reinforce the underlying theory, and confirm you can apply syllable type rules, assessment selection, and Orton-Gillingham methodology under pressure on exam day.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Validates your knowledge and skills objectively | Study materials can be expensive |
| Increases job market competitiveness | Exam anxiety can affect performance |
| Provides structured learning goals | Requires dedicated preparation time |
| Networking opportunities with other certified professionals | Retake fees apply if you don't pass |
Try these questions from our free CALT - Certified Academic Language Therapist practice tests. The correct answer and an explanation follow each question.
Under IDEA, academic language therapy provided by a CALT is classified as which type of service?
Answer: B. A related service
IDEA defines 'related services' as developmental, corrective, and supportive services required to help a child with a disability benefit from special education. Academic language therapy addresses the specific language and literacy deficits underlying dyslexia and qualifies as a related service that can be mandated in a student's IEP.
During a lesson, a therapist notices a student consistently misspelling 'jump' as 'gump'. The therapist immediately stops, reviews the sounds for /j/ and /g/, and provides practice discriminating between them. This is an example of:
Answer: C. Diagnostic teaching
Diagnostic teaching means the instruction is constantly informed by the student's performance. The therapist acts as a diagnostician, identifying the source of an error (in this case, a sound confusion) and prescribing an immediate, targeted mini-lesson to correct it before moving on.
Which method of documenting student progress during academic language therapy is most consistent with evidence-based professional practice?
Answer: B. Systematic, session-by-session data tracking mastery of specific targeted skills
Evidence-based practice requires systematic data collection at each session to monitor whether a student is mastering targeted skills and to guide instructional decisions. Anecdotal or low-frequency documentation does not provide sufficient data for adjusting intervention and does not meet professional standards for progress monitoring.
A CALT receives a referral from a physician who also sends paying clients to the CALT's private practice in exchange for referrals. This arrangement most likely violates:
Answer: B. Prohibitions against fee-splitting and conflicts of interest
Exchanging referrals for financial benefit constitutes fee-splitting and a conflict of interest, both prohibited under professional ethics codes including ALTA's.
Take the full CALT - Certified Academic Language Therapist practice test