The Arabic Picture Vocabulary Test (APVT) was derived from the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test in order to provide an estimate of a student's acquired verbal ability in Arabic (Modern Standard Arabic) through his or her aural vocabulary. It is an individually administered norm-referenced power test for students aged 5 to 9 plus years. Each item consists of a page of pictures together with a spoken word. The test was expected to be appropriate for the evaluation of Omani children as a measure of verbal ability. Because a pilot study involving 150 Omani students was encouraging, standardization studies were undertaken in 1993 with a representative sample of 1,600 Omani students in grades K through 4. Norms development then began with a careful check of the individual test records. Deviation-type norms and developmental-type norms were derived. Adequate reliability was found, and the concurrent validity of the test for this sample was supported. Cross-validation studies will be ongoing to establish construct validity and enable academic predictions. (Contains 5 tables and 61 references.) (SLD)