Assessment

Determining if you or your child can benefit from speech-language therapy

Your child’s or your overall speech and language skills will be assessed using a combination of parent/client interview, play-based informal assessment and formal standardized testing. The duration of an assessment (interview, informal and formal testing) varies according to age, history of previous assessments, the severity of the speech/language deficit, as well as the collaboration and attention of the person. A screening lasts approximately one hour to determine the need for formal testing.

Our Process

1

Parent/Client Interview

During the initial parent or client interview, client/parent, physician, and teacher concerns will be discussed. Additionally, we will examine medical history, developmental milestones, language acquisition (bilingual clients), educational history and family history.

2

Informal Assessment

During the informal assessment portion, we use a variety of toys, books or videos to elicit a spontaneous speech and language sample. Then we transcribe and analyze the spontaneous sample to determine if there are any speech and/or language anomalies. For instance, we analyze a child’s language sample to determine if their language consists of all the age-appropriate morphemes. We also take a narrative language sample to informally analyze higher level language skills (e.g. sequencing, reasoning, perspective taking) according to age.

3

Formal Assessment

A formal assessment can be conducted for speech, language, voice, fluency and swallowing. The most common types of assessments are for speech and language. Here is a brief description of what we examine during a speech or language assessment:

  • Which sounds are produced inadequately and how they are produced
  • Where speech errors occur in words
  • How you or your child’s speech compares to children with typically developing speech skills
  • Concepts, vocabulary, and grammar you or your child understands
  • Ability to appropriately express knowledge of concepts, vocabulary, and grammar in a variety of situations
  • How you or your child’s receptive and expressive language compares to same-age peers with typically developing language
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