More Assessment Info

Some examples of assessments – s/z ratio (criterion referenced) s/z ratio ▫Voice assessment ▫Resperatory and phonatory efficiency ▫/s/ & /z/ 3 times each as long as possible ▫Longest s /longest z = s/z ration  1.0 – normal respiration/phonation  1.0 with shortened duration – ? Efficiency in resp  1.2 or greater, possible vocal fold pathology

Examples – MLU calcuation (criterion- referenced) Language sample = utterances & morphemes ▫Written down transcript of the child’s utterances ▫Add of # of utterances and # of morphemes in each utterance ▫Morphemes/utterances = MLU ▫Need a sizable amount of utterances to gain an more appropriate MLU ▫Know developmental norms to understand whether a kid’s MLU is delayed or not ▫Perform cautiously

Behavioral Observation No predetermined standard Helpful in measuring: ▫Presence or absence of a behavior ▫Freq, rate, magnitude, or duration of its occurrence ▫Situations in which this behavior is likely to occur Both qualitative and quantitative Can be in real-time or videotaped

Qualitative Observations Qualitative ▫Prolonged observations by highly trained observers ▫Describe how a person approaches a task ▫Error patterns ▫Ability to self-correct ▫Modifiability of the behavior ▫Potential directions for effective intervention

Quantitative Observations Make a list of behaviors you wish to observe, define those behaviors, and select context of observation Have recording system to measure ▫Tally sheet ▫Rating scale ▫questionairre Ability to record feelings and attitudes P.60 & 62 in book

Areas of Assessment - Language Content (Semantics) vocabulary concepts linkages of ideas Form syntax morphology phonology prosody- melody of speech Use (pragmatics) interactional aspects using conversational rules communicative intents (request, protests, comments) perspective taking

Areas of Assessment - Language Comprehension – (can’t directly observe this) ▫We must infer from behaviors ▫“point to the picture’ “follow direction” ▫Developmental milestones important ▫Both standardized and nonstandardized info is important

Areas of Assessment - Language Expression - context matters, like in comprehension Communicative partners influence each other’s productions Measure: ▫Size and use of vocabulary, semantic relations in word combinations ▫Use of grammatical and morphonological structures ▫Phonology ▫Pragmatics ▫Prosody ▫(labeling pictures, describing picture, defining words, filling in blanks, constructing sentences, imitating sentences

Areas of Assessment – Motor Speech Phonology and Articulation ▫Perception ▫Production ▫Motor structures ▫Structured speech as well as spontaneous speech

Areas of Assessment : Voice Eval of individuals ▫Pitch ▫Loudness ▫Voice quality ▫Resonance ▫Speaking rate ▫Phonation ▫Respiration ▫These are basically done through perceptual tests followed by a videostroboscopy ▫

Areas of Assessment - Fluency Eval ▫Speech behaviors ▫Client’s feelings and attitudes toward communication and stuttering ▫Speech sample  Reading & conversational sample  % of syllables and words stuttered  Speech rate, timing duration of blocks, describing the disfluencies ▫Types  Repetitions  Prolongations  Blocks  Secondary characteristics

Areas of Assessment- Hearing Early assessment ▫Behavioral observation ▫Visual reinforcement audiometry ▫Play audiometry ▫Electrophysiological testing  ABR – records electrical activity from the Aud nerve  OAE – how ear processes sounds (microphone & speaker) Later assessment ▫Pure tone audiometry ▫Speech audiometry ▫Immittance testing - eardrum ▫ re=relatedhttp:// re=related ▫ALL SLP assessments should include a hearing screen

Areas of Assessment – AAC & Dysphagia Both require additional specialized expertise as well as knowledge of various other tx and instrumentation

Other important areas – Team player Cognitive – cognition & language are closely related ▫Play assessments, Piagetian tasks, etc. ▫Adults – Mini Mental State exam Literacy ▫Western Aphasia Battery – adults ▫OWLS – Oral & Written Langauge Scales ▫Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery Social/emotional/behavioral ▫Interview ▫Vineland ▫Info gathering Motor functioning ▫Oral motor exam ▫Team assessment

Planning for an Assessment Presenting problem? Who referred? How is problem viewed? What do you already know? What do you want to find out during the assessment? What data is missing that you need? How will you find out what you want to know? Tests, contexts, sequence of assessments

Steps in Assessment Process ReferralData gatheringDXResults Records history Problem/not Recommendations

What’s involved? Data gathering – ‘preassessment phase” ▫Case history ▫Family interview ▫Record review ▫Consult with other professionals Administration of assessment instruments Scoring & Interpretation of data (assessment results are combined with preassessment data to try to obtain a full picture of the individual) Severity (if disordered) Prognosis Recommendations Share info with family Clinical report

Challenges to Assessment Clients can be: ▫Withdrawn, noncompliant, impulsive, overly active, have severe medical, psychological, or cognitive issues Setting can be ▫Too restrictive, too distracting ▫May take more than one context Time can be ▫Too short ▫May take more than one session

FINAL NOTES on Assessment Lots of ways to gather info on a client – no matter how difficult Assessments can only give a limited view of the client Assessments are a means to an end = the development of effective intervention plans to meet the individual needs of the clients.