Assessing Communication Disorders

Assessment: clinical evaluation of a client's disorder

• Appraisal: collecting relevant data in at least four different areas: case history, interview with caregivers or other professionals, school and medical records, and evaluation by clinician​

• Diagnosis: the end result of studying and interpreting the data

  • leads to therapeutic decisions and prognostic predictions​

Screening: activities or tests that identify individuals who need further evaluation

• Language screening: can be achieved using formal, standard assessment measures or informal evaluations

• Prosodic screening and testing: measures stress, pitch and duration or rate

• Phonological and phonemic awareness screening

Comprehensive Evaluation: series of activities and tests that provide a detailed and more complete collection of data

• standardized speech assessment and stimulability​

• conversational speech

• hearing screening

• speech mechanism examination

• other relevant measures (such as contextual or cognitive assessment)

Factors to consider when selecting a standardized speech measure

• age appropriateness for the client's age/developmental level​

• ability to provide a standardized score

• analysis of sound errors

• inclusion of adequate sample of the sounds relevant for the client

Two-way scoring: binary. right or wrong.

Five-way scoring: correct, sound deletion, sound substitution, sound distortion, sound addition.

Phonetic transcription: attempt to reflect actualities of spoken language by written symbols

Stimulability testing: probing into the client's ability to produce a misarticulated sound when somehow stimulated by the clinician to do so 

Contextual testing: use of specific phonetic contexts to possibly facilitate correct speech sound production

Testing multisyllabic words: reflects many aspects of a child’s production possibilities

Spontaneous speech sample: obtaining examples of the client's conversational speech in a variety of situations

Cognitive appraisal: results can often be obtained through medical, school, or client records

Assessment of a child’s communicative participation: part of the general framework of the diagnostic process

• effect of the child's speech sound disorder in everyday contexts​