The purpose of a speech-language evaluation is to measure a child’s communication skills. The speech-language pathologist is highly trained in identifying strengths and weaknesses in child development, and uses a combination of formal evaluation tools, behavioral observations, parent report and background information to determine if a speech and/or language disorder is present.
During your child’s evaluation, testing will occur that compares your child’s skills to those of typically developing peers. Due to the significant variation in the expected speech, language, feeding and social-pragmatic skills across different age ranges, evaluations are protocols differ for each child. Additionally, evaluation protocols will be designed to meet the concerns expressed by the parent, physician and school team. Testing for toddlers involves play-based and interactive assessments while testing for Preschoolers may include a combination of play and formal assessment tools. School-aged testing involves the use of more extensive formal assessments.
If you have any concerns with your child’s speech-language, play, oral-motor, feeding and/or social language development, please call to schedule an initial phone consultation. This will help to determine the appropriate next steps to take for your child.
Types of Assessments:
- Office Consultation/Screening: Following an initial phone consultation, this service includes a brief assessment (between 1-2 hours) with a summary report that includes professional impressions and recommendations. This service is recommended if you are interested in Small Talk 4 Kids services and if your child has been recently evaluated, e.g. Early Intervention, Birth-to-Three or CPSE.
- Early Childhood/Preschooler – Full Evaluation: This type of service is suggested if you feel that your child has more complex and/or multiple areas of speech-language or cognitive functioning. This type of assessment includes speech, articulation and language including vocabulary and concepts, processing and early literacy skills. It also assesses a child’s play skills and how well they are able to use play as a tool for language and concept development.
- Elementary School-Aged – Full Evaluation: This type of service is suggested if you feel your child’s struggles with articulation, understanding age-appropriate language and questions, have difficulty following along with classroom content, struggle with reading and/or writing and if they seem to be have difficulty with language formulation or conversational language. Elementary and School-Aged evaluations are comprehensive and usually take between 2-4 hours to complete.