What is an informal speech pathology assessment ?

Today's blog is rather different, this is some insight if what we speech pathologists/student speech pathologists use for kids around 3-8.

Perhaps your child is about to have a speech and language assessment and you are wondering what does it entail? Or, even better, this may give you insight into ideas of how to test your child's language skills informally at home.

Often when a child comes to a clinic, both informal and formal assessment will be used, this is so to grasp a holistic view of your child's ability.

An informal assessment discovers your child's ability in a naturalistic and stress-free environment while a formal assessment assesses your child's ability in a more comprehensive way, comparing the scores with the norm (same-aged peers) to determine if where your child sits is the norm.

Here are examples of informal assessment I like to use:

1. Picture description: presenting picture description pictures and ask 'What do you see?'/What is happening in the picture?' (concept imagery, vocabulary, speech fluency)

2. Writing literacy skills: this can be anything from drawing to writing their names (hand gripping, print awareness, writing of alphabets, spelling, phonological awareness)

3. Playing games, games involving turn-taking would be great (social skills, eye contact, turn-taking)

4. Reading stories: depending on what aspect you want to test. If you want to target vocabulary, a book with a general topic e.g. a science book with lots of pictures and content provides plenty of opportunities to speak. If you want to target reading fluency/comprehension, a book with simpler words and content would be better. (reading fluency, vocabulary, recalling of story, reading comprehension, commenting)

5. Flashcards: these can be flashcards about anything e.g. alphabets, words (alphabetical system, letter-sound knowledge, phonological awareness ). Any sorts of flashcards can be easily found online or in book stores.

Do not rush to give them clues or answers! We want to test our child's ability without any prompts.

Note: compared to parents, speech pathologists are trained to administer these assessments. We are aware of what in particular to take note of during the activity to get a more accurate view of how your child interacts with an unfamiliar person, mimicking the social world). Parents could take note of your child's behavior when doing these same activities at home as well.

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Hope you enjoyed this blog. This blog is not to say that parents can just have their assessment at home, the need for a proper and comprehensive speech and language assessment by a certified speech pathologist is needed. This blog is merely to give an idea for parents about what speech pathologists do in assessments and that parents can observe a child's language skills through these activities at home to identify any possible red flags.

Have a great weekend and don't forget to smile!

Joyce Lau