Deck 7: Assessment Preparation, Purpose, and Types

Question 1

List five areas of foundation knowledge that support SLPs professional competence during an assessment.

Answer 1

1. Language development and disorders: Understanding typical language development and the various types of language disorders is essential for SLPs to accurately assess and diagnose communication difficulties in their clients.

2. Speech production and phonology: Knowledge of how speech sounds are produced and the patterns of speech sound errors helps SLPs identify and address articulation and phonological disorders during assessment.

3. Hearing and auditory processing: SLPs need to have a strong foundation in understanding the auditory system and how hearing loss or auditory processing difficulties can impact communication and language development.

4. Cognitive-communication disorders: Familiarity with the cognitive processes involved in communication, such as attention, memory, and problem-solving, is crucial for SLPs to assess and treat individuals with cognitive-communication disorders, such as those resulting from traumatic brain injury or dementia.

5. Assessment and diagnostic procedures: SLPs must have a solid understanding of assessment tools and procedures, including standardized tests, informal assessments, and observation techniques, in order to accurately evaluate their clients' communication abilities and make appropriate recommendations for intervention.

Question 2

What does ethical practice involve?

Answer 2

Ethical practice involves adhering to a set of principles and standards that guide behavior in a variety of settings, ensuring that actions are consistent with moral and professional norms. It encompasses a wide range of activities and decisions, and while the specifics can vary depending on the context—such as in business, medicine, law, or personal conduct—there are common elements that define ethical practice across all domains.

Here are some key components of ethical practice:

1. **Honesty and Integrity**: Being truthful and transparent in one's actions and communications, and maintaining consistency between one's values and behavior.

2. **Respect for Others**: Treating individuals with dignity, valuing their rights, and considering their interests and well-being in decision-making processes.

3. **Accountability**: Taking responsibility for one's actions and their consequences, and being willing to explain and justify one's decisions when necessary.

4. **Fairness**: Ensuring impartiality and justice in one's dealings, and striving to make decisions that do not favor one party over another unduly.

5. **Confidentiality**: Protecting the privacy of information that is entrusted to an individual or organization, and not disclosing it without proper authorization or necessity.

6. **Professional Competence**: Maintaining and improving one's professional knowledge and skills to ensure that services are provided effectively and according to current standards.

7. **Lawfulness**: Complying with applicable laws, regulations, and professional guidelines, and avoiding actions that are illegal or could bring disrepute to the profession.

8. **Conflict of Interest Management**: Identifying and appropriately managing situations where personal interests could influence, or appear to influence, professional judgment or actions.

9. **Social Responsibility**: Considering the broader impact of one's actions on society and the environment, and striving to contribute positively to the community.

10. **Continuous Improvement**: Regularly reviewing and reflecting on one's ethical practices, and seeking to learn from experience and feedback to enhance ethical decision-making in the future.

Ethical practice is not just about avoiding wrongdoing; it is also about actively doing good, promoting trust, and contributing to the creation of a fair and just society. It requires ongoing reflection and a commitment to personal and professional growth. In professional settings, ethical practice is often supported by codes of ethics or conduct that provide guidance on the expectations for behavior within a particular field or organization.

Question 3

Define the term cultural competence.

Answer 3

Cultural competence refers to the ability of individuals and organizations to interact effectively with people of different cultures and socio-economic backgrounds. It involves having an awareness of one's own cultural worldview, gaining knowledge of different cultural practices and worldviews, developing positive attitudes towards cultural differences, and honing skills that allow one to work effectively in cross-cultural situations.

To be culturally competent doesn't mean you are an authority in the values and beliefs of every culture. Instead, it means you are conscious of your own cultural influences and attitudes, and you are respectful and responsive to the cultural norms and practices of others. This competence is increasingly recognized as a vital skill in various fields, including healthcare, education, business, and social services, where professionals must often interact with clients from a diverse range of backgrounds.

Cultural competence is built on the principles of trust, respect for diversity, equity, fairness, and social justice. It is a dynamic, ongoing developmental process that requires a long-term commitment to learning and reflection. Culturally competent individuals and organizations do not just acknowledge diversity but also actively seek to understand and embrace the cultural differences that may affect their interactions and relationships with others.

Question 4

How could a family of a child with a speech sound disorder be involved in an assessment, including pre-assessment planning?

Question 5

Describe the type of context or environment conducive to an assessment with 4-year-old children with a suspected speech sound disorder.

Question 6

List five different professionals (education and/or medical) who might be involved in an assessment for a child referred because of concerns of his or her speech.

Question 7

Compare and contrast the terms multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary practice.

Question 8

Create an inventory of topics to be discussed during a case history interview with a parent of a child with suspected speech sound disorder.

Question 9

Compare and contrast how families with an Asian versus non-Asian background might write their names and calculate date-of-birth for their children.

Question 10

State four different purposes of assessment.

Question 11

Explain why it is important that SLPs have knowledge, skills, and cultural competence to assess children with suspected speech sound disorders.

Question 12

Examine the possible benefits and limitations of a 90-minute initial speech pathology assessment with a 7-year-old child referred because of concerns about reduced speech intelligibility.

Question 13

Comment on the possible clinical implications of many standardized speech assessment tools and procedures being been normed on WEIRD populations, where WEIRD stands for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (Henrich, Heine, & Norenzayan, 2010).

Question 14

Outline how SLPs can develop cultural competence.

Question 15

Discuss the pros and cons of multidisciplinary practice versus transdisciplinary practice.

Question 16

Identify and critique case history questionnaires. As part of your critique, consider whether the case history questionnaires address the range of risk and protective factors addressed in

Question 17

Outline strategies for documenting children's language use and proficiency, and the importance of gathering this information.

Question 18

How could you involve the child and his or her siblings (or friends) in an assessment, so as to better understand the child and the impact of his or her suspected speech sound disorder on day-to-day activities and participation?

Question 19

Choose two different types of assessments (e.g., standardized and informal; norm-referenced and criterion-referenced; screening and diagnostic; static and dynamic assessments) then compare and contrast the benefits and limitations of each type.

Question 20

Discuss the importance of sensitive, specificity, validity (predictive, concurrent, construct, content) and reliability (internal consistency, test-retest reliability, inter- and intra-rater reliability) when developing screening and comprehensive norm-referenced standardized tests of children's speech.

Question 21

An awareness of the potential biases and assumptions that you bring to assessments and interactions with children and families who are different from you reflects:

A) empathy and sensitivity.
B) cultural competence.
C) professional integrity.
D) ethical conduct.

Question 22

The three key elements to building cultural competence included:

A) self-awareness, self-reflection, and cultural humility.
B) adaptation of speech-language pathology services; using translators; being multilingual.
C) self-awareness, self-reflection, and cultural humility; knowledge of culture and language; adaptation of services.
D) knowledge of culture and language; adaptation of services; use of translators.

Question 23

A multidisciplinary team could be described as:

A) professionals working independently within their own discipline-specific parameters.
B) professionals working in a coordinated organizational structure to identify a child's areas of need and sharing the responsibility for the child's outcomes across the team.
C) professionals working across disciplines in a team, with team members expanding their traditional roles.
D) professionals typically work together in a joint manner providing integrated services to families such that discipline boundaries do not exist.

Question 24

People from Asian countries, including China and Vietnam, typically write their names with the:

A) surname last.
B) middle name first.
C) surname first.
D) maternal grandfather's surname first followed by paternal grandfather's surname.

Question 25

When drawing a genetic pedigree, the convention is to:

A) draw squares for males, circles for females, identify the focus child with an arrow, and use dark shading to indicate family members with an identified area of difficulty.
B) draw squares for females, circles for males, identify the focus child with an dot, and use dark shading to indicate family members with an identified area of difficulty.
C) draw squares for males, circles for females, identify the focus child with a star, and triangles to indicate family members with an identified area of difficulty.
D) draw squares for females, circles for males, identify the focus child with dark shading, and use asterisk to indicate family members with an identified area of difficulty.

Question 26

Approximately how many of the world's population speak more than one language?

A) 25%
B) 33%
C) 50%
D) 75%

Question 27

The factor in preschool-aged children that predicts literacy and numeracy outcomes for children at 8 to 9 years is:

A) speaking more than one language.
B) number of siblings.
C) parental concern about speech and language.
D) speaking more than two languages.

Question 28

The four purposes of assessment include:

A) description, differential diagnosis, intervention planning, and outcome measurement.
B) screening assessment, individual assessment, strategic assessment and prognostic assessment.
C) screening, differential diagnosis, strategic assessment and outcome measurement.
D) description, diagnosis, outcome measurement and service evaluation.

Question 29

Emily (6; 4years) is to have a detailed descriptive assessment. This type of assessment would be most useful for:

A) determining whether Emily does or does not have a speech sound disorder.
B) deciding whether Emily would benefit from intervention, and if so, what goals to work on.
C) identifying whether Emily has made progress over the course of a block of intervention.
D) describing Emily's areas of strength and difficulty, and how Emily functions in the context of her daily life.

Question 30

Of the following assessments, the least useful tool for measuring intervention outcome would be:

A) a standardized articulation screening assessment tool.
B) single-word probe of the specific phonological processes targeted in intervention.
C) parent completed speech intelligibility rating scale.
D) Focus on the Outcomes of Children Under Six (FOCUS) (Thomas-Stonell et al., 2012).

Question 31

The type of assessment that always has consistent test materials, consistent procedures for test administration, and consistent scoring rules is:

A) a standardized assessment.
B) an informal assessment.
C) a criterion-reference assessment.
D) a dynamic assessment.

Question 32

The type of assessment considered ideal for measuring a child's performance against his or her ability to produce a target skill is a:

A) conversational speech assessment.
B) criterion-referenced assessment.
C) standardized assessment.
D) screening assessment.

Question 33

A large community would like to conduct mass-level population speech screening of each 4-year-old. This would best be undertaken by:

A) SLPs only using a diagnostic assessment tool.
B) doctors, community nurses, or teachers using a diagnostic assessment tool.
C) SLPs only using a direct speech screening assessment tool.
D) doctors, community nurses, or teachers using a screening assessment tool.

Question 34

If a screening assessment tool is promoted as having good sensitivity, this means it has:

A) the ability to identify the absence of a speech sound disorder in a child who does not have a speech sound disorder.
B) the ability to identify the presence of a speech sound disorder in a sensitive and shy child.
C) the ability to identify the presence of a speech sound disorder in a child who has a speech sound disorder.
D) the ability to identify the absence of a speech sound disorder in a sensitive and shy child.

Question 35

Bailey (3;2 years) is undergoing a static assessment of his speech production skills. This means that, the SLP is assessing Bailey's:

A) speech production performance at one point in time, with no feedback on articulation accuracy.
B) capacity to produce consonants in initial- within word and word-final positions, given feedback and prompting.
C) speech sound stimulability.
D) oromotor function.

Question 36

Dominic (5;2 years) is a monolingual English-speaking child and has velar fronting. He is undergoing a dynamic speech production assessment. This most likely means that the SLP is:

A) evaluating Dominic's capacity to produce velars in a variety of linguistic environments, with a variety of cues.
B) collecting a baseline of Dominic's ability to produce velars in consonant singleton and consonant cluster contexts across word positions, on at least 10 words.
C) assessing Dominic's ability to perceive velar contrasts in words.
D) comparing Dominic's' production of velars in single-word versus conversational speech contexts.

Question 37

The Dynamic Evaluation of Motor Speech Skill (DEMSS) (Strand, McCauley, Weigand, Stoeckel, & Baas, 2013) involves:

A) assessing a child's ability to produce consonants and consonant clusters in different linguistic environments and with different levels of cues.
B) assessing a preschooler's proficiency to learn to speak English given auditory models for imitation and phonetic cues.
C) assessing a child's responses to cues and facilitation in syllables and utterances of increasing length.
D) assessing the articulation accuracy, word and syllable structure inventories, and prosodic abilities of children with suspected childhood apraxia of speech using a standardized test.

Question 38

Isaac's parents would like to find out whether or not Isaac (4;9 years) has a speech sound disorder. The most important assessment tool needed to conduct the assessment is:

A) the SLP.
B) standardized test.
C) picture-naming task.
D) digital voice recorder.

Question 39

Before conducting research with a 4-year-old child about his or her speech acquisition, it is appropriate to gain:

A) a signed informed consent form from the child.
B) verbal or written informed assent from the child.
C) ethical approval from the child.
D) verbal informed consent from the child.

Question 40

You have received a referral letter for a child with a Chinese name, Ng Kit Sum. In Western countries the child's name would be written as:

A) Ng Kit Sum.
B) Kit Sum Ng.
C) Sum Ng Kit.
D) Kit Sum.