Evaluations
What is a Speech-Language Evaluation?
A thorough Speech-Language Evaluation is an individualized assessment of various communication skills including:
- Receptive Language – the ability to process and understand language
- Expressive Language – the ability to use words to express yourself verbally
- Social/Pragmatic Language – the ability to use language in social situations
- Articulation/Speech Production – the ability to formulate sounds in words/sentences/discourse effectively
- Oral Motor – the ability to move and sequence movement of facial muscles
- Cognitive Skills – these include attention/memory/problem solving/organization (also known as executive functions or higher order thinking skills)
Who would benefit from a Speech-Language Evaluation?
Speech-language deficits can impact an individual’s ability to communicate effectively in their home, school, place of employment and social settings. A speech-language evaluation will identify specific areas of concern including deficits in receptive-expressive language, pragmatic-social skills and articulation skills.
A speech-language evaluation can be shared with multidisciplinary team members to give an accurate and complete picture of an individual’s speech-language abilities and identify other health or suspected learning issues. In addition, the evaluation can be used to develop educational goals at Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) meetings.
