About our Speech Pathology Assessments
At Hills District Speech Therapy, we strive to provide outstanding speech pathology assessment and screening services to our current and new clients. The start of a strong therapeutic relationship with our clients begins with a warm hello and an opportunity to get to know more about them – their history, their strengths, their concerns, and needs. This is best achieved through conducting a comprehensive speech pathology assessment. A thorough initial assessment allows us to collect all the required information, so we can then carefully analyse and interpret the findings to formulate an appropriate intervention/management plan.
What do we use to assess our clients?
Our therapists utilise a range of tools and sources of information to build a comprehensive profile of their clients during an initial assessment. Decisions around how an assessment should be conducted is often made by considering:
- The concerns of the client/parents/carers
- The client’s age, cultural and linguistic background and life circumstances
- The setting in which the assessment will be conducted (i.e. face to face at the clinic/home/preschool/school, or online)
- What tools we have within our reach at our clinic
- The most recent, high quality research on best assessment practices.
Here are some examples of tools and procedures we may use during an initial or review assessment:
- Standardised tests
- Non-standardised tests
- Informal tests and probes
- Parent and teacher questionnaires
- Parent, teacher and health professional interviews
- Language and speech samples
- Observations
- Physical and functional examinations of mouth and nasal areas
- Digital recordings-audio & visual
- Fluency ratings
- Low and high-tech device trials
When do I receive a report?
We pride ourselves in composing well-written, detailed assessment reports for our clients, their parents/carers and wider management team. The process of collating, interpreting, and reporting on findings from your child’s assessment can often mean that a report can only be provided approximately 4-6 weeks from the day of the assessment. We also offer our clients a priority report option should the client have an upcoming meeting. Nevertheless, we are always more than happy to discuss such requests during and after your first consultation.