ACQ Vol 13 no 2 2011

Assessment

This edition of

ACQuiring Knowledge in Speech,

Language and Hearing

focuses on assessment issues in speech

pathology practice. Assessment of communication disorders can

inform many aspects of speech pathology practice, including

differential diagnosis, prognosis, treatment selection, treatment

effectiveness, and service delivery. Claessen and Cartwright (in the

“What’s the evidence?” column) discuss the importance of balancing

“craft-based knowledge” (gained through clinical practice) with

“science-based knowledge” in order to assess clients’

communication needs in an evidence based manner. However,

they point out that it is currently difficult to achieve this balance

because of the lack of research on evidence based assessment.

Furthermore, Claessen and Cartwright report that although

evidence based resources specific to speech pathology practice

are available, most of these focus on treatment, not assessment. In

this issue we hope to add to the assessment literature with a

selection of peer-reviewed papers of clinical relevance, in addition

to our regular columns.

Baker and Munro review experimental and commercially

available tools to assess children’s production of polysyllabic

words. Although assessment of polysyllables is an emerging area

of research, it is important to consider it within the context of a comprehensive assessment

because of recent research indicating a link between the ability to produce polysyllables,

speech and language processing, and later literacy skills.

Westerveld presents a tutorial on spontaneous language sampling relevant for speech

pathologists working with preschool and school-aged children. The author states that

although clinicians routinely use standardised assessments in their everyday practice,

naturalistic assessment of communication abilities is used less frequently. She argues the

benefits of incorporating language sampling in routine assessment of speech and language

skills, which include determining the impact of the communication problem on everyday

communication function, setting relevant treatment goals, and determining whether

treatment gains generalise to everyday communication. A box at the end of the tutorial

includes the contexts, conditions, and examples of further reading for paediatric speech

pathologists interested in finding out more about spontaneous language sampling.

The third peer-reviewed paper by Mei, Morgan, and Reilly focuses on assessment of the

communication skills of children with cerebral palsy. The authors discuss the importance

of holistic assessment in relation to this population, and provide an overview of how the

International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for Children and Youth

can

be used to guide assessment of the communication skills of these children. They highlight

that further research is needed to develop tools that will allow the holistic assessment of the

communication skills of children with cerebral palsy.

Nickels, Taylor, and Croot provide an overview of the assessment requirements of people

with acquired language impairment, and more specifically, progressive aphasia. They argue

that there are some similarities in the assessment requirements of people with progressive

and non-progressive language impairment, but that people with progressive language

impairment have some additional considerations that need to be taken into account. The

final peer-reviewed paper by Jones, Castles, and Kohnen summarises six subtypes of

developmental reading disorders. A list of suggested assessments is provided at the end of

the paper.

Most of our regular columns focus on assessment, including “What’s the evidence?”,

“Ethical conversations”, “Webwords”, and “Top 10 resources”. Hesketh updates us on

her research-in-progress on the assessment of children’s speech intelligibility, currently

underway at the University of Manchester. This issue concludes with a summary of a select

number of papers recently published in peer-reviewed journals focusing on assessment,

and a list of resource reviews.

We hope that this issue of

ACQ

inspires us as clinicians to reflect on our assessment

practices, and to consider assessment in an evidence based manner.

From the editors

Kerry Ttofari Eecen and Marleen Westerveld

From the editors

An overview of resources for

assessing toddlers’ productions of

polysyllables

–

Elise Baker and

Natalie Munro

Sampling and analysis of children’s

spontaneous language: From

research to practice

–

Marleen Westerveld

Assessing speech and language in

children with cerebral palsy:

A holistic approach

–

Cristina Mei,

Angela T. Morgan, and Sheena Reilly

Clinical assessment of progressive

aphasia

–

Lyndsey Nickels, Cathleen

Taylor, and Karen Croot

Subtypes of developmental

reading disorders: Recent

developments and directions for

treatment

–

Kristy Jones,

Anne Castles, and Saskia Kohnen

What’s the evidence? Evidence

based practice in the assessment

context

–

Mary Claessen and

Jade Cartwright

Dysphagia assessment and

management at the end of life:

Some ethical considerations

–

Helen Smith, Noel Muller, and

Trish Bradd

Webwords 40:

Speech-language

pathology assessment resources

–

Caroline Bowen

My Top 10 assessment resources

(with a paediatric slant) –

Suze Leitão

Research update:

Measuring

intelligibility –

Anne Hesketh

Around the journals

101

Resource reviews

Contents

www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

ACQ

Volume 13, Number 2 2011