Assessments and Goal Making

Jennifer Lozier M.S. CCC-SLP

What you will learnAssessment and goal making for the following

speech/language areas:Receptive languageExpressive language/communicationArticulationPragmatics

WHY IS TEACHING COMMUNICATION

IMPORTANT?

DIFFICULTIES WITH BOTH

EXPRESSIVE AND

RECEPTIVECOMMUNICATION

BEHAVIORPROBLEMS

LEADTO

CHARACTERISTICS OFCOMMUNICATION

DIFFERENCES IN AUTISM

MISSING THE BASIC “BUILDING BLOCKS” OF COMMUNICATION

Asperger’s SyndromeDevelopmental, neurobiological disorder that is

part of the autism spectrum. Most common among boys. Characteristics include: Impaired social skillsObtuseness, limited interests, and unusual

preoccupationsPreference for sameness in routines or rituals;

difficulties with transitionsSpeech and language difficulties, particularly in

the areas of pragmatics and prosody

Characteristics cont’dLimited facial expressions apart from anger or

miseryExcellent rote memory and musical abilityDifficulty reading nonverbal communications (body

language)Poor awareness of personal body spaceClumsy and uncoordinated motor movementsExtreme sensitivity to sounds, tastes, smells, and

sights

TEACHING COMMUNICATION SKILLS

BEGINS WITH

H O W ?S Y S TE M O R L E V E L

W H E R E ?C O N TE X T

W H A T? W H Y ?C O N TE N T O R F U N C TIO N

A S S E S S M E N T O F C O M M U N IC A TIO NS P O N TA N E O U S /U N E L IC ITE D

Assessment of Receptive Skills

Vocabulary/Identifying objects

Simple Directions

Complex Directions (prepositions, quantity, quality, negation, etc.)

“Wh”; yes/no questions

Functional Communication Questions (name, age, address)

Feelings, Relationships

Slang, Idioms (put foot in mouth)

Assessment of Expressive Communication Skills

What?

How? (System)Tantrum, gesture, picture, written word, sign language,

verbal

Where? (Context)

Why? (Function)Asks for helpMakes a request (or choose last option)Refuses/protestGets attention

Assessment of Expressive Communication Skills

Vocabulary/Labeling objects

Requesting

Sentence length

Grammar

Conversation/turn-taking

Speech sample

Speech sample examplesWhat would you do if you had a million dollars?

Pretend I’ve never had a pizza before. Describe it to me.

Do you have a pet? Tell me about it.

Tell me what you and your friends play or talk about together.

Tell me about your favorite movie or TV show.

*Or show a detailed picture and have them tell about it.

Speech sample findingsVocabulary- Were they able to name objects?

Sentence length- Were they speaking in 1-2 word phrases or complete sentences?

Grammar- Were they using past tense verbs, -ing, plurals, etc.?

Pragmatics- Were they able to stay on topic? Show feelings/perspectives of others?

Assessment of Articulation Skills

Normal articulation is a series of complex actions.

Accurate articulation requires exact placement, sequencing, timing, direction, and force of the articulators.

Some articulation disorders are the result of hearing loss, cleft palate, cerebral palsy, etc.

Assessment of Articulation Skills

Simple tasks- counting, days of week, naming objects and colors, reading, etc.

Look at:Number of errorsError types (substitutions, omissions, additions,

etc.)Consistency of errors IntelligibilityRate of speechStimulability- Can they make the sound if you do

and tell them where to put their tongue, lips, etc.?

Reading Passages“I like to swim when it is hot outside. It is very

fun. I swim in a big pool. I can jump in the water. I get all wet. I can float on my back. I can float on my tummy too. I open my eyes under the water. I can see my brother. I can see my mom. They watch me. I think the water is cool. It feels good. I like to splash and blow bubbles and yell. After I swim, I dry off with my towel. My towel is yellow. It has a picture of a treasure chest on it.”

Assessment of Pragmatic Skills

Pragmatics is the study of the use of language in communicative interactions.

Respond to greetings

Make requests

Describe events

Take turns

Make eye contact

Repeat

Assessment of Pragmatic Skills

Maintain topic

Role-play

Initiate activity or dialogue

Feelings

Idioms

Assessing Nonverbal Children

Play behaviors

Use of gestures, signs, and symbols (pointing, directing)

Use of nonspeech vocalizations

Use of meaningful vocalizations

Nonverbal responses to verbal stimuli

Appropriate use of objects

Imitation of words

Possible spontaneous productions of words

Communicative intent

Assessing Minimally Verbal Children

All of the above and:

Naming of familiar objects

Counting or reciting days of week

Use of simple phrases

Use of simple grammatical morphemes (-ing, -s)

Length of average utterances

Comprehension of words and simple phrases

Assessing a Child Who Uses Early Multiword Combinations

All of the above and:

Response to simple commands

Produces sentences

More advanced grammar

Comprehension of conversational speech

Goal MakingAfter assessing the child and figuring out their

areas of weakness, make measureable goals for them

SMART goals

GoalsS- Specific

M- Measurable

A- Attainable

R- Relevant

T- Time-based

Goal examplesBy July 2015, Jane will produce the /s/ sound in

all positions of sentences in 8/10 trials independently as measured by clinical data.

By July 2015, Jane will increase her attention as evidenced by her ability to keep her hands in her lap for 15 minutes with no more than 4 prompts.

By July 2015, Jane will use plurals in sentences with 80% accuracy independently as measured by clinical data.

ReferencesNadine Waurin is an Autism Consultant out of North

Caroline. She travels the world sharing her knowledge about working with students with autism. She provided many of the slides.

Linda Hodgdon – Two of her books, Solving Behavior Problems in Autism and Visual Strategies for Improving Communication were used in making this presentation.

Assessment in Speech-Language Pathology-4th Edition. Kenneth G. Shipley, Julie G. McAfee