Financial:
Scott Prath and Ellen Kester receive salaries from Bilinguistics. One product that will be discussed in the presentation is Evalubox, which is a product for which Ellen and Scott have a financial interest. Other free resources will be shared as well.

Non-Financial:
The authors do not have any nonfinancial relationships to disclose.

SLPs feel comfortable using standardized tests, but what about when it comes to using non-standardized approaches? While required for most evaluations, especially for dual language learners, many feel uncomfortable administering and interpreting language samples and dynamic assessment. This course will walk you through many non-standardized approaches from planning your evaluation to writing your report.

We’ll start with the best ways to elicit language samples. Then we’ll dive into important considerations for dual language learners, such as speech and language influences you might encounter and how to quickly determine what patterns to expect. Next, we’ll talk about identifying deficits and ways to ensure they are true deficits and not due to lack of experience or uncertainty about the task. We’ll then use practical dynamic assessment approaches to teach and retest. We’ll analyze the changes and then write it all up. You’ll walk away feeling confident in using non-standardized assessment approaches.

Participants will be able to:
● Differentiate standardized and non-standardized assessment approaches and explain when non-standardized methods are required, particularly for dual language learners.
● Conduct and analyze language samples and dynamic assessments to inform diagnostic decisions and reduce bias in evaluation.
● Integrate non-standardized assessment findings into clear, defensible written reports that support eligibility and intervention planning.

Time-Ordered Agenda
10 minutes: Disclosures and Introduction to the topic
10 minutes: Why non-standardized testing is so important
10 minutes: Different types of non-standardized assessment
10 minutes: Eliciting language samples
10 minutes: Analyzing language samples
10 minutes: Teaching to the deficits to determine if it’s a true deficit
10 minutes: Analyzing results
10 minutes: Writing the report
10 minutes: Q&A session

Participants will leave with a practical system they can implement immediately, along with renewed confidence in using language sampling as a central component of ethical, effective, and culturally responsive assessment.

Practitioners attending live events will be asked to answer questions at the end of the course about what they learned and how they will use the information they learned in practice. Once the questions (below) are completed, participants will receive their certificate.

One practical takeaway I plan to apply from this session is __________.

Overall, how familiar were you with today’s topic before attending this webinar?

After attending, how confident are you in applying at least one concept from this webinar?

Rate your overall satisfaction with this webinar.

One practical takeaway I will apply from this session is __________.

Practitioners attending recorded sessions demonstrate learning and attendance by passing a quiz with a score of 80% or greater. The quiz addresses questions from material presented throughout the course. Practitioners can retake the quiz if they do not initially obtain a score of at least 80%. For events including case studies, participants download, read, and utilize materials in order to participate.