Teletherapy Speech Language Evaluations

Can speech-language pathologists effectively conduct teletherapy speech language evaluations? The answer is a resounding YES! But it goes without saying that assessment via telepractice is not the same as in person.

We need to hear from the test developers and ASHA about telepractice assessments so we are sure we are doing the right thing.
We need to know how to use the tests we have without buying a second set of digital speech and language assessments.
We need examples! We really need video examples! Don’t tell me, show me how to do it.
We need to know how to alter our virtual testing prompts and still get useable results.
We need to know how to work with parents to help us get great results.

Can we conduct formal speech language evaluations via teletherapy?

When Covid-19 first hit, many school districts and clinics made decisions to postpone speech-language assessments until face-to-face life returned. It quickly became apparent that evaluations could not be put on hold indefinitely. And the truth is, we CAN effectively conduct most speech-language evaluations remotely.

If you have had any questions about telepractice speech language evaluations you are in the right place. These videos will walk you through the different aspects of teletherapy speech language evaluations to get you up and running.

Using Standardized Speech Language Tests for Assessment via Telepractice

Dr. Ellen Kester of Bilinguistics interviews Dr. Elizabeth Allen of Pro-Ed. They discuss the use of standardized tests during telepractice assessments, the use of norms, and what Pro-Ed is doing to make tests more accessible to speech-language pathologists conducting remote testing.

Don’t Wait to Do Online Speech Language Evaluations. An Interview with Dr Elizabeth Peña, author of the BESA.

Dr. Ellen Kester of Bilinguistics and Dr. Elizabeth Peña of the University of California-Irvine discuss why speech and language testing can’t wait until we are back in school. They discuss studies indicating reliability across teletherapy compared to in-person speech therapy, the use of standardized scores in remote testing, and tips for implementing remote speech-language evaluations that yield confident diagnostic decisions.

Using Document Cameras for Telepractice Speech-Language Evaluations

When the global pandemic first hit and we received letters from publishing companies granting us temporary permission to administer tests over videoconferencing platforms, we all scratched our heads and thought, “How is that going to work?” “How do I use a document camera for speech-language evaluations?” Watch this to see how to use a document camera for speech evaluations easily and inexpensively.

Telepractice Speech Language Assessment

As with any in-person evaluation, our remote evaluations should always incorporate language samples. In this video, we used our Mercer Mayer book Frog, Where Are You? to get a language sample without a model. We then provided a teaching session and got another language sample following the teaching session. So not only do we get great language sample information, this is also our dynamic assessment that helps us look at change with teaching, or learning potential. We followed it up with some informal receptive language tasks using story comprehension questions. This is rich information to guide our diagnostic decisions.

Teletherapy Articulation Assessment

In this video, two of the authors of the Bilingual Articulation and Phonology Assessment app, walk through the simple process of plugging the iPad into the computer to administer the BAPA over a teleconferencing platform. The test is administered EXACTLY as it is when sitting face-to-face.

Telepractice Articulation Assessment Example

This video shows how the BAPA displays on the screen, and how prompts are played. You need to be sure you check the “Share computer audio” button for the audio prompts to play clearly for your students and clients.

Telepractice Informal Assessment of a Two-Year-Old

This 4-minute video on informal assessment is PACKED with great ways to gather the information you need. This 2-year-old commented, pointed to objects, colors, and body parts on request, expanded his utterances in response to an expanded language model, engaged in turn-taking, and used social greetings. The powerful information we get from informal assessment practices informs confident diagnostic decisions.

French-English Evaluation with Parent Support

Dr. Ellen Kester demonstrates how to conduct a French-English speech evaluation with parent support.

We can conduct speech-language evaluations remotely with fidelity.

While we have to work through some platform differences, you can see from these videos that we can still gather qualitative data and implement standardized measures during virtual speech and language assessments that give us solid data we can use to make confident and accurate diagnostic decisions.