Title: Assessment of SpeechLanguageCommunication Skills Terri Carrington, M'A', CCCSLP
1Assessment of Speech/Language/Communication
SkillsTerri Carrington, M.A., CCC-SLP
2Purpose of Assessment
3Qualification for Services
- Students do not have to meet criteria for
services for speech/language disorder. - By definition, students with autism qualify for
speech/language services - Speech/language services are often the primary
service for high functioning students. - The speech/language pathologist contributes
information to educationally diagnose autism, but
more importantly indicates programming priorities.
4Characteristics of Communication in Individuals
with Autism
- Difficulties with comprehension of
- Spoken Language
- Gestures and body postures
- Facial expression
5Characteristics of Communication (cont.)
- Social awareness is lacking, or very poor,
resulting in - Impoverished strategies for beginning to
understand the communication process - Difficulty initiating social contact, or lack of
awareness of need to direct message at
communication partner - Difficulties in responding to others reciprocally
6Characteristics of Communication (cont.)
- Cognitive deficits, resulting in problems with
- Assigning meaning
- Perspective taking and empathy
- Generalization
- Organization and sequencing
- Abstract thinking
7Characteristics of Communication (cont.)
- Language production problems, such as
- Mutism, lack of gestures and facial expressions
- Nonfunctional use of speech
- Echolalic speech
- Verbal perseveration
- Unusual rate, voice quality, fluency, intonation
- Unconventional or challenging behaviors used as
means to communicate messages
8CELF
- The Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals
(CELF-4) is useful as an overall look at
receptive and expressive language. - Ages 5 to 21
- CELF-P Preschool to Early Elementary
- Difference between language disordered and
autistic individuals was the large variance in
the scores of the group with autism - Authors report a 1.5 to 2 standard deviation
difference in the scores of normally developing
students and their peers with autism.
9ABLLS
- Assessment of Basic Language Skills
- Assessment curriculum guide
- Skills tracking system
- Task analysis
- Purpose to help identify those language and
other critical skills that are in need of
intervention in order for a child to become more
capable of learning from his everyday experiences - Tested skills are arranged in an approximate
developmental sequence
10Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL)
- Especially relevant
- Supralinguistic Tests
- Nonliteral Language
- Meaning from Content
- Inference
- Ambiguous Sentences
11Looking at Speech
- Articulation is usually not the primary concern
with these individuals, and deficits are thought
to occur at about the same rate as within the
typical population - There is a correlation between autism and
dyspraxia - Unusual prosody, rate of speech, and voice
problems do occur - There are no assessment tools specific to speech
deficits for students with autism
12Comments on Formal Assessment
- Keep in mind students with autism will often have
better expressive than receptive language. - Comprehension is often overestimated
- Higher functioning individuals will often do well
on standardized tests, but struggle in everyday
life - Always augment standardized information with
informal measures
13Formal Assessment Lists
- http//www.behavior-consultant.com/aut-dx-devices.
htm - http//www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca/communication/CeD
irSLP.html - Asperger Syndrome and Adolescence Practical
Solutions for School Success, 2001, by Brenda
Smith Myles and Diane Adreon, published by Autism
Asperger Publishing Company
14What do you use?
- The Westby Play Scale! Its one of my faves.
User friendly and parallels play and language
side by side. In addition, it looks at Theory of
Mind! - Speech, Language Pathologist
- Source Assessment of Cognitive and Language
Abilities through Play in Language Speech and
Hearing in the Schools, Vol. 11, 154-168
15What do you use?
- Id use the Test of Problem Solving, the Test of
Pragmatic Language, and the Clinical Evaluation
of Language Fundamentals. Also need language
sampling and observation in multiple settings.
Id need to be sure we had a history, all the
medical information, and Id probably use the
Childhood Autism Rating Scale or something
similar. - Speech, Language Pathologist
16Informal Assessment
- Language Sample
- Apply SALT or some other method of looking at
sentence structure, morphological development
etc. - Be aware this is not the primary information you
want from a language sample
17Language Sampling with the More Challenged Student
- Consider imaginative vs. constructive play
- Communication Temptations
- Observe in a social environment
18Language Sample Questions Specific to Autism
- Did the students vocabulary seem appropriate for
his age level? Decreased? Increased? - Did the students language seem pedantic or
little-professor like? - Did you notice echolalia, perseverative speech or
repetitive questions? Describe. - Did you notice difficulty with figurative
language, sarcasm, interpreting humor,
interpreting idioms? - Comment on the inflection, pitch and prosody of
the students voice. Were those appropriate to
age and topic? - Did the student talk about a wide range of
topics, or did he talk mostly about a special
interest area? - Could he transition easily from one topic to the
next? - Was the student able to use language for a
variety of functions? Could he initiate,
comment, ask and answer questions, sequence
events? - Did the student seem to know many facts about a
particular subject?
19Materials and Activities for the Language Sample
- Problem Solving
- Reciprocal Play
- Joke and Riddle Books
- Let the student pick a topic
- Barrier games
- Opportunity to ask questions, respond to sarcasm,
indirect speech, figurative language
20Assessing Functionally Nonverbal Students
- Think in terms of a system of communication
- Aided/Unaided
- High Tech/Low Tech/No Tech
21Assessing Functionally Nonverbal Students
- The focus of assessment aligns wit the reasons we
support the use of AAC-Participation - Much of the assessment will occur in naturalistic
environments - There are no prerequisites for the use of AAC,
but there are assessment questions which will
assist in designing the most appropriate options
for individuals
22Assessing Functionally Nonverbal Students
- Ecological Assessment
- Assessment team consists of stakeholders
- Team identifies students environments and
sub-environments - Team identifies upcoming transitions
- Team creates detailed description of activities
occurring in identified environments - Team prioritizes activities
- Team looks for ways to improve students
participation in identified activities
23Assessing Functionally Nonverbal Students
- Additional Ecological Assessments
- McGill Action Planning System (MAPS)
- Futures Planning
- SETT
24Assessing Functionally Nonverbal Students
- Specific Assessments
- Cognitive Skills
- Motor Abilities
- Sensory Functioning
25Assessment and Literacy
- Emergent Reading-uneven development
- Conventional Reading-word reading is advanced
compared to comprehension - Skilled Readingmany do not get to this level,
comprehension usually continues to be a problem,
language problems often exist and interfere
26FBA and FCT
- Individuals with severe communication deficits
will often communicate with challenging behavior - Our job is to determine the function or meaning
of that behavior and provide a more appropriate
alternative - The first step is a Functional Behavior
Assessment (FBA)
27FBA Brief Review
- Informant
- Direct Observation
- Functional Analysis Manipulations
- Resource
- Functional Assessment and Program Development for
Problem Behavior A Practical Handbook by
ONeil, et al, published by Brooks/Cole 1997
28FBA
- Functional Behavioral Analysis
- Assessment is on-going
- This is where you take data on your intervention
and determine whether it is working or not - Can be complex and involve multiple variables
29Behaviors are Communication