Methods of Assessment

Unit 3: Assessing Children with Language Disorder Course Title: Development of Language and Communication for Intellectually Disabled Course No.: SpE 597

Mehdi Hassan
MEd 1st Semester Department of Special Education Institute of Education and Research University of Dhaka

Methods of Assessment
Developing a through description or An assessment report of a childs language and communication abilities requires obtaining information from all possible sources.

For a General Assessment plan there are only

two major Sources of Information:

1. Parents and Adults who have contact with the child 2. Direct observation of childs performance

Major Sources of Information:

1. Obtaining Information from Parents and Other Adults:

Usually childs parents and other primary caregivers have the most information about a childs past and current behaviours. There are only Three method of Obtaining Information from Parents and Other Adults: A. Questionnaire B. Interview and C. Direct observation of parent-child interaction

Cont.
The most common method of Obtaining Information from Parents and Other Adults is a set of Questionnaire on the childs developmental history and current status of functioning.

A second commonly used method is interviewing the parents either in clinical setting or at home. Interviewing the parents is helpful for observing the parent-child interaction.

Cont.
The combination of these three methods is the best. The most useful body of information includes : The childs developmental history and current status of Language functioning. The nature of parent-child relationship. Other additional informants include: An audiologist Classroom teacher Resource room specialist The family physician A psychologist

Major Sources of Information:

2. Direct Observation of Childs Performance

The major source of information about a childs language knowledge and use is the Direct Observation of the child. This direct observation serves as the basis of the intervention plan. Direct observation procedure can be divided into two basic categories: a. Standardized tests b. Non-standardized tests

2.A: Standardized tests of Language

Standardized tests provide: i. a specific set of instructions and stimuli to elicit behaviours and ii. a specific set of standards for scoring and the elicited behaviours

interpreting

Usually the standards are norms based upon sample populations performance on the test stimuli
These standardization norms are gathered and compared with individual scores to measure: i. age-equivalent score or ii. relative standing score

Cont.
i. Age equivalent scores: when the childs score is compared to the average score for all the age groups in the standardization sample, an age equivalent score is obtained. This score indicates to which age group the childs score is most similar.

ii. Relative standing score: Relative standing score is the comparison made between a childs score and the other children's score in the same age group. The comparison is based on the normal distribution of scores Including: a. Standard deviation, b. Standard score or c. Percentile ranks

2.B: Non-standardized tests of Language

Non-standardized tests Do Not have: i. a standard set of instructions and stimuli that must be adhered to and ii. a well-established standards for scoring and interpreting the behaviors. Non-standardized tests are: Flexible and can be adapted to fit the needs and characteristics of the child.

Cont.
Generally Non-standardized tests have some structured procedures including: i. Spontaneous language samples ii. Collecting and recording the samples iii. Analyzing the samples a. Phonology b. Semantics C. Grammar d. Grammatical morphemes e. clause structure f. Pragmatics iv. Elicited production procedures v. Language comprehension and vi. Metalinguistic abilities