How To Read An Evaluation Report
After your child’s evaluation, you’ll receive a report with our observations and recommendations. It can feel overwhelming at first, but your speech-language pathologist (SLP) is always happy to review it with you, and this guide can help along the way.
Your therapist will assess your communicated areas of concern; however, at Atwell Therapeutics, we believe in a whole-child mindset. This means we consider all areas of speech and communication and screen other areas of development such as motor skills, breathing, sleep, sensory processing, and more.
Example Evaluation Report:
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
This is where your child's relevant medical history and family history is documented.
Age
Gender
Diagnoses
Birth history
Family medical history
School/daycare
History of therapy services
Hearing and vision
Etc.
RECEPTIVE & EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE SKILLS
Receptive language is how well your child understands spoken or written language.
Expressive language is what your child says (words, sentences, grammar).
Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is an area we may assess as well. If your child has difficulty communicating their needs with verbal speech alone, AAC such as sign language, pictures, or a speech-generating device may help reduce frustration and allow them to communicate easier. Research shows that AAC does not hinder speech and can even support speech development!
Understanding Test Scores
Sometimes in an evaluation, we will administer a test to assess your child's skills compared to other children their age. A standard score of 100 is exactly average, and scores from 85 to 115 are generally considered within the average range. A percentile tells you how your child compared to peers: the 30th percentile means your child scored as well as or better than 30 out of 100 children the same age. It is not a percentage correct.
SOCIAL SKILLS
We also assess a child's social skills, such as conversation, manners, body language, and ability to maintain friendships. These skills are very important for making friends and communicating feelings to others.
SPEECH SOUND PRODUCTION
This is where we listen to the sounds and pronunciation of words. We will often give children a picture test where they name the pictures they see while we listen and watch their mouth make the sounds. A child who is hard to understand may have difficulty in this area.
FLUENCY OF SPEECH
We are always listening to the smoothness of speech during an evaluation. Sometimes a child may stutter or have difficulty getting their words out smoothly.
VOICE AND RESONANCE
We are always listening to the quality of your child's voice during an evaluation. A hoarse or breathy voice may be a sign of issues with the vocal cords (located in the voice box), which falls under our scope as speech-language pathologists.
ORAL MECHANISM EVALUATION
This is where we look at the structures and movements of the mouth, face, and tongue. These are very important for speech and swallowing, as we use the same muscles for speech as we do for eating and drinking.
FEEDING SKILLS
In this area we are looking at feeding and drinking skills such as chewing, drinking, swallowing, bottle feeding, food inventory, and mealtime behaviors. Even if you bring your child in with concerns for speech only, we may ask them to eat and drink in front of us to check these skills.
SUMMARY
This is where we summarize all of what we assessed. If your child qualifies for therapy, we will provide a diagnosis, which helps guide our plans for treatment. If your child's skills are on track, we will let you know that as well.
Some common diagnoses are:
Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder
Expressive Language Disorder
Receptive Language Disorder
Speech Sound Disorder
Oral Dysphagia
Fluency Disorder
Voice Disorder
Pediatric Feeding Disorder
Speech-language pathologists cannot diagnose autism spectrum disorder (ASD). If concerns come up during the evaluation, we may refer you to your pediatrician, a neurologist or a psychologist for further evaluation.
Severity
You may see the words mild, moderate, or severe in your child’s report. Severity describes how much a difficulty affects your child’s everyday communication or eating. A mild difficulty may be noticeable but has little impact on daily life. A severe difficulty has a larger impact. Severity helps us decide how often your child should be seen and which goals to work on first.
RECOMMENDATIONS
This is where we share our plan for your child, including how often therapy is recommended and how long each session should be. Most children are seen 1–2 times per week for 30–60 minutes. Frequency depends on your child’s age, needs, and severity. We may also recommend home practice, monitoring, or referrals to other specialists.
Graduation From Therapy
Our goal is always for your child to graduate from speech therapy. Graduation is recommended when your child has met their goals and can use their new skills on their own in everyday life, such as at home, at school, and in conversation. Your SLP will talk with you about graduation as your child gets closer.
GOALS
Long-Term Goals: the big-picture skills we hope your child will achieve over the course of therapy.
Short-Term Goals: smaller, measurable steps that build toward each long-term goal.