The State University of New York, Buffalo State.
University of Houston, TX.
Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2018 May 3;27(2):796-812. doi: 10.1044/2018_AJSLP-16-0121.
This study used a structured open interview approach to elicit information from school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) regarding their assessment practices for children with suspected language impairment.
Phone interviews were conducted with 39 school-based SLPs who were employed across the United States. The interviews explored assessment topics related to assessment tool selection and rationale and the integration of assessment data to determine treatment eligibility.
The results of this study suggest that SLPs use both standardized testing and informal testing for their diagnostic procedures. Standardized testing appears to be the tool that drives diagnostic decisions regarding eligibility and severity. Informal measures, such as parent/teacher interviews and language sampling, were used by school-based SLPs to gather information regarding naturalistic language use; however, they seem less important in the diagnostic decision-making process. Also, SLPs reported completing language sample transcription and analysis in real time while interacting with a child.
School-based SLPs appear to rely on the results from standardized testing when determining treatment eligibility for children with language impairment. The reliance on standardized testing appears to be driven by institutional policies. We discuss the potential impact of federal/state/district guidelines on diagnostic decisions and consider the research-to-practice gap.
本研究采用结构化开放式访谈方法，从学校言语治疗师（SLP）那里获取有关其对疑似语言障碍儿童评估实践的信息。
对在美国各地工作的 39 名学校 SLP 进行了电话访谈。访谈探讨了与评估工具选择和原理以及评估数据整合以确定治疗资格相关的评估主题。
本研究结果表明，SLP 既使用标准化测试也使用非正式测试进行诊断程序。标准化测试似乎是驱动有关资格和严重程度的诊断决策的工具。学校 SLP 还使用家长/教师访谈和语言抽样等非正式措施来收集有关自然语言使用的信息；但是，在诊断决策过程中，它们似乎不太重要。此外，SLP 报告说，在与孩子互动时实时完成语言样本转录和分析。
学校 SLP 似乎在确定有语言障碍的儿童的治疗资格时依赖标准化测试的结果。对标准化测试的依赖似乎是由机构政策驱动的。我们讨论了联邦/州/地区准则对诊断决策的潜在影响，并考虑了研究到实践的差距。
