Pediatric Speech therapy Evaluation?

Question

Tomorrow my 27 month old daughter goes for a speech therapy evaluation, I was wondering if any one's child has had one before, what do they do?

Answer 1

I assist with these evaluations a lot. They will ask you a lot of questions about your child's speech and how she communicates. They may bring out books or flash cards and ask her to identify pictuures by pointing to assess her receptive language. They will aks her to name items to assess her expressive language. Ity wont be anything too stressful, and it's done using toys and books to be child friendly.

Answer 2

My son had a speech eval at 30 months, and is now 5. The eval seemed a bit long, but the pediatric speech therepists are very patient. At this age, they look for speech, language and developmental progress. Some speech problems are developmental and others can just be articulation, etc. My son was shown many pictures. Asked what the pictures were....was also asked to put pictures in sequence, etc. No one could understand my child(not even my husband), I acted as a translator, b/c I was the only person that could understand what he was saying. My son was diagnosed with an articulation problem, received about 9 months of ST. He now is a kindergartner, and is thriving in school and no longer has a speech problem. You will feel much better and less worried when the eval is over and you have some answers.
Good luck to you.

Answer 3

I take it that the 2 visits twice a week are for speech therapy only? I can be very difficult (if not impossible) to get more than 60 minutes of Speech Therapy a week. Has she been evaluated to see if she qualifies for the preschool program? She won't get the same one-on-one that you find in Speech but she will be in a preschool with non-stop language stimulation. In other words, it's never quiet.:) If she qualifies the preschool should be free just like Speech Therapy.

Answer 4

I am a licensed speech language pathologist, and i have routinely given evaluations to children your daughter's age. The way I would run my evaluations, was to have you and your daughter come into my office. then i would interview you while observing how your daughter plays with the toys in my office. I would ask you to state your concerns, is she using words? about how many words does she have, and what are they (i usually only want to know what the words are if the child has less than 20 words). how does she communicate? pointing? grunting? screaming? just getting desired item? words? if she is using words, does she say all her letters? if not, what letters/sounds does she have trouble with?

once the interview is over, i move on to formal testing. some are done by manipulating toys. your daughter will think we are just playing with her. she will be asked to do certain tasks, label some items, things like that. the formal testing may also include the use of some pictures. she will have to point and identify pictures. the therapist will be looking at 3 things.....1--receptive language--does your daughter understand language; 2--expressive language--does your daughter effectively communicate her wants/needs with language appropriate for her age; 3--speech production/articulation---does your daughter produce all the sounds she is supposed to be able to produce for her age.

i hope this helps! the kids i have worked with usually have fun. good luck....feel free to email me if you have further questions at [e-mail]

Answer 5

Yes loads of times with my very shy daughter! They usually have some toys out, and the therapist i went to had a post box with cards and she would get my little girl playing games and naming the pictures on the cards! They usually have a trainee therapist sitting in to play with the child whilst they question you about what she can and can't say! It's a good idea to write down all the word she can say! They may ask you to do this! The trainee will play tea parties or something or get those wooden puzzles out that have for eg a teddy , a boat, and get your child to say those words as she puts the bits in!
They may do a hearing test, if they do, it should be in a sound proofed room and one therapist will sit and play at a table with your child (She can be on your lap) whilst she is being watched through one of those windows that they can only see you through! Whilst she is busy playing they make a "Teletubbie for eg" make a noise and check to see she is looking, if she looks it will light up! This goes on till the noises get really quite! They may use an instrument to blow air into her ear for glue ear! It just checks for that really!
Hope all goes well, try and enjoy it, if the hearing test is involved it can take a while, make sure you take drinks and snacks ! A comic may help too!

Answer 6

I am a speech therapist as well- I agree with the above therapist. Somethings you might want to jot down before you go while you have time to think of them and not have to respond on the spot.... Also, your daughter may be nervous, scared of strangers, shy, and the evaluator may not get a valid idea of how she is able to interact.

*What words does she say at home? list common objects and nouns and verbs she says consistetnly every day.
* think of specific skills she can do... can she follow 2 -step directions? (go to your room and get your shoes)
*what sounds does she use... specifically "m, p, b, t, d, k, g, n"?
*how does she ask for things when she can't reach them?
*list a few things she says at home (phrases and or words)- get down and play with her and write down what she says!
*does she have any swallowing/ feeding concerns? if so- name the types of foods she eats/ doesn't eat... textures, crunchiness
*take a list of medications
*take a list of dates of illness/ ear infections/ hospitalizations/ any other evlauations and results (spec. hearing!!!)

The evaluation should be fun and look a lot like play! Have fun!

Answer 7

My son was evaluated by early intervention. Its fun for the child, they basically play a couple of simple games with the child - at mine they hid a crayon under a hankerchief, and asked him to find it, and then presented simple objects (like a ball, baby, etc.) and asked him to label them. If I remember right mine lasted about an hour. They'll evaluate both her expressive language (what she can say, along with her annunciation, etc.) - and her receptive language (what she can understand). Good luck!!