Our Individualised Speech Pathologist Assessment to Meet Your Needs
In order to know how to best help our clients, we always conduct assessments that are tailored to the needs and concerns of our clients and families. A Speech Pathology assessment assesses the skills, abilities and difficulties that our clients present with and face in their lives.
The assessment will either formally or informally determine whether the difficulties are age-appropriate. If not, they will then be categorised as either a disorder or a delay and intervention may be recommended to best support them. Therapy will then be determined and shaped by the results of the assessment.
Step 1: Complimentary 15-30 minute phone consultation
The first step in the assessment process is to have a complimentary 15-30 minute phone consultation with the speech pathologist. During this phone consultation you are able to comfortably share your concerns, thoughts and questions regarding yourself or your child.
The speech pathologist may ask background questions about the client or their case to further understand the communication needs and skills to be assessed. The speech pathologist will go through the assessment process and you will have the opportunity to schedule in an initial assessment. The speech pathologist will explain the communication areas that will be assessed, and answer any questions needed.
After this phone call, an Intake Form and Service Agreement will be emailed through to be filled out and completed prior to the assessment, along with a schedule of supports document.
Step 2: Initial Assessment
The Initial Assessment will typically include one or two 60-minute sessions where the speech pathologist typically clarifies any case history information and will use formal and/or informal assessment tools to most suitably assess the client.
At the beginning of the assessment session the speech pathologist will outline the types of assessments, tasks and activities they may use to assess the client. Assessments may include standardised assessment tools, which compare a person's current abilities against peers of the same age. Speech pathologists may also use games and activities during the assessment. Games and toys can help engage a child and make them feel comfortable in order to obtain results that are most reflective of their abilities. They can also be helpful to informally assess language, social skills, play skills, stuttering, voice and speech in a way that is more natural and unstructured for them.
At the end of the assessment session(s), the speech pathologist will briefly summarise the results, and will determine whether therapy is recommended. If so, the speech pathologist will explain what therapy will look like for the client broadly in alignment to the goals of the client.
Step 3: Initial Assessment Report
When an Initial Assessment is scheduled for a client, an assessment report will always be included in the booking. The assessment report details the findings, background and recommendations from the assessment. Assessment reports can be useful for families, schools, health professionals and for the NDIS in providing evidence of communication abilities, as well as supports that are best recommended for the client.
An initial assessment report can be written as a comprehensive or summary report, dependent on the length of the assessment. The report will be completed within 2-3 weeks of the assessment completion. If there are any changes to the time required to complete the report, the speech pathologist will contact you before the 2 weeks to notify you of this in advance.