Ch. 3: Principles of Assessment Flashcards
Assessment/Diagnostic Evaluations
process of of collecting and interpreting relevant data for clinical decision-making
Appraisal & Diagnosis (Medical) Model
Collect Data (quantitative and qualitative)
Form a differential diagnosis (decide if problem exists and then differentiate from similar problems)
Look for etiology/”cause”
Descriptive Developmental (Educational) Model
description of client’s present communication disorders
Systems (Birth - 3 yrs) Model
evaluate client’s skills at a functional level
Looks closely at family and cultural context
Screening
collect info to see if there’s a need for more testing (pass/fail - cut off score) (hearing, criterion-referenced, standardized)
Determining a diagnosis
Label - taboo and prerequisite (basis) for services
Determine that it is a disorder not difference
Funding
Third party providers have specific guidelines and eligibility requirements that must be met
Establishing Baselines
Describe patient’s current level of functioning as a reference point for measuring progress
Developing Intervention targets
Developmental appropriateness
Greatest impact on communication
Client and family priorities
Norm Referenced (Standardized Tests)
standardized instruments that can be used to compare an individual’s performance to the performance of others with similar demographics
Tracking and Documenting Progress
Used throughout intervention
Assess the effectiveness of the intervention
Periodic reevaluation
Reliability
consistency and dependability with which a test measures what it is supposed to be measuring
interrater reliability
2 examiners give same test to same person and compare results
test-retest reliability
same test on 2 different occasions by same therapists
split half reliability
give one half and test the other half later on
odd-even reliability
give odd numbers of the test, then the even numbers
Reliability Coefficient
must be .90 or higher
Validity
does the test measure what it says it’s going to measure? – more of a truth statement
Standardization
tests subsets to represent nation
Standardization Sample
Representative of the population
Adequate in sampling size (100 or more)
Clear on relevance of norms provided
Descriptive Statistics
How we describe or summarize the test scores we come up with so they become meaningful and useful to others
Normal Distribution
Bell curve; mean/average
Error
Scores are estimates
Confidence Interval
range of scores within which a person’s true score will fall with a given probability
Types of scoring
Raw score (little to no meaning on their own) Age equivalent (4-8) Grade equivalent (2.9) Percentile Rank (67% - of a specific population) Standard score (z score/z score)
Difference in scoring
Developmental scoring seems better but results don’t always paint the whole picture; score of relative scoring is more accurate because it’s based on a more specific population
Test Administration
- Appropriate to client’s needs
- Check psychometric properties of the test
- Read the test manual to see how the test should be given
Authentic Assessment
Client is observed using comm skills while addressing real life tasks in a natural setting
Portfolio: writing samples, lang samples, projects, inventory of strengths and weaknesses, parent/family reflections (keep these things in mind)
Behavioral Observations
Describing a client’s comm behavior without comparisons to a set/standard Looking for: o presence/absence of behavior o frequency of behavior o rate of behavior o magnitude/duration o situations behaviors appears o factors involved
