What does a speech-language evaluation consist of?

Evaluations are typically two hours long and may be conducted in a two hour block of time or  broken up into two one hour sessions. For the initial evaluation, the SLP will choose tests that address your area of concern. Most speech language tests are conducted in a quiet room, one-on-one, and include describing pictures, labeling items, demonstrating knowledge of basic concepts with manipulatives, pointing to described pictures on page, or answering questions without visuals. Due to the nature of testing, at least one break is typically taken mid-session with more as needed depending on the attention level of the child.

What do you do in articulation sessions?

In articulation sessions, the SLP and client work one-on-one to address developmentally appropriate production of sounds. This can be done through verbal prompting for the position of the articulators (tongue, teeth, lips), visual cuing with a mirror or watching the SLP, tactile cuing for location of articulators with a tongue depressor or nuk type brush. Articulation is addressed in a pyramid type structure, starting with the sound in isolation, then as mastery is achieved, working up to
syllable, word, sentence, and conversation level.

What kind of activities do you do?

As part of our sessions, we target the activities to the child’s preferences. Sessions frequently involve cutting, gluing, and/or coloring something to take home for home practice. We frequently take gross motor movements breaks during the session, incorporating them into the objectives being targeted. For example, taking turns on the slide with doing drill work for articulation or following directions in the gym to target temporal, spatial, and multiple step directions. For older
children