Initial Assessment

Confidential

******Unified School District

1717 W. Merced Avenue

West Covina, CA 91790

(626) 939-4600, FAX: (626) 939-4701

SPEECH AND LANGUAGE EVALUATION REPORT

CONFIDENTIAL

This report contains confidential information and is the property of

******Unified School District

NAME: / ***** / HOME SCHOOL: / Merced
DATE OF BIRTH: / ****** / TEACHER: / ******
AGE: / ****** / GRADE: / Pre-K
ETHNICITY: / **** / PARENT(S): / *****
PRIMARY LANGUAGE: / English / DATE OF IEP: / *****
REASON FOR ASSESSMENT

***** is a four-year, eight-month old male who was seen for a speech and language evaluation per request of his father due to concerns with limited speech intelligibility and expressive speech. ****** currently resides in the ******Unified School District (W******) and is currently attending ****** Preschool program in Covina Valley Unified School District since March 2012. The data collected will assist the IEP team to determine whether the student demonstrates a significant need for special education services under federal and state guidelines.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Home, Language, and Community:

***** currently resides in an English speaking home with his biological parents, ****, and older sisters (age 7 years). English is the primary language spoken in the home.

Developmental History:

Health and developmental history were obtained through parent report. Prenatal care and delivery were unremarkable. ****** was delivered full-term with no complications and was 6.9 lbs. at birth. There were no medical problems with ****** following his delivery and he was discharged home with his mother. Developmental milestones were reported to be within normal including speech development. ****** was reported to sit at 5 months old, stand at 8 months old, and walk at 12 months old. He began producing single words at 12 months and started combining words at approximately 2 years old. ****** can feed himself using a fork or spoon and drinks from an open cup. ****** is able to dress and undress himself. He is able to wash his hands and brush his teeth independently. ****** is potty trained.

Medical History:

****** has had no serious illnesses requiring hospitalizations and he has no medical diagnosis. His vision and hearing were informally assessed by the district nurse******, on 5/7/14. He passed his hearing and vision screenings with no concerns. According to the nurse, ******’s asthma is well controlled and he does not require a health plan for school at this time. The reader is referred to the Health Report for further information.

Educational History:

****** currently attends ****** Children’s Center preschool full-time (from 9 am until 3 pm) since March 2012. The primary language of the Preschool facility is English. Parent reported that he is able to follow routines well.

Teacher Interview:

******, Preschool teacher, stated that ****** is doing well in class. He has come a long way. ****** is more vocal and social now. Ms. ******is concern with his speech. ******’s speech is not clear and it is difficult to understand him. Academically, ****** can spell his name. He is starting to learn his address and phone number. ****** is a fast learner.

Preschool Classroom Observations:

****** was observed on 5/29/14 for approximately 30 minutes at his preschool during centers by the examiner. During the observation, ****** followed verbal directions given by his teachers and the classroom routines. He worked with blocks at the table without being prompted. The teacher’s aide asked, “******, what are you making?” He answered, “Making a house.” She asked, “What is this for?” ****** answered, “The roof.” The aide asked, “Are you going to your sister’s school?” He answered, “I’m at school right now.” ****** continued building a house with another student. He commented, “This is a door and a door.”, “Right here and right here.”, “2”, “I have 2 restroom”, “Daddy sleep in my bed.” The teacher’s aide asked, “Do you like to dance?” ****** replied, “No.” ****** and another student left the table. He followed the aide’s instructions to come back and clean up their area. ****** called the other student to come back to help. A ball bounced and rolled by him. He commented, “That is cool.” ****** participated during centers by listening, answering questions, commenting, and sharing blocks. He was observed to give appropriate eye contact with teachers and peers. Observation of peer interaction and sharing skills indicate appropriate social interaction skills.

Assessment/Behavioral Observations:

****** was assessed over four days in the speech room at ****** for completion of formal and informal assessments and observations. All assessments were completed in English since that is the primary language of the home. When ****** entered the assessment room, he was initially shy and quiet. However, he eventually greeted the examiner and rapport was easily established during play. He appeared eager to play with toys and enjoyed looking at the pictures presented to him. ****** was polite, friendly, and well-groomed. He was observed to demonstrate appropriate eye-contact and good sharing skills with the examiner. A play-based assessment approach was initiated. Gradually, some more formal and standardized assessments were also introduced. ****** transitioned smoothly between tasks and participated in all activities presented to him. He required some prompting from the examiner for redirection to attend to task, especially near the end of the assessment. Overall, information obtained through this evaluation is regarded as valid and representative of ******’s current speech and language abilities.

ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS AND PROCEDURES USED

Parent Interview

Teacher Interview

Hodson Computerized Analysis of Phonological Patterns (HCAPP)

Preschool Language Scale-5th Edition (PLS-5)

Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals Preschool – 2nd Edition (CELF Preschool-2)

Expressive One Word Picture Vocabulary Test (EOWPVT)

Receptive One Word Picture Vocabulary Test (ROWPVT)

Oral Mechanism Examination

Westby Symbolic Play Checklist

Informal Language Samples

Observations

Alternative assessment instruments were also included in this evaluation. These measures included language sampling, informal assessment and observation of communication interactions, and interpretation of standardized test results. All assessment procedures measure specific samples of the student total language repertoire. The selected measures should only be interpreted within the limits of their measure of validity. W****** has implemented procedures to ensure that those methods used to assess children in our district are adequate, have a research base, are considered “best known practices,” do not discriminate against race, culture, or sex and meet a goal of linking assessment and instruction. Any deviations from these standards will be explained in this report.

ASSESSMENT RESULTS

Throughout this evaluation, many numbers will be utilized to define levels in a variety of areas. Many of the scores are reported by what has been termed standard scores. For most of the tests in the battery, standard scores have a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. Standard scores show how well the student did compared to a group of individuals of approximately the same age from across the United States. Generally speaking, the standard scores range from 0 to 130+. Standard scores convert to the following categories. [Many test authors, publishers, and researchers use the following terms and metrics for descriptive purposes]: 69 or below (deficient), 70-79 (borderline), 80-89 (low average), 90-109 (average), 110-119 (high average), and 120+ (superior range). However, 50% of children fall between standard scores of 90-110 and 68% of children fall between standard scores of 85-115. This is based upon testing instruments, which have a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 1.5. The scores are reported with a 95% level of confidence, which indicates that 95 times out of 100, scores will fall between the marked interval.

Many of the tests in this battery also generate subtest scores. Some subtests use the same standard score criteria described above, while others, generate standard scores called scaled scores. As with standard scores, scaled scores show how well an individual did compared to others the same age from across the United States on the individual subtests. The highest possible scaled score on a subtest is 19, and the lowest possible score is 1. Half of all individuals will score less than 10, and half will score more than 10. Scores of 3 and below are considered deficient; 4 to 5 borderline; 6 to 7 low average; 8 to 12 average; 13 to 14 above average; 15 to 16 superior; and 17 to 19 very superior.

Articulation/Phonology:

The Hodson Computer Analysis of Phonological Processes (HCAPP) is an objective, standardized, dynamic assessment instrument that is both norm-referenced and criterion-referenced. The HCAPP was designed to a) assess and categorized phonological deviations, b) provide a treatment direction for children whose speech is highly unintelligible, and c) yield post-treatment data that can be used for evidence-based practice documentation. The HCAPP uses a combination of stimulus objects and picture cards to elicit a child’s spontaneous productions of fifty words. The Severity Interval rating is based on total occurrences of major phonological deviations. The designations are as follows:

Number of occurrences / Severity Rating
1–50 / Mild
51–100 / Moderate
101–150 / Severe
>151 / Profound

The following information was elicited from ******’s responses to determine total occurrences of major phonological deviations used for specifying severity intervals and calculating percentages of occurrences for ten major phonological deviations categories.

Phonological Deviations / Percentage of Occurrence
Syllable Reduction / 0
Prevocalic Singleton / 0
Intervocalic Singleton / 21
Postvocalic Singletons (endings) / 0
Consonant Sequences /st, sp, etc./ / 33
Stridents /f, v, s, z, sh, ch/ / 17
Velars /k, g/ / 27
Prevocalic Liquids /l, r/ / 84
Nasals /m, n, ŋ / / 5
Glides /w, j/ / 0

Average Phonological Processes: 46

Severity Interval: High Mild

****** achieved a rating of “High Mild” on this measure with significant pattern deviations in prevocalic liquids. In the prevocalic liquids deviation, ******’s liquid sounds /l, r/ are omitted or replaced. For example, ****** produces the word “rock” as “wock”. Research indicates that these sounds are not mastered until a later age and therefore these errors are considered developmentally appropriate. His spontaneous speech also appears intelligible and void of significant articulation or phonological pattern deviations. Overall, speech intelligibility is age appropriate at this time.

An oral mechanism examination was conducted to evaluate the structural and functional integrity of the oral-mechanism. ******’s oral mechanism appears to be adequate for the production of speech.

LANGUAGE:

A Spontaneous Informal Language Sample was collected in order to assess ******’s expressive, receptive, and pragmatic language skills. A sample of 89 utterances was collected and analyzed. Informal analysis indicated that he communicated with a mean length of utterance (MLU) of 3.9, with an upper bound of 8 morphemes, which is below for his chronological age. For the purpose of this assessment, utterances that were direct repetitions or unintelligible were not included in this sample. During spontaneous conversation, ****** used a variety of sentence lengths, however he had difficulty formulating correct sentence structures (word order) and demonstrating age appropriate grammatical skills.

The following grammatical components were observed during this sample: pronouns (I, my, me, it, he, her, we, they, them), prepositions (in, on, off), negatives (no, not), articles (a, the), wh- questions (what, where, why), and plurals. ****** demonstrated the ability to ask and answer yes/no questions and WH- questions. Overall, linguistic structures appeared to be below for his chronological age.

The Expressive One Word Picture Vocabulary Test-4th Edition, (EOWPVT-4) is an individually administered, norm referenced assessment to measure expressive vocabulary and word retrieval for children, aged two, through geriatrics (80+ years). The EOWPVT-4 measures expressive vocabulary knowledge by asking the student to name objects, actions, and concepts when presented with color illustrations. ****** achieved the following scores:

Raw Score / 49
Standard Score / 97
Confidence Interval (95%) / 90.6-103.4
Percentile Rank / 42

Results indicate that ******’s expressive vocabulary abilities fell in the average range on this measure.

The Receptive One Word Picture Vocabulary Test-4th Edition (ROWPVT-4) is an individually administered, untimed, norm referenced, wide-range test of receptive vocabulary acquisition through picture identification. The ROWPVT-4 targets the ability to understand the meaning of words spoken without context by matching a spoken word with an image of an object, action, or concept. The test is designed for ages two years to eighty years of age. ****** achieved the following scores:

Raw Score / 62
Standard Score / 104
Confidence Interval (95%) / 98.9-109.1
Percentile Rank / 61

Results indicate that ******’s receptive vocabulary abilities fell within the average range on this measure.

The Preschool Language Scale-5th Edition (PLS-5) is designed for children from birth through seven years eleven months of age and is an individually administered test used to identify children who have language disorders of delays. The test is comprised of two subscales, auditory comprehension and expressive communication. These subscales are used to evaluate how much language a child understands and how well they communicate with others.

1)  The auditory comprehension scale is used to evaluate the scope of a child’s comprehension of language. The test items on this scale that are designed for infants and toddlers target skills that are considered important precursors for language development (i.e., attention to speakers, appropriate object play). The items designed for preschool-aged children are used to assess comprehension of basic vocabulary, concepts, morphology, and early syntax. Items for children ages 5 to 7 years old evaluate the ability to understand complex sentences, use language to make comparisons/inferences, and demonstrate emergent literacy skills.

2)  The expressive communication scale is used to determine how well a child communicates with others. The test items on this scale which are designed for infants and toddlers address vocal development and social communication. Preschool-age children are asked to name common objects, use concepts that describe objects, express quantity, use specific prepositions, grammatical markers, and sentence structures. Items for 5-, 6-, and 7-year-old children are used to examine emergent literacy skills (i.e., phonological awareness and ability to retell a short story in sequence) and, integrative language skills (i.e., smile use, synonyms use, use of language to classify words). Based on ******’s performance and parent report, the following scores were obtained: