Communication SamplingCommunication SamplingExamples in Assessment

Communication SamplingCommunication SamplingGives us more info to

support/negate a standardized test

Use of communication skills in real-life situations

Most valid assessment of functional communication

More naturalisticEffect on daily life

Important aspects of a Important aspects of a samplingsamplingRepresentative of daily life

opportunitiesCultural sensitivityVarious conversational situations

Nonverbal CommunicationNonverbal CommunicationVery youngOlder, but withdrawn or have

associated cognitive issuesAdults – frustrated, depressed

Varies with the develomental levelAssist in differential dx (a child with

mental dis nonverbal skills should be intact vs child with pdd

ACC – pictures (assisted communication device)

Nonverbal sample Nonverbal sample collectioncollectionFor young children – play sampleEx. Blind childFor older clients – going to their site

and seeing how they communicate – communicative needs

Why do they need to communicate?What do they need to communicate?Long enough to show broad range of

communication attempts (around 30 minutes

How might a nonverbal person communicate?

Nonverbal – analyzing the Nonverbal – analyzing the samplesampleDoes their behavior suggest that

they understand language?Joint attentionNonverbal cuesHow is an act considered

communicative?◦Directed by eye gaze, body orientation,

or gesture◦Should have an effective listener◦Convey recognizable message that could

be translated into words◦Persistent – act will be repeated or

revised to get a response

Language SamplingLanguage SamplingVaries per ageAssess expression, meaning, and usePreschool (3-5)

◦ Play-based◦ Open ended questions◦ ‘shocking’ comments to gain interest –

correction (C.V. eval)◦ 15-30 minute sample◦ Pragmatics – difficult (talking to close, to loud,

to quiet)

School age (5-16)Adult (16-up)

Language Sampling INfoLanguage Sampling INfoQuestions asked

◦Language compare to other aspects of development

◦Developmentally appropriate?◦Variety◦Consistent error patterns

Methods used◦Computing MLU◦Developmental Sentence Analysis◦SALT

Language Sampling – Language Sampling – school agedschool agedInterview (double interview

example of pragmatics)Peer vs. adult interactionSALT analysis – more indepth with

older kids/adultsComplex sentences; bound/free

morphemes, conjunctionsPragmatics – topic maintenance;

repair of conversation; Narrative/expository eval

Language Sampling with Language Sampling with Adults (Acquired Disorders)Adults (Acquired Disorders)InterviewPicture description of a common

scene (Boston Aphasia Battery)Retelling a storyGenerating a story from picturesSequencing a common eventAnalysis involves much of same as

with school –aged except more focus on◦Empty/vague words; new info errors,

inaccurate info; ambiguous or contentless info, inappropriate word use; incpmpleteness

Speech SamplingSpeech SamplingArtic errorsContents of sound inventory-

determine phonetic inventoryIntelligibility Fluency (SSI-3)Voice (rainbow passage) =

readyg fluencyProsodyResonance