Speech Language Pathologist Assessment Paper

Assessment is a crucial aspect of what speech language pathologists do on a daily basis. After seeing someone for treatment, they are constantly assessing the situation and deciding if adjustments need to be made. During the assessment process, the interview and case history are helpful sources for the speech language pathologist to start formulating his or her hypothesis of what is wrong.
It is important to use multiple tools for diagnosing, rather than just using the same method across clients. Every case is different and no two individuals are the same, despite having the same diagnostic label. It is also significant to note that a “label” does not define the client. After establishing the client’s baseline, you can determine what intervention

methods will be most beneficial. You should consider the client’s relative strengths and include them in your treatment, in order to help motivate the client. When I shadowed in a nursing home, the clients would often get frustrated during cognitive tasks, so the SLP would switch to something that they are better at doing. Observing their behavior can help us obtain useful qualitative data. Prescriptive methods, such as norm referenced standardized tests, enable us to get a number that we can use to compare our client to others. Criterion-referenced procedures are extremely good to use because they help see how well the client can follow directions.
Our field is a combination of art and science, in the sense that we use the data and facts to help assess our clients’ situations, and every speech language pathologist has their own unique approach. Furthermore, even though there are ample amounts of tools available to us, the most important one is the diagnostician. There needs to be a good relationship between the clinician and client in order to work towards a common goal.