In my last post, I talked about best practices for online assessments.  But what exactly is appropriate for professional SLPs working in telepractice with the school population to assess? In my experience, provided the therapist has a working knowledge of the delivery model, there are no significant limits to the types of students or their needs that cannot be correctly measured.

I have successfully and effectively tested students from Pre-K to 12th-grade students.  Student disabilities included articulation delays, from single sound errors, phonological processing problems, to severe intelligibility deficits. Identified language delays receptive, expressive, and pragmatic issues, from mild to severe. Auditory processing and vocabulary deficits have been analyzed successfully. I have also assessed children with fluency disorders from students with mild repetitions to students with severe blocks, interjections, repetitions, and prolongations. Voice disorders can also be addressed effectively in the online model.

I have collected a few articles and research studies that target varying communication deficits focused on assessment efficacy in an online setting.  One study that addresses literacy wrote, “Web-based technology can enable remote delivery of literacy assessments. The technology has the potential to increase the availability of assessments to meet the needs of children who live remotely, in a timely manner and at their family’s convenience.” (Hodge et al., 2018)

Research studies are also supporting assessment for students with ASD, hearing impairments, AAC needs, and voice therapy.  I am excited by the continued support and research being done in the area on teletherapy and the depth to which it is being studied.  I love what I do, and it is so encouraging to see the research support the validity of that work.

Literacy Assessment Via Telepractice Is Comparable to Face-to-Face Assessment in Children with Reading Difficulties Living in Rural Australia

Telepractice in the assessment and treatment of individuals with autism spectrum disorders: A systematic review

Telepractice assessment of receptive language using the PPVT-4 

Do Patients Treated for Voice Therapy With Telepractice Show Similar Changes in Voice Outcome Measures as Patients Treated Face-to-Face?

Internet-Based Telehealth Assessment of Language Using the CELF–4

Using Telepractice to Improve Outcomes for Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing & Their Families