Recommendation biap 20/2

LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT



PRELIMINARIES

Owing to the multiplicity of language assessment tests and their growing specificity, speech therapists are confronted with the distortion between more and more precisely targeted methods of analysis and the difficulty of achieving a synthesis that reflects as exactly as possible the disorders presented by the child.

This synthesis is essential for orientation and treatment.

BIAP has drawn up a recommendation in order to :
1.  enable practitioners to guide their choice of a test by better knowledge of its content and limits (cf. annex : file)
2.  specify the content of a complete language assessment
3.  set up essential multidisciplinary collaboration
4.  specify complementary investigations
5.  encourage a better global understanding of the child.

Why a language assessment ?

The modalities and contents of this assessment differ according to its nature :
In the process of language assessment, a minimum number of investigations essential in screening for possible impairments at the root of the disorders detected :


To these must be added the observations proper to the speech therapist on the intellectual, relational and psycho-motor aspects.

Results must be correlated in order to draw general conclusions and set out guide-lines for therapy.

 
In a language assessment (initial or as follow-up), the speech therapist can initiate complementary investigations suggested by his/her observations and hypotheses


This global approach necessarily supposes a report made accessible to other professionals and a willingness to exchange information, an openness towards other disciplines and the setting-up of a dialogue with the different carers, including pedagogues, for a global understanding of the child’s difficulties and aiming at better therapeutic efficacy.
 
 
 

       Nivelles (B), 1st May 1999