Guest guest Posted February 10, 2008 Report Share Posted February 10, 2008 Hi Darlene! Hope this answer is just as timely! Quote from The Late Talker book in short -it's in archive below as well. " Formal cognitive testing is typically performed by a licensed psychologist or neuropsychologist. Make sure that you are referred to one who is familiar with testing nonverbal or unintelligible children and that she uses age-appropriate nonverbal intelligence tests such as the Leiter-R for children two years old and up, the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC) for children four years old and older, the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (UNIT) for children five years old and above or the Comprehensive Test of Nonverbal Intelligence (CTONI) or TONI-3 for those six and above. " There's more from The Late Talker as well as awesome info from " Dr. Bob " below. I'd also check out the bottom of Tanner's page to read about when I walked in to a school verbal IQ " testing " nightmare! http://www.cherab.org/information/familiesrelate/letter.html What if I just listened to that school and didn't advocate tooth and nail? No doubt Tanner would be right where they wanted to put him since they didn't think Tanner would " make it " in a mainstream kindergarten class!! For all of you that listen to Tanner and tell me -he's different -no he's not -he's just been given a chance to prove everyone that didn't believe in him wrong. Please give your verbal disabled child that chance. Worst that can happen is that 'you' are wrong. At least you know in your heart that you gave your child that chance to fall. You can't go back to kindergarten or first grade and start over. In speaking with one parent of a special ed child in 6th grade now who loves to read I asked the mom -why don't you see if he can get mainstreamed now? She said " He'd never be able to because the classes he is in are not academic and he's only working on a 3rd grade level " Please don't let that happen to your baby!! In a nutshell ask -is this appropriate for a deaf child and follow that. While in our world it's assumed (wrongly) that a verbal disabled child is learning disabled (see Dr. Rosenthal link below to see how that's really bad!) -it's not assumed that a deaf child is learning disabled. As I once said -if Tanner still had an issue when he got older I'd get him a pair of hearing aids to wear and to pretend he was deaf. Those without hearing impairments with even minor speech impairments are assumed to be cognitive impaired. It's not like that for the deaf and hard of hearing...anymore. As a group we can continue to work to change this. Goodness knows that something has to change for communication impaired as it's such a huge and growing group. They are our future -and we have to help them succeed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~start of archive -hope this is the one you were looking for! Re: Non-Verbal Assessment Test Hi Carol! Glad you brought up Robin -she just updated the group, and sent the following to me which I guess didn't go through. Robin's new email is below and I'll try to find out from her a list a tests (couldn't find that in the archives) Please let us know what you think of the UNIT -Suzy loved it I recall. First is a post from Robin -'s mom (with her contact info) and then a recent post from me on tests: kiddietalk@... From: " Ketchem " <rcketchem@...> Subject: Fwd: [ ] Re: Autism is a World ~ just nominated for an - Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 10:39:50 -0500 > > > Hi , > > Well we finally made it to Georgia! We are now living in the Buford > area and so far we really like the area. We are very fortunate to be > able to have begin working with Zimet a wonderful > speech therapist. Currently we are communicating by phone and e- mail > with regards to what type of program that needs > to be developed for . will be meeting next > month and reviewing the therapy program that has been working > very hard on. really is taking into consideration my > thoughts and feelings and that really makes me feel apart of the new > team that we are developing. > > > did have her day in court on August 10th for her federal > lawsuit. She was very fortunate to have a wonderful federal judge who > really understood what life had been like for her with regards to the > school district and the IU. He scheduled a presettlement conference > and held the conference in his federal court for the day. > We were asked to come to court that day with a cooperative spirit to > try and settle the case. We did just that and settled the case. It > took 8 hours in court but finally came to an agreement. We actually > let Mel tell us when she felt it was best. 's attorney kept > coming in with a different offer and the last offer he explained it to > and looked right at him and said " ok " " done " . The > attorney looked at us and we said we wanted to have closure so > she could go on with her life and we respected Mel's decision. Mel > now has a nice trust fund that will help her with her new program. It > was nice as when we went up to meet the judge he > truly did not know which one was out of our three daughters. > That really made the judge think as well. When he read the settlement > agreement into record for everyone to hear Mel just sat there very > calm and smiling. Mel knew it was over. The judge also made some > closing remarks that were very powerful for > Mel to hear. Those remarks he made that day sent a very powerful > message to Mel and our family. > > has been apart of a team of doctors doing a study on PTSD and > the individual that has PTSD and the family that supports that > individual. I was shocked to hear that is the only one home > at this time and recovering from her PTSD so nicely. The other kids > are either in group homes or are in residential > school settings with really no hopes of returning home. Mel had a > very very severe case of PTSD but with the love and support of her > family you would never know today she even has it. Every time I speak > with this set of doctors, I am more determined to try and help other > families. > > is now recovering nicely from her past experiences and > starting to move forward. has regained all of her motor > planning tasks that she lost for so many years and she is saying more > and more words. 's old personality has once again emerged and > she is happy and enjoying life each day. > is really enjoying living in Georgia away from the school > district and the IU personnel. 's doctors believe that our > moving will help one day communicate without support. Mel's > PTSD really took a large toll on Mel's motor planning and her > communication. now lives without fear > that one day someone from the school or IU is going to come and get > her like they told her so many times. > > One of the most exciting changes we have seen in is that she > now wants to join in for family game night. Our other two daughters > like to play dominoes. now has joined us in playing and she > plays without any support. She has watched us for several years now > playing but never really wanted to play. > Mel had no trouble understanding the game right when she started to > play. This proved to us that is absorbing everything thing > around her but unable to express herself due to her global apraxia but > somehow she has the power to over come her apraxia and play dominoes. > This proved to our family > that Mel has so much to offer and it is our job to help Mel overcome > her apraxia. > > We now feel is the time that Mel will really begin to move forward > with her sever global apraxia. and will make a great > team and together one day will be able to share her story with > the world and help others. We truly believe the story needs to come > from so others can be helped. > I think about all the kids that are in Mel's situation now and I truly > want help for all of them. and I will keep great notes during > 's therapy program so hopefully one day we can develop a > program that can be used for older children and adults. There are a > handful of professionals that believe > in our older children but not enough. > > I will keep you informed of Mel's progress. I truly hope one day > Mel will be communicating herself with you and you can ask Mel > questions and Mel will be able to answer them herself. I believe one > day Mel will be at that point but she has a lot of hard work ahead of > her but she also has the determination that > it will take work hard each and every day. > > does use facilitated communication and is using it once again > at home. wants to have support her thru facilitated > communication for the sole purpose of learning Mel's movement > when typing. Mel wants to develop a program that will enable > her to type without support due to > Mel's negative experience with facilitated communication and the > school district/IU personnel. I am also contacting families that > have children who are using facilitated communication and trying to > get ideas for typing without support. Mel at one point was so close > to typing without support so we hope to get > her back to that point once again. > > > I also have a new e-mail address rcketchem@... since the > move. Please e-mail with any questions you may have. > > Take care, > > Robin From: " kiddietalk " <kiddietalk@...> Date: Fri Jan 28, 2005 8:50 pm Subject: Re: & Tricia - Help with Assessment Tests Theresa there really are no tests that will 100% be perfect to test the receptive ability of a speech disabled child -at least one needs to be developed (would be nice) Also as we state in The Late Talker -tests used are important -but the professional chosen to do the testing is at times just as important. The hardcover of The Late Talker had so much cut from it because the publisher didn't want to overwhelm parents of two year old " late talkers " I agree much of the stuff for older children who truly are speech impaired is overwhelming for someone who may not even need that information who has an undiagnosed two year old child with a speech delay. We (the authors) pushed to add a bit more to the paperback version of the book -so a bit more on testing in the PB. I'll retype that part of the book from around page 44 (I unfortunately have the book and drafts on another computer right now, and type faster than it would take me to get to that one -so may be typos in my retype) " Usually the SLP uses a " standardized " speech -language test, one with " norms " based on a large sample of typically developing children. This allows the SLP to assess where your child stands compared to other children of his age. Since young children are not always cooperative in sitting through standardized tests, a more informal evaluation through play may be done. You are then given an estimate of your child's standing, based on the SLP's training, knowledge, and experience -her " informed clinical opinion. " Make sure the testing conditions work for your late talker. children with speech and expressive language impairments obviously score less well on a receptive test that requires verbal responses. It is possible to do speech and language testing for receptive ability even with children that are essentially nonverbal. In these cases, the examiner can look at other forms of functional communication, including the use of gestures, formal sign language, pictures, and augmentative communication devices. Here are the more popular language tests or scales that your SLP may use: Rossetti Infant Toddler Language Scale (birth to three years) Preschool Language Scale -3 (PLS-3) (birth to six years) Clinical Evaluation of Language Functions (CELF) -Preschool (three through six year) and CELF 3 (six through twenty one) Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test (ROWPVT) (two through eighteen years) Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test -Revised (EOWPVT) (two through twelve years) Test of Early Language Development-3 (TELD-3) (two through seven years) " And then " Two tests designed more specifically to evaluate children with motor planning disorders are the Kaufman Speech Praxis Test for Children (KSPT) and the Verbal Motor Production Assessment for Children (VMPAC) The KSPT is an assessment tool for kids age twenty- four to seventy-one months. It measures the child's imitative responses, identifying where the child breaks down in her ability to speak, and ranges from simple sounds to polysyllabic words to spontaneous connected speech. The VMPAC targets an older age group, three to twelve year olds, measuring motor speech abilities by first looking at basic processes, like breath support and muscle tone, and then moving to complex sequencing of syllables. " And from the " Visiting the Doctor " section of the chapter " Formal cognitive testing is typically performed by a licensed psychologist or neurophysiologist. Make sure that you are referred to one who is familiar with testing nonverbal or unintelligible children and that she uses age-appropriate 'nonverbal' intelligence tests, such as the Leiter-R for children two years old and up, the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC) for children four years old and older, the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (UNIT) for children five years old and above, or Comprehensive Test of Nonverbal Intelligence (CTONI) for those six and above) " And...Here is a great message on how to test children who are globally apraxic from one of our member's (Sherry) child's doctor - " Dr. Bob " You can use this in addition to what's in The Late Talker to help advocate. (Hurray for " Dr. Bob " ! The type of neuropsychologist we all would love to take our child to) " Summary of assessment procedures Children with significant language and motor skills delays E. Friedle, Ph.D. Clinical/Neuropsychologist Formalized assessment of children with low incidence disablitities does not often provide accurate or practical information about their cognitive functioning skills. Such assessmenet does provide evidence that these children often have not learned how to respond in direct one-to-one reciprocal testing situations, or that they are unable to respond in those situations due to the nature of their disabilities. The lack of response should not be considered then, necessarily, as a global and fixed delay in cognitive/intellectual potential. Developmental theorists and practitioners have long known that cognitive growth is not only enhanced, but also dependent upon opportunities to experience a wide variety of sensory stimuli in an interactive relationship. Problem solving skills, analytical reasoning, and decision-making are all formalized, cognitively, when integration of information is ongoing. Language and motor skill limitations often prevent the integration and experiences and thus certain cognitive growth waits until such experiences may be provided. Children may have learned to problem-solve and reason in ways that are not assessed by formalized evaluations and are only recognizable when the child is allowed to experience sensory information in a manner most productive to them. It is often then necessary for the examiner to assess what opportunities and experiences the child may have had already, how an assessment may prompt the child to show what they can do with various stimuli and how problem solving, analytical, and decision making skills can be exhibited by a child in a non-formalized approach. The purpose of an assessment request has to be relevant to the child and to their experiences, i.e. the child needs to see some purpose for providing a response. A very simple example of this premise is: asking them to name an object may result in no response, but asking them to get the object may show a knowledgeable response. Children with language and motor deficits often play within the restrictions that their limitations have presented and this " changed " pattern of play, from what is seen with non-disabled children, can be a direct reflection of their ability to problem solve and reason in play. An example for this may be when a child finds that laying things down and flat makes it easier to manipulate, or that moving things closer or out of the way facilitates motor planning and play. Often the child may see no purpose to expand experiences, or have not figured out independently how to change their play patterns. Restrictions in movement or language limit the experiences a child has had with objects and stimuli. The need to practice simple movements, to hear the words that go along with those movements, and then to ask a child to duplicate the movements and/or the words can greatly facilitate cognitive growth. If a child can readily make such duplicated responses then the potential for cognitive growth at that point presents no limitations. An examiner can lead the play situation in these types of activities and note the ability of the child to engage in the " play " at a different level. The purpose is then presented clearly for the child, both for the language and for the movement, and thus becomes an active part of their developmental growth and understanding. Sometimes showing them or asking them to change their approach results in a larger perspective of possibilities in play. The examiner is an active participant in the assessment approach, engaged with the child in the semi-directed play type of assessment. The examiner notes closely when a child shows a lack of understanding of the language presented or an inability to make the movements requested. At all times the examiner is assessing how well the child appears to follow the purpose of the activity or the change in direction of an activity. " And...Don't forget the proven " Rosenthal theory " I've written about! http://www.pineforge.com/newman4study/resources/rosenthal1.htm ===== Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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