The popularity of informal speech assessments: A taboo subject

The topic of the wide-spread use of unpublished/home-made/informal speech assessments is rarely discussed (or disclosed) within research literature. Most literature contains reports of the use of gold-standard assessment tools for diagnosis of children with speech difficulties and identification of appropriate intervention goals. However, recent reports using questionnaire data indicate that many speech pathologists are using unpublished/home-made/informal speech assessments. Nicole Limbrick is undertaking an analysis of the conceptualisation and operationalisation of informal speech assessments. It is interesting to see what they look like and to discover some very innovative design features in some of the assessments. Jane McCormack and I are very fortunate to be co-supervising Nicole's honours thesis. She will be presenting data from her thesis at the Speech Pathology Australia National Conference in Hobart in June.

Jane McCormack and Nicole Limbrick
considering informal speech assessments