This book constitutes a clear, comprehensive, up-to-date introduction to the basic principles of psychological and educational assessment that underlie effective clinical decisions about childhood language disorders. Rebecca McCauley describes specific commonly used tools, as well as general approaches ranging from traditional standardized norm-referenced testing to more recent ones, such as dynamic and qualitative assessment. Highlighting special considerations in testing and expected patterns of performance, she reviews the challenges presented by children with a variety of problems--specific language impairment, hearing loss, mental retardation, and autism spectrum disorders. Three extended case examples illustrate her discussion of each of these target groups. Her overarching theme is the crucial role of well-formed questions as fundamental guides to decision making, independent of approach.
Each chapter features lists of key concepts and terms, study questions, and recommended readings. Tables throughout offer succinct summaries and aids to memory.
Students, their instructors, and speech-language pathologists continuing their professional education will all welcome this invaluable new resource.
Distinctive features include:
* a comprehensive consideration of both psychometric and descriptive approaches to the characterization of children's language;
* a detailed discussion of background issues important in the language assessment of the "major" groups of children with language impairment;
* timely information on assessment of change--a topic frequently not covered in other texts;
* extensive guidance on how to evaluate individualnorm-referenced measures for adoption;
* an extensive appendix listing about 50 measures used to assess language in children; and
* a test review guide that can be reproduced for use by readers.

Ideal for preparing SLPs and other clinicians to make sound decisions, this casebook gives readers in-depth, real world demonstrations of today's evidence-based interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Developed as a companion to the Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder textbook-but equally useful as a standalone casebook-this resource offers 14 realistic case studies that walk readers through common clinical challenges and help them hone their planning and problem-solving skills. Aligned with the 14 intervention chapters in the companion text, the case studies each include: A complete profile of the child's strengths and needs, with a special focus on communication and social skills An overview of assessment practices that inform communication treatment planning A discussion of the clinical problem-solving processes used to identify treatment goals and strategies An intervention plan used to achieve the child's goals, with details on implementation and modifications A report on the child's outcomes A set of learning activities to help readers apply their knowledge A one-of-a-kind practical resource developed by clinical experts, this casebook will help both current and future professionals understand today's widely used autism interventions-and prepare to implement them effectively in their own practice. GET THE BUNDLE: Buy this casebook as a bundle with its companion textbook, Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Second Edition. The new edition of this essential text gives SLPs the foundation they need to evaluate, select, and implement 14 of today's widely used interventions.

When a young child has a severe speech sound disorder—especially one severe enough to affect the child's intelligibility—it's critical to determine the degree to which motor speech impairment contributes to the disorder. Now there's a psychometrically well-supported tool that helps speech-language pathologists do just that. Dynamic Evaluation of Motor Speech Skill (DEMSS) is a criterion-referenced assessment designed to help with differential diagnosis of speech sound disorders in children with severely impaired speech production. Developed by one of the leading experts on childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) and an expert on test development, this tool is an efficient way to assess children who have significant speech impairment, especially reduced phonemic and/or phonetic inventories, vowel or prosodic errors, poor speech intelligibility, and/or little to no verbal communication. USE DEMSS to: - Diagnose severe speech sound disorders in children 3 and older - Facilitate, confirm, or rule out a diagnosis of CAS - Estimate the severity of a child's disorder and what their prognosis might be - Inform the development of treatment goals - Make decisions about the most effective methods of cueing during treatment How It Works: DEMSS is a dynamic assessment administered by SLPs in a clinical setting, usually in about 30 minutes or less. The child is tested on production of 60 utterances, divided into eight grouped sets according to syllable structure. For each item on the DEMSS, the SLP provides a verbal model, asks the child for a direct imitation, and follows up with more cues and supports if the child's first attempt is incorrect. Scoring takes into account overall accuracy in producing the word, vowel accuracy, consistency of production, and accuracy of prosodic features of the word. After administering DEMSS and determining results, SLPs can schedule a follow-up meeting with the child's parents to share results and make recommendations. Clear and comprehensive guidance is available to DEMSS users. The manual walks SLPs through every step of test administration and scoring, as well as interpretation. The accompanying video tutorial gives users a helpful overview of DEMSS and guides them through two administrations of the entire tool with two different patients: one with mild CAS and one with more severe CAS. Purchase the DEMSS manual and get everything you need! The manual includes a keycode that unlocks access to the video tutorial and free unlimited DEMSS forms, downloadable online.