What Happens at a Children’s Speech and Language Therapy Assessment?
If you are thinking about arranging a speech and language assessment for your child, it is completely normal to wonder what will actually happen.
Parents often get in touch because they have noticed that their child is late to start talking, difficult to understand, struggling to put sentences together or finding it hard to understand what other people are saying. Sometimes a nursery or school has raised a concern. At other times, parents simply have a feeling that communication seems harder for their child than expected.
An assessment is a chance to look more closely at your child’s communication, understand their strengths and identify whether there are any areas where they may benefit from extra support.
What happens before the assessment?
At All Join In, parents are asked to complete a questionnaire before the initial assessment.
This gives the Speech and Language Therapist useful background information about your child, including the reason you are seeking support and what you have noticed at home.
It can be helpful to think beforehand about the situations where communication feels easiest for your child and the situations they find more difficult.
For example, you might have noticed that they communicate confidently at home but become much quieter at nursery, or that you understand their speech easily but other people struggle.
There is no need to prepare your child for particular tasks or practice anything before the appointment. The therapist will know how to gather the information they need and you won’t need to ask your child to demonstrate anything or encourage them to talk.
What happens during a children’s speech and language assessment?
The assessment will depend on your child’s age and the reason they have been referred.
At All Join In, an initial assessment usually lasts between one hour and one and a half hours and is mainly play-based, particularly for younger children.
For a toddler or preschool child, this might involve playing with toys, sharing books or taking part in activities while the therapist watches how they communicate.
The therapist may look at things such as:
how your child communicates their wants and ideas
how well they understand words, sentences and instructions
the words and sentences they use
how they interact and play
how clearly they produce speech sounds
whether they use gestures, signs or other ways of communicating
which situations make communication easier or more difficult.
For older children, some parts of the assessment may be more structured. The therapist may use particular activities or assessment materials to look more closely at areas such as vocabulary, understanding, grammar, storytelling or speech sounds.
The exact assessment will be chosen according to your child’s individual needs and will be a combination of several tasks and activities.
Will my child need to sit still and answer lots of questions?
Usually not, particularly if they are young.
A good assessment needs to show what your child can actually do, and children are unlikely to communicate naturally if they feel uncomfortable or under pressure.
For younger children, much of the useful information can come from play, interaction and observation. When they are older, table top assessments can be combined with games and fun activities to reduce pressure and encourage them to take part.
Parents can also provide important information. You see your child communicating in situations that a therapist cannot recreate during a single appointment.
This is why your observations are a valuable part of the assessment rather than simply background information.
If your child is very young and your main concern is that they are not yet talking as much as expected, you may also find our guide When Should I Be Concerned About My Toddler’s Speech? useful.
What if my child doesn’t talk during the appointment?
This does not necessarily mean that the assessment cannot be useful.
Some children take time to become comfortable with an unfamiliar adult or environment. Others may communicate very differently at home, nursery and school.
A Speech and Language Therapist can take this into account and use information from parents and education staff alongside what they observe during the session.
The aim is to build the clearest possible picture of your child’s communication rather than judge them on how much they say during one appointment.
What happens after the assessment?
Once the assessment is complete, the therapist can explain what they have noticed and discuss the next steps with you.
At All Join In, families receive a short email summarising the findings and advice following an initial assessment. Reports can also be commissioned.
The recommendations will depend on your child.
Some families may simply need reassurance and practical suggestions to use at home. Others may be offered parent coaching, 1:1 therapy or strategies that nursery or school staff can use.
An assessment does not automatically mean committing to a long programme of therapy.
Its purpose is to work out what support, if any, would be helpful.
If you are still deciding whether an assessment is needed, When Should a Child See a Speech and Language Therapist? explains some of the reasons parents seek advice.
Can an assessment identify different types of speech and language difficulty?
It can help a Speech and Language Therapist understand which areas of communication need closer attention.
For example, a child who is difficult to understand may have a speech sound difficulty, while another child may be producing clear speech but finding it harder to understand language or build sentences.
If unclear speech is your main concern, you may find My Child Is Hard to Understand: When Should I Seek Help? useful.
Sometimes further assessment is needed before a clearer diagnosis or detailed communication profile can be reached. More complex difficulties cannot always be fully assessed within one session.
The important thing is that assessment helps determine the most appropriate next step rather than assuming every child needs the same type of speech therapy.
What should I tell my child before the appointment?
You can keep it simple.
For a younger child, you might explain that someone is coming to play with them and find out more about how they talk and communicate.
There is no need to tell them that they need to perform well or “show” the therapist particular words.
Getting out a favourite toy or activity may also help if they would like to share this with the therapist.
The aim is for your child to feel as relaxed as possible so the therapist can see their communication naturally.
Looking for a private speech and language assessment in Bristol?
All Join In provides private speech and language therapy for children in Bristol and the surrounding areas, including North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
Assessments can take place at home, school or nursery, depending on what is most appropriate for the child.
Anna and her associates work with toddlers, preschool children and primary school children with a range of speech, language and communication needs.
You can find out more about children’s speech and language therapy in Bristol and assessment, parent coaching and 1:1 therapy.
If you would like to discuss what you have noticed about your child’s communication and whether an assessment might be useful, please get in touch with All Join In.
