We headed to the northern region of Ghana today. After a short flight and a broken down bus, we made it safely to the Tamale Teaching Hospital and were fortunate enough to meet with Dr. Ken Sagoe, CEO of the hospital. He spoke to us about initiatives by different groups to address cleft palate and expressed the need for speech language pathologists and other rehabilitative professionals in Ghana. He also talked about how there needs to be a shift from groups that come to Ghana, repair clefts, and leave, to groups that train Ghanaian surgeons instead. This would be better for the post-surgical care of patients, and would allow more cleft patients to be served. Dr. Sagoe mentioned that at this point in time, 3 surigical missions were still coming to Tamale between June and December this year: June, The Graft Foundation (from within Ghana), July, Operation Smile and September, a team of Ghanaian doctors abroad in Britain and British doctors.
Category: Assessment and Evaluation
Evaluation is the process of identifying the presence of a disability and eligibility for special education and related services. Assessment is planning interventions, including IEPs and the extent of services, based on the strengths and needs of an individual with a disability.
Dynamic Assessment: Cognitive Assessment (Preschool Disability Evaluations: Module 28)
This module explains what dynamic assessment is through an example for viewers. Read More
Law and Policy: Guidelines for NYSED Preschool Evaluations June 2013
Guidelines for NYSED preschool evaluations.pdf
This memo outlines current issues in the speech and language evaluation process in New York. Read More
Research Text: Minority Students in Special and Gifted Education
Source URL: View this document on the National Academies Press website
This article highlighted the role that evaluators play in perpetuating the achievement gap between students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. When an evaluator uses assessment procedures, such as standardized tests, that are biased against students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, it results in typically developing students being placed in special education where they are much less likely to graduate from high school and college.
Relevant Research: Recommending Intervention for Toddlers With Specific Language Learning Difficulties: We May Not Have All the Answers, But We Know a Lot
Source URL: View this document on the ASHA website
This review analyzed the literature available at the time in order to compile characteristics that would enable early intervention (EI) providers to distinguish between children who are “late talkers” but will likely catch up to their peers without therapy (as the majority do) and those who truly have a language disorder.
Relevant Research: Psychometric Review of Language and Articulation Tests for Preschool Children
Source URL: View this document on the ASHA website
This was one of the first of many articles publishing research demonstrating the severe limitations of using commercially available child language tests when assessing children for speech and language disability. Read More
Model Eval: 8;5- English/Spanish- Moderate Language Delay- Hearing Loss
Model Eval-8.5-EnglishSpanish-ModerateLanguageDelay-HearingLoss.pdf
Ricky is an 8 year, 5 month old child who is strongly Spanish-Dominant. He exhibits behavioral issues and poor academic placements. In addition, he was recently diagnosed with hearing loss, but received no amplification.
Model Eval: 3;0- English- Severe Language Delay- Blind/ Multiple Handicaps
Martha is a 3-year-old child who is blind and has very significant cognitive, fine motor, and gross motor impairments. Martha was transitioning from Early Intervention to Preschool during this evaluation. Martha is prelinguistic. In an Evaluation of Child with Multiple Handicapping Conditions, it is always important to provide information on a child’s strengths and weaknesses, and to quantify the child’s developmental levels.
