Oswego County Health Department

OSWEGO COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT

Dennis P. Norfleet, M.D.
Director of Public Health / 70 Bunner Street, Oswego, NY 13126
Phone 315.349.3545  Fax315.349.3435

Guide for Determining Speech Eligibility in Preschoolers

This guide was developed by a sub group of the Oswego County Preschool Workgroup. The subgroup consisted of four Speech Language Pathologists, Sandy Burns, J. Caiella, Ann Koehler, and Janel Snyder as well as Kathy Pitcher, Municipal Representative and Tammy Thompson Director of Programs for Children with Special Needs. The group represented those with many years of work in the preschool setting as well as the school age setting. The guide was developed to help create some consistency among the nine school districts in Oswego County and give CPSE chairs concrete information that will help the committee in making a determination about a child’s eligibility for speech therapy.

The committee feels that choosing from the following testing materials would be appropriate in helping the evaluation team measure a child’s functioning in the Language and Communication area of development. (Please note, the most current edition of the test must be used)

CELF- P-2(Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Preschool)

PLS-4 (Preschool Language Scale)

TELD - 3 (Test of Early Language Development)

PLAI – 2 (Preschool Language Assessment Instrument)

Articulation

GFTA -2 (Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation)

Arizona – 3 (Arizona Articulation proficiency scale)

Fluency

Please use a minimum of a 100 word sample

Pragmatics

By observation

Intelligibility

Weiss Intelligibility Scale

Please also note, that the same test may not be used within 6 months of the date it was given.

The following page “ Guidelines for determining Speech/Language eligibility in preschoolers” should be filled out for each child that is evaluated and returned with the full evaluation report.

We hope you find this guide to determining eligibility for speech services a helpful tool.

Child’s Name: ______Oswego County Chronological Age: ______

Guidelines for determining Speech/Language

Eligibility in preschoolers

PHONOLOGYARTICULATION ERRORS

______Weak syllable deletion______

______Final consonant deletion

______Initial consonant deletion______

______Stopping

_____ Fronting______

_____Backing

_____ Assimilation______

Factors, considerations, and observable behaviors that support or demonstrate the presence of a Language and Communication Delay or Disability:

____ The child does not use communication effectively with peers and/or adults. For example, the child does not express needs and wants in most situations.

____The child’s speech and language cannot be understood by others in the child’s environment who speak the same language.

____The child exhibits observable severe or frequent frustration because of communication difficulties.

____The child exhibits speech sound and/or phonological process errors that impair intelligibility and are not developmentally appropriate.

____The child has difficulty understanding and using age-appropriate vocabulary, language concepts, and/or conversation

____The child demonstrates specific weakness in pragmatic language ability. For example, limited turn-taking, eye contact, asking and responding to questions, or knowledge of the speaker/listener role interfere with communication.

____The child demonstrates difficulty processing auditory information. For example, following simple directions or answering simple questions present problems for the child.

____The child demonstrates oral motor difficulty, such as swallowing or feeding, and/or developmental apraxia, the inability to coordinate speech muscle movement to say words.

____The child demonstrates speech dysfluency (stuttering) that interferes with communication abilities.

Guidelines for Analyzing Intelligibility Score

Intelligibility ScoreChronological Age Equivalent

25-49%18 months

50-59%24 months

60-74%30 months

75-89%36 months

90-99%42 months

100%48 months

An intelligibility score of 100 percent does not necessarily indicate perfectly normal articulation. It

does indicate understandable articulation 100 percent of the time even though misarticulations may

be present that do not impair intelligibility, such as a mild interdental lisp. An intelligibility score that is

more than 10 percentage points below that expected for his or her chronological may be considered

for speech services. Determination of percentage of intelligibility should be based on a minimum of

a 100 word sample.