CLINICAL ASSESSMENT TEST QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | CLINICAL
ASSESSMENT STUDY GUIDE & PRACTICE TEST 2026/2027
Diagnostics section - ANS ✔✔Next
Diagnosis is a linked system approach - ANS ✔✔A system in which program goals, assessment
procedures, program curricula, and evaluation procedures are related in content and in process
Diagnosis - ANS ✔✔*Identifying or determining the presence or absence of and nature of a disorder.
*Must know about patient history, examination of signs and symptoms, administration of special tests,
and review of data.
*can differentiate communication patterns to know if it's a difference (expected community variation) or
disorder (communication that deviates significantly from norms of society).
It is okay to start treatment when we don't have a diagnosis when: - ANS ✔✔1. Any treatment approach
is experimental to a certain degree in the beginning
2. Most initial treatment goals will generally be in the ball park of appropriateness
3. Beginning treatment does not mean that we have abandoned our efforts to define the parameters of
the client's problem and arrive at a diagnosis.
Screening - ANS ✔✔*snap shot of current communication status. Are the current skills adequate?
*Determines if we need to do an evaluation
*Can't diagnose a disorder or not, just sees if we need to further evaluate.
*Quick and typically norm referenced
*Must not be considered:
predictive, sufficient for eligibility determination, appropriate for intervention planning.
Evaluation - ANS ✔✔multicomponent process of:
*Arriving at a diagnosis
*determining eligibility
*monitoring effectiveness of program
*throughout all of it you are evaluating
Assessment: - ANS ✔✔*to collect information for decision--making, program planning, program
monitoring.
*Provides information on the clients:
1)current communication skill
2) effectiveness of current skill to produce desired effect on partners
3) priority skills to improve or increase efficiency of communication skills now and in the future.
Areas of assessment: - ANS ✔✔Language and literacy
Articulation and phonology
Voice and resonance
, Fluency
Swallowing
Hearing
Cognitive communication aspects
Social communication
Basic principles of assessment - ANS ✔✔1) ongoing process of gathering information about an
individual's communicative behavior across situational contexts over time
2) a variety of strategies should be used to collect data
3) a variety of instruments should be used and should be selected based upon the purpose of the
assessment
4) communication assessment must account for unconventional and conventional communication
behaviors (include communicative intent)
5)communication partners should be considered expert informants
6) assessment should always provide direct implications and application to intervention
difference between an eval and assessment - ANS ✔✔evaluation=eligebility for service
assessment=on going progress. Always assessing.
Assessment versus testing - ANS ✔✔*Testing is quantitative with a score as end product
*assessment is quantitative with a destruction for decision making as end product
*Assessments should be comprehensive, prescriptive, and functionally individualized for each client.
*Tests don't make decisions!!!
Reasons for Assessment - ANS ✔✔1) Differential diagnosis=labeling communication problem to
differentiate from one disorder to another.
2) establishing the baseline (to know if they are getting better or if intervention is woking) Baseline is
present skill and our reference point.
3) Treatment planning=identifying intervention targets (requires developmental appropriateness and
impact on client/family, stimulability, how can client's strengths help compensate/facilitate weakness)
5) progress monitoring
6) eligibility determination
Evidence based practice - ANS ✔✔
Diagnosis to determine etiology of the problem - ANS ✔✔*Pros and Cons of using diagnostics to label
the individual
Pros:
>The label is a small part of diagnosis
>There is a necessity of having a clear path to how the SLP arrived at the diagnosis. Helpful for clinician
*Cons:
>Lack of recognition of complexity of human differences
>Unnecessary stigmatization
>Not enough benefits to overshadow limitations
Etiology is defined in three ways:
Predisposing Factors: Risk factors "Potential link with a third agent". SLP must look for risk factors that
are associated with disorders or disease processes.
ASSESSMENT STUDY GUIDE & PRACTICE TEST 2026/2027
Diagnostics section - ANS ✔✔Next
Diagnosis is a linked system approach - ANS ✔✔A system in which program goals, assessment
procedures, program curricula, and evaluation procedures are related in content and in process
Diagnosis - ANS ✔✔*Identifying or determining the presence or absence of and nature of a disorder.
*Must know about patient history, examination of signs and symptoms, administration of special tests,
and review of data.
*can differentiate communication patterns to know if it's a difference (expected community variation) or
disorder (communication that deviates significantly from norms of society).
It is okay to start treatment when we don't have a diagnosis when: - ANS ✔✔1. Any treatment approach
is experimental to a certain degree in the beginning
2. Most initial treatment goals will generally be in the ball park of appropriateness
3. Beginning treatment does not mean that we have abandoned our efforts to define the parameters of
the client's problem and arrive at a diagnosis.
Screening - ANS ✔✔*snap shot of current communication status. Are the current skills adequate?
*Determines if we need to do an evaluation
*Can't diagnose a disorder or not, just sees if we need to further evaluate.
*Quick and typically norm referenced
*Must not be considered:
predictive, sufficient for eligibility determination, appropriate for intervention planning.
Evaluation - ANS ✔✔multicomponent process of:
*Arriving at a diagnosis
*determining eligibility
*monitoring effectiveness of program
*throughout all of it you are evaluating
Assessment: - ANS ✔✔*to collect information for decision--making, program planning, program
monitoring.
*Provides information on the clients:
1)current communication skill
2) effectiveness of current skill to produce desired effect on partners
3) priority skills to improve or increase efficiency of communication skills now and in the future.
Areas of assessment: - ANS ✔✔Language and literacy
Articulation and phonology
Voice and resonance
, Fluency
Swallowing
Hearing
Cognitive communication aspects
Social communication
Basic principles of assessment - ANS ✔✔1) ongoing process of gathering information about an
individual's communicative behavior across situational contexts over time
2) a variety of strategies should be used to collect data
3) a variety of instruments should be used and should be selected based upon the purpose of the
assessment
4) communication assessment must account for unconventional and conventional communication
behaviors (include communicative intent)
5)communication partners should be considered expert informants
6) assessment should always provide direct implications and application to intervention
difference between an eval and assessment - ANS ✔✔evaluation=eligebility for service
assessment=on going progress. Always assessing.
Assessment versus testing - ANS ✔✔*Testing is quantitative with a score as end product
*assessment is quantitative with a destruction for decision making as end product
*Assessments should be comprehensive, prescriptive, and functionally individualized for each client.
*Tests don't make decisions!!!
Reasons for Assessment - ANS ✔✔1) Differential diagnosis=labeling communication problem to
differentiate from one disorder to another.
2) establishing the baseline (to know if they are getting better or if intervention is woking) Baseline is
present skill and our reference point.
3) Treatment planning=identifying intervention targets (requires developmental appropriateness and
impact on client/family, stimulability, how can client's strengths help compensate/facilitate weakness)
5) progress monitoring
6) eligibility determination
Evidence based practice - ANS ✔✔
Diagnosis to determine etiology of the problem - ANS ✔✔*Pros and Cons of using diagnostics to label
the individual
Pros:
>The label is a small part of diagnosis
>There is a necessity of having a clear path to how the SLP arrived at the diagnosis. Helpful for clinician
*Cons:
>Lack of recognition of complexity of human differences
>Unnecessary stigmatization
>Not enough benefits to overshadow limitations
Etiology is defined in three ways:
Predisposing Factors: Risk factors "Potential link with a third agent". SLP must look for risk factors that
are associated with disorders or disease processes.
