Standardized Measures Used Regularly by Speech-Language Pathologists when Assessing the Language Abilities of School-Aged Children: A Survey.
Deborah Denman, Reinie Cordier, Natalie Munro and 2 others
PMID 37094559WHAT IT FOUND
Most Australian SLPs use just five standardized language tests.
However, many use the CELF and RAPT to judge social and discourse skills, which those tests do not measure. The RAPT is often used for screening despite having outdated norms and no evidence of diagnostic accuracy.
Key findings
01Only five standardized measures were used regularly by more than 2.4% of SLPs, with the CELF-4 and RAPT being the most common.
02About one-quarter of SLPs reported using the CELF and RAPT to assess social abilities and discourse, domains these structured tests are not designed to measure.
03Over 80% of SLPs used the RAPT for screening, a purpose for which it lacks evidence of diagnostic accuracy and has outdated norms.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The survey relied on self-report, so SLPs may have misremembered which measures they used or how often. Findings are specific to Australian practice and may not generalize to other countries with different test availability. The study only examined measures used with at least half of a caseload, ignoring less frequent assessments. Participants were asked to select only their top three domains and purposes, which may oversimplify complex assessment decisions.
Declared interests
There are no conflicts of interest and no funding sources reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that using a standardized test for a specific purpose makes it valid for that purpose. The survey found that SLPs frequently used the RAPT for screening and the CELF for intervention planning, despite evidence that these tests lack the necessary accuracy or ecological validity for those roles.