On the podcast today we have the fantastic Angela Kinsella, Consultant Speech Pathologist at Pearson Clinical. Angela specialises in paediatric language and literacy and the impact it has on academic achievement.  Her extensive experience includes senior roles in community health, disability services and private practice. Angela has worked with children of all ages and abilities and implements Best Practice standards and the most current evidence-based research in her work. 

In this episode we get into: The assessment process and some of the considerations that ‘speechies’ go through when meeting a young person for the first time  Unpacking a case study on a young 3 year old boy The initial process starting with the information gathering observation process before considering any standardised assessments Gathering as much information just from sitting chatting to the parent and child and observing what he’s doing and what he’s not doing. How clinicians are really good at engaging the child How the process is all about functional skills and functional communication Engaging with the parents as they have so much information to offer but making sure they don’t just tell us what we want to hear Working to get everybody on the same page  As a Speech Pathologist, wanting children to thrive in different environments because this is going to set them up for life Why it is important to observe the child in different environments outside of the clinic and how they interact with other family members and friends Setting the child up to hit the ground running when they start formal school so that they don’t struggle love learning, become curious engaged learners and thrive Not needing to sit down and subject the child to all the standardised assessment in one sitting if it’s not warranted Tailoring the assessment process based on the information you have gathered  Angela’s assessment hack Why it is important for speechies to communicate really well to parents about this process as well, and why each of these steps is so important

Links: Pearson Clinical Assessment Angela Kinsella LinkedIn

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