Pre-school assessment project comparing assessment in the clinic or home

From clinical experience it has been found that it is often difficult to assess young children in a clinical environment. Therefore, the aim of this project was to assess the communication of children in either the home or the clinic environment and to determine whether a more realistic impression of the child's language was obtained from home initial assessment. The results of this study suggest that for children who are 39 months old or less on the date of referral to speech and language therapy, a more representative sample of communication skills does emerge from initial assessment in the home environment. The conclusions drawn also indicate that the attendance rates for home assessments were significantly better than those for clinic appointments and this in turn meant that there was a subsequent cost saving to the department.