Speech and Language Evaluation

Student: Aiden
Date of Birth: 8.3-2022
Age: 8 years, 1 month
School: Eastern Mennonite Elementary School
Grade: 2nd
Evaluation Date(s): 10/19/2022

Background and Related Information:

Aiden is a 2nd grade English-speaking male who attends Eastern Mennonite Elementary School. Aiden
recently moved to the Harrisonburg area and previously attended Millersburg Elementary school in
Millersburg, OH. There he was reported to be demonstrating all age-appropriate developmental and
functional skills. Aiden is reported to be an excellent student and hard worker with excellent skills in
grade level sight word recognition, reading level, and reading rate (103 wpm). Aiden was adopted in
2015 and was born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (associated with prenatal opiate exposure).
Aiden has met all developmental milestones. Aiden has been receiving services for articulation of /r/
and is being reevaluated for articulation and speech production order to determine continued eligibility
status.

Assessments:

● Test Center Pro (R probe)

● Miccio Stimulability Probe/Therapy Data
● Percentage Consonants Correct (PCC)
● Oral Mechanism Exam
● Speech/Language Sample
● Teacher Questionnaire

Results and Impressions:

Aidan is a bright, cooperative student who exhibits a hard work ethic and positive attitude. Aidan is
able to create and maintain relationships with peers and is aware of his speech errors, but is currently
not displaying any negative secondary behaviors. Testing occurred over the course of one session and
it is believed that Aidan put forth his best effort during testing.

Test Center Pro (TCP) R Probe

The TCP R Probe was administered to determine the accuracy of Aidan’s /r/ articulations in all word
positions. No other sound was tested due to lack of concern and Aidan’s demonstrated accuracy. The
results are as follows: 

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Aidan’s overall accuracy was 9/27 which translates to 33% accurate productions of the /r/ sound.

Position: Initial
Example: rabbit→approximated rwabbit
Age of Mastery: 6 years
Comments: Not stimulable for sound in Miccio Probe

Position: Medial= 4/5 accuracy or 80%

Example: horn→hown,
Age of Mastery: 6 years
Comments: Coarticulation and intervocalic positioning appears to assist accurate /r/ productions.
Correct words were “cereal, giraffe, arrow, and girl.” The word “girl” was produced with an /r/ but the
vowel was modified to “gayrl.” During stimulability testing Aidan was able to correct modified vowels
in several words (earth, perfect, girl).

Position: Final 0/5

Example: dinosaur→dinosow, chair →chayow
Age of Mastery: 6 years
Comments: The /r/ final position appears to be the most challenging production for Aidan. It is clear
that he is attempting to make an /r/.

Type: Blends (dr, kr, tr, etc) accuracy = 5/7 or 71%

Example: drum→djwum, crib→cwuib
Age of Mastery: 6 years
Comments: Aidan shows greater accuracy in r-blends again demonstrating that he benefits from
coarticulation to better approximate accurate /r/ productions.

According to the Virginia Department of Education, having only one sound in error past the age of
normal acquisition is considered to have a minimal impact on academic performance.

Miccio Stimulability Probe (Miccio)

The Miccio is an assessment that identifies whether a child is able to produce a sound correctly in
isolation and in non-word contexts after phonetic placement coaching by a clinician. If a child is able
to produce the target sound accurately in at least 3 out of the 10 possible contexts the child is
considered stimulable for that particular target sound. Aiden was minimally stimulable with a
stimulability of 40% during the Miccio probe. This is somewhat consistent with therapy data collected
as Aiden has demonstrated a range of 41% to 88% accuracy during therapy sessions.

Percentage Consonants Correct Imitative Sentence Scoring Form (PCC)

The PCC is a measure that evaluates consonant sound precision in the context of full sentences that are
imitated after a clinician’s recitation. There are 273 possible correct consonant sounds. Aidan produced
8 errors on consonants (all /r/ errors) in imitated sentences for a Percentage Consonant Correct of 97%.
According to Virginia Department of Education guidelines 97% is considered to have “no apparent
impact” on academic performance.

Oral Mechanism Exam

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An oral mechanism exam was performed to identify any structural or motor complications that may
have an effect on accurate sound production. Facial and lingual structures were unremarkable for any
complications. Aiden was observed to be missing upper and lower front teeth, but these do not have
any apparent impact on his speech or articulation at this point.

Speech Language Sample

During a spontaneous speech sample Aidan was asked to describe and tell a story about a pictured park
scene. Aidan was 98% intelligible to a familiar listener. The two errors produced during the speech
sample were both /r/ related vowel modifications (bird→bayerd). Aidan spoke in complete sentences
with an appropriate average utterance length and vocabulary. According to the Virginia Department of
Education guidelines a speech intelligibility of 98% is considered to have “no apparent” impact on
academic performance.

Writing sample

Several writing samples, pulled from Aidan’s classroom assignments were analyzed to identify any
errors that may be a result of speech related errors. Seth demonstrated an adequate use of the letter “r”
in its appropriate word positions. There were two “r” omissions in “r” blend words (bringing→binging
and grass→gass), however Aidan demonstrated accurate usage of “r” in other “r” blend words
(grandpa, grandma, great→grat, greens). There were no other omissions or misusages of the letter “r”
demonstrating no impact of articulation on writing performance.

Teacher Questionnaire:

Aidan’s teacher, Susan Stoltzfus, completed an educational assessment for speech and language which
helps identify academic performance as well as assess communication skills. She reports that Aidan is
“a good listener, observant… [has] good comprehension in reading. [He is] pleasant and cooperative,
[and] very engaged in what we are learning and often raises his hand to answer questions.” Ms.
Stoltzfus reports that Aidan is performing on grade level across all subject areas. Ms. Stoltzfus does
report some difficulty understanding Aidan and that he will sometimes mispronounce sounds or words
and will ask Aidan to repeat himself. Ms. Stoltzfus also reports that Aiden does not avoid speaking in
class, is not teased, and does not have difficulty understanding instructions or require classroom
modifications or extra supports. Ms. Stoltzfus reports that Aidan’s speech and language does not
negatively affect his academic performance or his peer relationships. Ms. Stoltzfus does report that
Aiden does have difficulty attending to instruction in a noisy environment.

Summary:

Aidan is a second grade English-speaking male who attends Eastern Mennonite Elementary. Aidan
presents articulation errors with /r/ in all positions, but is demonstrating emergence in accurate
productions for initial and medial /r/ as well as “r blends” and benefits from coarticulation or
intervocalic positioning. Aidan shows consistent errors in final /r/ production, however this has
minimal to no impact on intelligibility as evidenced by a 98% intelligibility rating during a
spontaneous language sample and a 97% consonant correct (PCC) accuracy during an imitative
sentence task. According to the Virginia Department of Education having one sound in error past the
normal age of acquisition is considered to have a minimal impact and having an intelligibility rating of
98% and a PCC of 97% is considered to have no impact academic performance. According to a teacher
evaluation Aidan’s articulation does not negatively affect his academic performance or his
participation in class.

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Recommendations:

● Encourage Aidan to continue self-monitoring /r/ productions

● Encourage Aidan to self-correct /r/ related errors.
● Maintain a positive environment surrounding Aidan’s speech.

_____________________________
Heather Hyde, M.S. CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist

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