Language

ASSESSMENT 

Gameplan clinicians use a variety of assessment tools to diagnose language challenges or Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) in children, adolescents and adults. The CELF-P2 (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals Preschool 2) and CELF-5 are commonly used tools in Australia and may form part of the assessment process after detailed consultation with parents. 

Under the age of 5, detailed parent case history, language sampling and story retells also provide valuable information in the assessment process. Further, sentence repetition tests are useful indicators of language delays as they assess short-term verbal memory as well as knowledge of words and grammar which are common weaknesses amongst individuals with language challenges or DLD. 

It is also important to assess figurative language, complex grammar and narrative with older children and adults. 

In your case history session, you will be advised as to which assessments are most suitable for your child. 

This assessment takes approximately 2 to 3 hours to complete, often spread over two or three testing sessions. A comprehensive report with results and recommendations for home and Kinder or school is complete afterwards.

INTERVENTION 

After detailed assessment, your Gameplan therapist can provide language intervention in the areas of: 

  • Phonetics: the articulation and perception of speech sounds 

  • Phonology: the rules governing the sequencing and distribution of speech sounds 

  • Morphology: the smallest meaningful parts from which words are formed 

  • Syntax: The rule system that governs how words are combined into phrases, clauses, and sentences 

  • Semantics: the aspect of language that concerns the meanings of words, phrases, and sentences and the relationships among word meanings 

  • Discourse: the organisational conventions of connected text 

  • Pragmatics: how language is used in social contexts and rules of social discourse 

Our therapists work in unison with parents, teachers, allied health and medical providers to ensure the highest levels of team-based care.