From a Distance: Comparison of In-Person and Virtual Assessments With Adult–Child Dyads From Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds

Pratt, Amy; Anaya, Jissel B.; Ramos, Michelle N; Pham, Giang; Muñoz, Miriam Estébanez; Bedore, Lisa M.; Peña, Elizabeth D.

doi:10.1044/2021_lshss-21-00070

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Further research can also provide evidence of telepractice effectiveness. Notably, few studies document evidence of telepractice effectiveness for assessment (Pratt et al., 2022). Thus, it is crucial to foster positive attitudes towards telepractice among SLTs through resource development and more evidence‐based research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychosocial factors, but not professional practice skills, linked to self‐perceived effectiveness of telepractice in school‐based speech and language therapists during COVID‐19 pandemic

Lam

Chiu

Lee

et al. 2022

Intl J Lang & Comm Disor

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Background Face‐to‐face class suspensions during the coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) pandemic in 2019 increased telepractice in speech and language therapy. However, little is known about speech and language therapists’ (SLTs) perceived effectiveness of telepractice and its antecedents. Aims To examine the use of telepractice and the factors affecting its perceived effectiveness in Hong Kong mainstream schools during COVID‐19. Methods & Procedures Seventy‐two school‐based Hong Kong SLTs completed a 110‐item online survey with six structural components: (1) concerns, (2) adoption, (3) student selection criteria, (4) perceived effectiveness, (5) continuous professional development and (6) attitudes/beliefs. Outcomes & Results Over 90% of respondents adopted telepractice during the pandemic. Confirmatory factor analysis identified reliable constructs from their component measures. These participants reported great telepractice difficulties (especially in therapy preparation and managing students’ attention and/or communication). Mixed‐response analysis revealed that psychosocial factors (i.e., students’ engagement and SLTs’ attitudes towards telepractice) but not professional practice skill factors (i.e., student client selection criteria and SLTs’ years of experience in school settings) contributed to SLTs’ self‐perceived effectiveness of telepractice. Conclusions & Implications Our findings suggest that psychosocial factors play a more important role than professional practice skill factors in the self‐perceived effectiveness of telepractice. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS What is already known on the subject Previous surveys reported that although SLTs were interested in using telepractice before the COVID‐19 pandemic, they showed concern about its effectiveness, resulting in a low adoption rate. One critical question naturally arises: What factors may affect the perceived effectiveness of telepractice by SLTs? What this paper adds to existing knowledge This study demonstrates for the first time that despite the high adoption rate of telepractice during the COVID‐19 pandemic, school‐based SLTs exhibited great difficulties, and the SLTs’ self‐perceived effectiveness of telepractice was related to psychosocial factors instead of professional practice skill factors. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work Professional support is needed to alter the attitudes of SLTs towards telepractice for enhancing their self‐perceived effectiveness and positive clinical practice experience.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychosocial factors, but not professional practice skills, linked to self‐perceived effectiveness of telepractice in school‐based speech and language therapists during COVID‐19 pandemic

Lam

Chiu

Lee

et al. 2022

Intl J Lang & Comm Disor

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“…As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the MAIN was subsequently adapted for online use (Hamdani et al, 2021). The online administration of the MAIN was employed in the study by Pratt et al (2022). They noted during the data collection that participants did not always clearly see what was going on in the pictures and that the size of the pictures needed to be increased.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on several studies that compared speech and language assessments online and in-person, Peña and Sutherland (2022) concluded that it is possible to reliably assess children using online procedures. Especially relevant here is the study by Pratt et al (2022) who compared online and in-person narrative comprehension using the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (MAIN; Gagraina et al, 2019) in English and Spanish. The study indicated a high correlation between the scores reflecting comprehension of story macrostructure for online and in-person assessments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Online assessment of narrative macrostructure in adult Irish-English multilinguals

et al. 2022

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BackgroundOnline assessment of narrative production and comprehension became an important component of language assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to establish quantitative measures of narrative macrostructure in the production and comprehension of adult Irish-English bilinguals in an online assessment.MethodsA total of 30 Irish-English bilingual adults participated in an online assessment of oral narrative production and comprehension. Narratives were elicited using LITMUS-MAIN for Irish and English. Story-tell elicitation method was used for all stories. Twenty participants produced Baby Birds and Baby Goats story pairs while 10 participants produced Cat and Dog story pairs. Quantitative measures of story structure, comprehension score, and the overall number of Internal State Terms (ISTs) in production and comprehension were compared across the story pairs, languages, and the output type (production vs. comprehension).ResultsA general linear model indicated no differences in either story structure or story comprehension scores across languages for both sets of stories. Combined analysis for all participants and stories indicated no difference in the story structure scores or comprehension scores across the languages or the story pairs. While the overall number of ISTs was the same across languages, a higher number of ISTs was observed in comprehension relative to production in both languages for Cat and Dog story pair only, but not for Baby birds and Baby goats' stories. The major benefit of using online assessment was the accessibility of participants. The major drawback was the inability to control the environment and the quality of the internet connection.Conclusion and implicationsWhile online assessment increased the availability of participants, which is a significant factor in rural Ireland characterized by low population density and the high percentage of Irish speakers, the availability of stable internet connection limited the applicability of online assessment. Measures of narrative macrostructure were stable across the languages and the story pairs. This is important because of high variability in exposure to Irish, frequent code-switching, and a high number of morphosyntactic errors due to rapid language change that characterizes Irish-English bilinguals. Identifying reliable measures of language performance for Irish-English adult speakers is an important step toward establishing developmental norms for Irish-English bilinguals.

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“…Other concerns include ease of access. Difficulty with remote mouse control was noted by Pratt et al (2022) in their study comparing in-person and virtual assessments. Specifically, they noted that many of the younger children in their study, who ranged from 4 to 8 years of age, required adult assistance to make selections on the screen.…”

Section: How Do We Get Set Up To Conduct An Assessment Remotely?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For a more detailed discussion, see Kester (2020) in the ASHA LeaderLive. Pratt et al (2022) conducted a proof-ofconcept study to test the feasibility of using assessment tools that were created for inperson testing in a remote setting. They explored performance on a variety of testing tools and tasks and found a significant positive association between performance for in-person and virtual conditions.…”

Section: There Are Studies That Show Minimal Discrepancy Between Remo...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Online Language Assessment of School-Age Students

Kester¹

2022

Topics in Language Disorders

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The purpose of this tutorial is to guide speech-language pathologists in conducting speech and language evaluations remotely. Practical considerations, such as setting up the testing environment and the importance of conducting a pre-evaluation check, are discussed. Different item types and assessments are discussed with consideration of the technology requirements for different tools. Issues such as testing fidelity when remotely administering assessments that were normed with in-person testing and ways to use standardized tools in nonstandardized ways are addressed. The benefits of remote testing are discussed.

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From a Distance: Comparison of In-Person and Virtual Assessments With Adult–Child Dyads From Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds

Cited by 14 publications

References 34 publications

Psychosocial factors, but not professional practice skills, linked to self‐perceived effectiveness of telepractice in school‐based speech and language therapists during COVID‐19 pandemic

Psychosocial factors, but not professional practice skills, linked to self‐perceived effectiveness of telepractice in school‐based speech and language therapists during COVID‐19 pandemic

Online assessment of narrative macrostructure in adult Irish-English multilinguals

Online Language Assessment of School-Age Students

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