Sample Assessment

(The following are a few sections from a sample assessment. A typical report will be 35 to 50 pages.)

Assessment and Office Plan for Speech/Language Pathology Services

Prepared for: Rebecca D. Pond M.A., CCC/SLP, 3 Babson Lane, Groton MA 01451-1220, 978.256.9391

OVERVIEW:

Rebecca D. Pond’s Speech and Pathology practice has enjoyed reasonable success for many years and continues to thrive. The practice is located in Rebecca’s spacious home, which makes commuting safe and simple, but provides little chance for interaction with other adults, which Rebecca enjoys.

In addition to her duties as a Speech Pathologist, Rebecca is in the process of remodeling her home and is occasionally interrupted to interact with contractors.

The majority of Rebecca’s patients are children who have been referred by their teacher, school reading specialist, or primary physician. Although all have trouble speaking properly, some have behavior problems as well. Many of the children have been diagnosed with autism or other physical or mental conditions. Most of their parents attend all sessions.

Rebecca enjoys patient interaction. Her love of children is obvious as she proudly displays photographs she takes of each one.

Due to the increased volume of patients, and her desire to present a comprehensive report on each, however, Rebecca often finds herself overwhelmed by paperwork, which includes intake interviews, evaluation sessions, and progress reports. Rebecca also videotapes every patient and later reviews each individual frame to calculate the number and types of upsets in speech patterns.

Since despite the fact that a similar position at a clinic or hospital would provide support staff for Rebecca, as well as opportunities to interact with other adults and fellow professionals, at this time, there are no plans to move or close the practice, but rather to make it more efficient.

This consultation was originally intended to help Rebecca with report preparation by providing tips on how to write on deadline. However, it was evident that other timesaving methods might reduce Rebecca’s daily and monthly workload, leaving more time for her to focus on reports, since that is Rebecca’s area of expertise.

SUGGESTIONS: (These are just a few of the many suggestions for this business. Assessments include customer profiles, description of services, marketing, and more.)

• Rebecca’s current computer monitor is an older model, which occasionally overheats, she is reluctant to keep it on all day. Therefore, when she needs to retrieve a document, she must wait for the computer to boot up, wasting valuable time. It is suggested that Rebecca purchase a slim-line monitor that will allow air to flow around the confined area where the monitor sits. Newer models are more energy efficient. What’s more, experts agree that keeping a computer operational all day actually saves electricity.

• Create a computer form (see attached) to conduct intake telephone interviews. This method will save time by eliminating the need to transcribe information from a handwritten form. To enhance the new process, as soon as the call is finished, Rebecca should edit notes into complete, but not necessarily perfect, sentences and thoughts. When intake reports must be gathered in longhand, transfer handwritten notes to a computer file immediately.

• Create a template of each report. Use the computer’s Save As function to personalize for future clients. Use the Find/Replace feature to substitute a name in place of (Patient), etc.

• Consider dictating the first draft of patient reports. Hire a trustworthy professional familiar with speech pathology (i.e. a secretary from the Speech Pathology department of a hospital) to transcribe first draft. Use e-mail for fast turnaround.

• The creation of comprehensive reports is vital to a successful speech pathologist. Rebecca struggles for just the right words and phrases so that each report best describes the patient, family life, medical history, presenting problems, and prescription. Rebecca might benefit from reviewing several completed reports and highlighting favorite descriptive phrases. Keeping a list of key words and phrases handy, either in the form of a computer document that could be used to Edit/Copy, or a printed list pasted to the side of the computer, might save Rebecca time during future report preparation.

• Currently, Rebecca spends a great deal of precious time calculating speech upsets. Engage the one-time services of a computer professional to create a simple Excel program to rapidly and effectively compute data collected from video sessions. An alternative strategy – barter services (i.e. speech pathology for cooking) with a computer-proficient high school or college student.

• To maximize Speech Pathology skills, hire an Administrative Assistant to organize and assume responsibility for routine office procedures. In addition to freeing Rebecca to focus on speech pathology, the proper candidate will be able to cluster computer files into directories, making the office run more efficiently. Setting aside several hours to interview and train an assistant to take charge of the day-to-day duties of the practice will provide a great return on Rebecca’s investment of time. See attached job description draft.