Not Using a Computer in Language Assessment/Intervention

Abstract

Clinicians who are not yet making direct use of computer applications with their school-age clients may have good reasons. Factors that hinder the clinical use of computers by school clinicians include limited access to computer resources, lack of training, concern that students will be intimidated by the computer, worry over the amount of time necessary to teach students to use the computer, and doubts regarding the efficacy of computer activities. On the other hand, some computer applications offer benefits that are compelling enough to cause clinicians to overcome these barriers. Clinicians are encouraged to explore such applications, which include use of the computer as a context for conversation, a tool for learning, a tool for linguistic and phonological analysis, a tool for treatment data collection, a treatment materials generator, and a biofeedback device.

Development of Linguistic Linked Open Data Resources for Collaborative Data-Intensive Research in the Language Sciences

“…It is well acknowledged that good LSA can be quite time-consuming (Overton and Wren 2014). Some studies have estimated that it takes up to 8 hours of training and from 45 minutes to one hour of work after a transcript has been generated to compute DSS (Long and Channell 2001;Cochran and Masterson 1995). One study (Gorman 2010) estimated that it takes more than 30 minutes per sample following transcription to compute the Index of Productive Syntax (IPSYN; Scarborough 1990).…”

Preface

“…A few years ago a forum on microcomputer applications for school-based clinicians appeared in Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools (July, 1995). In one of those articles (Masterson, 1995), I speculated about future uses of microcomputer technology in our field. Ever the pragmatist, I offered a less than flashy prediction: we will do with computers those things that cannot be done as well without them.…”

“…Insufficient training has also been suggested as a reason for their limited use in assessment (Cochran & Masterson, 1995;Fitch & McRay, 1997); however, I doubt that training alone would increase the use of microcomputer technology by SLPs. I believe the issue is more basic, they need to be convinced that the data they get from microcomputer-assisted assessment are better than the data they can get without it.…”

Your Laptop to the Rescue: Using the Child Language Data Exchange System Archive and CLAN Utilities to Improve Child Language Sample Analysis

“…1 Some studies have estimated that it takes up to 8 hours of training and 45 minutes to an hour of work after a transcript has been generated to compute DSS. 10,11 One study estimated that it takes more than 30 minutes per sample following transcription to compute the Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn). 12,13 It also seems to one of us, after a long career as a university instructor, that most LSA measures, even the time-honored MLU, are quite prone to error.…”