Mastering SLP Assessments

Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify

Understanding SLP Assessments

Speech-language pathology assessments are the cornerstone of informed intervention. They help identify a student’s communication strengths and challenges, guide goal setting, and ensure compliance with educational and clinical standards. For school-based SLPs, these evaluations are essential tools for supporting students’ academic and social success.

What Is an SLP Assessment?

An SLP assessment evaluates a student’s speech, language, and communication abilities. It may include:

• Oral language assessments
• Speech sound evaluations
• Formal standardized tests
• Informal measures like observations, work samples, and language samples

These assessments provide a full picture of the student’s communication profile, ensuring that therapy is tailored to their specific needs.

The Role of SLPs in Schools

In K-12 settings, SLPs play a critical role in supporting students’ access to the curriculum. Through assessments, they:

• Identify students who may benefit from services
• Determine eligibility for special education
• Inform the development of IEPs
• Track progress over time
  

Whether you’re evaluating a preschooler with limited expressive language or a high schooler with social communication needs, a well-executed assessment lays the foundation for effective support.

Traditional vs. Streamlined Assessment Processes

Traditionally, assessments could feel overwhelming—scattered data, manual paperwork, and inconsistent timelines. A streamlined approach brings order to the chaos:

• Pre-scheduling evaluations
• Using templates and checklists
• Collecting data from a variety of sources (parents, teachers, observations)
• Leveraging digital tools to keep everything in one place
  

This guide will walk you through each of those steps, helping you build a reliable system that saves time and boosts quality.

“We want to make sure that we’re reviewing past IEPs and evaluations, session data, anything that we might have on kiddos. And we don’t have to completely reinvent the wheel… These evaluations are meant to be a team effort, a team decision.”

– Marisha Mets, Founder @ SLP Now

Preparing for Effective Speech Evaluations

A smooth assessment begins long before you administer a single test. The preparation phase is where you set yourself up for success—by gathering the right information, organizing your calendar, and ensuring you have all the tools at your fingertips.

Best Practices for Scheduling Evaluations

One of the biggest stressors for SLPs? Time. That’s why scheduling your evaluations in advance is a game-changer. Most of us know months ahead which evaluations are due, so take time at the start of the school year—or each month—to review deadlines and create a plan.

• Review your evaluation list regularly to see what’s coming up
• Plot deadlines on your calendar, allowing buffer time for paperwork and make-ups
• Block out assessment time each week to avoid last-minute scrambles

Marisha recommends looking ahead to avoid a pile-up: “Do you have one evaluation in January and then three in February and ten in March? If that’s the case, plan ahead a little bit so that you’re not majorly struggling when March comes around.”

Gathering Background Information

Before you begin testing, it’s crucial to collect background data to guide your assessment approach. This includes:

• Reviewing past IEPs and session notes
• Checking previous evaluations
• Talking with the student’s teacher and family for updates on performance and concerns
• Gathering any pertinent medical or developmental history

Create a Pre-Assessment Checklist

Use a customizable checklist for different types of evaluations (speech-only, full team, re-evaluations). This ensures you don’t miss any critical steps like:

• Parent consent
• Observations
• Work samples
• Input forms from caregivers and teachers

Organized preparation helps reduce errors and gives you more bandwidth to focus on meaningful interpretation later on.

“Make sure that you have a list of your students with all of their evaluation dates… just making sure that you have a plan to get that testing done and just being able to look at it ahead of time versus when we’re struggling in the moment can make it a lot easier to problem solve and come up with strategies to get that testing done.”

— Marisha​ Mets, Founder @ SLP Now

Conducting Speech and Language Evaluations: A Step-by-Step Guide

Once you’ve laid the groundwork, it’s time to carry out the assessment. This phase combines formal tools with hands-on observation and collaboration to create a well-rounded picture of the student’s communication skills.

Step 1: Review Existing Data

Start by pulling together any existing information that can inform your evaluation. This might include:

• Previous IEPs and assessment reports
• Session data from therapy
• Notes from teacher check-ins

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel—leveraging what you already have can save time and give you a strong foundation for new insights.

Step 2: Conduct Classroom Observations and Collect Work Samples

Spend time observing how the student communicates in their natural environment. Classroom observations can reveal:

• Participation patterns
• How they follow directions
• Social interactions with peers
• Potential accommodations that may support access to instruction

Work samples are also helpful in showing how language skills are applied academically.

Step 3: Gather Input from Teachers and Families

Evaluations are a collaborative process. Input from others who know the student best offers invaluable context:

• Ask teachers about academic performance, attention, and communication needs
• Reach out to caregivers to collect medical history, developmental milestones, and their concerns or observations

This input adds depth to your interpretation and ensures a more holistic evaluation.

Step 4: Use Formal and Informal Assessments

A comprehensive evaluation includes a mix of tools:

• Formal assessments provide standardized data for eligibility and diagnosis
• Informal tools (like checklists, rubrics, interviews) allow for greater flexibility and context

Step 5: Collect a Language Sample

This is a must-have. Language samples offer real-world insight into how a student uses language across multiple domains (grammar, vocabulary, organization). They’re particularly helpful when standardized tools fall short.

Step 6: Synthesize and Analyze Your Findings

Bring it all together by identifying strengths, areas of need, and patterns across your data. This sets the stage for clear recommendations and well-aligned goals.

“We want to identify the strengths, the needs across all of that information and try to draw parallels… because we only have limited time and resources, so we want to make the most of that and come up with the most effective kind of strategies possible.”

— Marisha​ Mets, Founder @ SLP Now

Utilizing Tools and Templates for Efficient Speech Screening and Evaluation

No more starting from scratch every time. Leveraging templates, forms, and digital tools can transform your assessment workflow—saving hours and ensuring consistency across evaluations.

Use Templates to Jumpstart Documentation

Start by listing the standard sections you complete for every evaluation. Then, begin saving well-written snippets or go-to phrases that are:

• Clear
• Evidence-based
• Aligned with your school’s expectations

This living document becomes your personal library—ready to pull from and personalize, rather than rewriting everything from the ground up.

Pro Tip: Anytime you write a section you’re proud of—or read one from a colleague that stands out—save it!

Streamline with SLP Now’s Workload Feature

SLP Now’s new workload feature takes organization to the next level. Here’s how it works:

• Start a new evaluation and choose a best-practice checklist based on the student’s needs
• Automated tasks and reminders walk you through the evaluation process
• Attached forms and assessments are ready to send (e.g., teacher/parent input forms)
• Once completed, tasks auto-mark as “done,” helping you track progress at a glance

Everything—from observations and checklists to test scores—is stored in one place, making it easy to pull together the final report and make informed recommendations.

Benefits of Using Digital Tools

By integrating tech tools like SLP Now:

• You reduce cognitive load (fewer things to remember!)
• Your documentation is consistent and aligned with best practices
• You can spend more time analyzing data, not hunting it down

“With the SLP Now workload feature, you set up a new assessment or evaluation for a student, and then you can add your own checklist items or use one of our pre-made ones. It’ll map out the different action items—like the forms, assessments, and resources attached to each of those tasks.”

— Marisha Mets, Founder @ SLP Now

Section 5: Best Practices and Strategies for SLP Assessment in K12

School-based SLPs juggle a lot—caseloads, paperwork, testing windows, and team meetings. But with the right strategies, assessments can become a streamlined and effective part of your workflow. Marisha shares a framework that blends structure with flexibility, helping SLPs work smarter without sacrificing quality.

Start with a System: Schedule → Checklist → Template

Think of this as your assessment flow:

1. Schedule it out
   Map out evaluation due dates and block time for testing and paperwork.
2. Use a checklist
   Tailor your process based on the type of evaluation (speech-only, full team, re-evaluation). Identify common problem spots—maybe you always forget a language sample—and adjust accordingly.
3. Build and use templates
   Save strong documentation snippets and adapt them. You’ll avoid the blank page struggle and spend more time individualizing, not reinventing.

This structure keeps you organized and reduces decision fatigue.

Use Data to Drive Decisions

Once your evaluation is complete, analyze your data holistically:

• What patterns show up across formal and informal tools?
• Are classroom observations and teacher reports aligned?
• Where are the student’s strengths? How do they inform goals?

By looking across all your sources, you’ll develop recommendations that are meaningful and actionable.

Keep Everything in One Place

Having all your data—from parent input forms to language samples—in one system (like the SLP Now platform) makes it easier to:

• Reference information during meetings
• Fill out documentation quickly
• Make confident, data-based decisions

With less time spent tracking down info, you can focus more on planning quality services for students.

“We’ve worked to create best practice checklists… so when you need to collect parent input for an initial evaluation or a re-evaluation, you can just hit send… It’ll help you keep track of where you are across your evaluations. You’ll have all of your data in one piece… ready to go and organized for you so that it’s easy to make those data-based decisions.”

— Marisha Mets, Founder @ SLP Now​

Synthesizing SLP Assessment Data for Best Results

At the heart of every effective SLP assessment is one goal: to make confident, data-informed decisions that support student success. By streamlining your process—from scheduling and checklists to collaboration and documentation—you’ll spend less time scrambling and more time focusing on what matters: meaningful impact.

Using tools like SLP Now and strategies from Marisha Mets, you can build an assessment system that’s organized, repeatable, and responsive to your students’ needs. Every form, every observation, every snippet of input becomes part of a cohesive story—one that drives smart goals and tailored interventions.

Take these strategies and make them your own. Tweak the checklists. Customize your templates. Find what works for your setting. And remember—you don’t have to do it all from scratch.

When your assessments are efficient, your support becomes even more effective.

Additional SLP Assessment Resources

Ready to dive deeper into specific assessment topics or need a few go-to tools to make your workflow easier? Here are some hand-picked resources from Marisha and the SLP Now team to help you continue building your assessment toolkit:

🎧 SLP Now Podcast Playlist: Assessments

A curated playlist of episodes covering everything from formal vs. informal tools to narrative assessment and dynamic evaluation strategies.
Listen on Spotify

🧰 SLP Now Blog Series: Assessment 101

• Checklist Essentials
• Formal Assessments Guide
• Informal Assessments Guide
• Language Samples

📘 Assessment by Topic

• Narrative Assessment
• Phonological Awareness
• Speech Sound Disorders
• Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) Students

FAQ: Common Questions About SLP Assessments

❓ What is involved in a speech therapy assessment?

A speech therapy assessment typically includes a combination of formal and informal tools to evaluate a student’s communication abilities. This might involve standardized tests, classroom observations, teacher and family input, language samples, and a review of past IEPs or evaluations.

❓ What is the most common assessment for SLPs?

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all assessment, as it depends on the student’s needs. However, commonly used tools include the CELF (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals), GFTA (Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation), and informal language samples or narrative assessments.

❓ What is an assessment protocol in speech therapy?

An assessment protocol is a structured process that outlines the steps an SLP follows to evaluate a student. This often includes gathering background information, obtaining consent, administering assessments, collecting observations and work samples, analyzing data, and writing the report.

❓ What are the 6 basic components of a speech and language diagnostic assessment?

1. Review of previous evaluations and IEPs
2. Classroom observation
3. Teacher and parent input
4. Formal testing
5. Informal assessments (e.g., language samples)
6. Synthesis of data and recommendations

---

At SLP Now, we are hard workers… but we also like to work smarter.

That means we’re constantly improving our materials, therapy planning resources, and the ways we support SLPs like YOU — so you can skip the hard work part and just work smarter. 👇

Inside the SLP Now membership, you’ll find 400+ therapy plans and an organized library of 5,000+ (and counting!) evidence-backed speech therapy materials to help you differentiate your therapy in a matter of minutes.

How is that possible, you ask?

Because we analyzed all the books, identified the targets, and created unit plan pages that suggest activities based on the skills you’re targeting and your students’ needs. This is the one-stop shop for all your literacy-based therapy needs, including resources for virtual field trips and visuals to help those concepts stick.

We’ve talked about so many activity options during this series… but there are even more literacy-based ideas and evidence-based resources waiting for you on the other side of SLP Now. 🤗

Join thousands of SLPs and get the support you need

Sign up for a risk-free two-week trial → We won’t even ask for your credit card!

Subscribe

Subscribe to the SLP Now podcast and stay tuned for our next series. We’re kicking off September by helping you get your data collection, paperwork, and therapy planning processes in tip-top shape!


Listen to The SLP Now Podcast on Apple ★ Spotify ★ Google  ★ Stitcher ★ Castbox or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Transcript