Therapy Advisor

Example: Patient may have difficulty naming everyday objects ("I.... thirsty... cold cubes." instead of "I'm thirsty, I want water with ice."

Test: point to 10 common objects. Can the patient say all 10 in 1 minute? Can they spell out (with pencil or letter tiles) all 10 in 5 minutes? Any difficulty with either task suggests possible word-retrieval difficulty.

Example: The patient has difficulty speaking in complete, grammatical sentences. Might speak in telegraphic speech ("I hungry. Go store. Eat."

Test: Point to a picture of some action (maybe a man throwing a ball) and see if they can describe it in a complete sentence.) Ask them a question ("What did you eat today?") and have them answer in a complete sentence (" I ate waffles this morning")?

Example: May have difficulty clearly speaking the word for common objects (spoon, fork, glass). They might even have difficulty reading words aloud, or repeating the word back after you say it.

Test: Ask the patient to speak the name of each of 10 things you point to. Can they say them clearly? Can they read the words aloud clearly?

Example: Speech might be slurred. May "run out of" breath while speaking, or speak too softly.

Test: If you can make them speak more slowly (maybe one word at a time), is it easier to understand them?

Test: Have them read aloud some numbers such as: 3468 or $2,345.52 or a phone number (540) 951-0623. Try this 5 or 10 times. If they get any digit wrong, they need help with this.

Example: Difficulty with controlling pitch or loudness of their voice.

Example: Difficulty matching written words to pictures

Example: Difficulty matching written sentences to pictures.

Example: Give them a paragraph to read with a written question and several written answer. Try that 4 or 5 times. If they get the right answer every time they are probably reading at that level fairly well. Try at higher levels (multiple paragraphs and then maybe a full story from a newspaper).

Example: They may have trouble understanding someone speaking to them. Might have difficulty comprehending and following spoken instructions.

Test: As them to point to the utensil you eat with that is not a fork or a knife (and show them a place setting with fork, knife, spoon, plate, glass). Then ask them to point to the utensil you'd need to eat a steak (knife).

Example: Need to work on understanding someone saying "Put the large square to the left of the small green circle" (or something harder: 2 or 3 step instructions, or easier "Select the square").

Test: Ask them to point to several objects around the room in order: "Point to the floor, then the ceiling, then me, then my head".

Example: If you ask them to put the glass on the table and get a napkin out of the drawer, they have difficulty completing that task.

Example: They might not realize which word doesn't belong in the following: Egg, Cheese, Rock, Ice-cream. Or, if you give them a group (Horse, chicken, mule, they might have difficulty naming the category (farm animals))