Face-to-face and telepractice assessments (Castilla-Earls et al., 2022)

Purpose: This study investigated the effect of delivery method (face-to-face or telepractice), time, home language, and language ability on bilingual children’s receptive vocabulary scores in Spanish and English.

Method: Participants included bilingual children with (n = 32) and without (n = 57) developmental language disorders (DLD) that were assessed at 2 time points about 1 year apart. All children participated in face-to-face assessment at Time 1. At Time 2, 41 children were assessed face-to-face and 48 children were assessed using telepractice.

Results: Delivery method was not a significant predictor of receptive scores in either Spanish or English. Spanish and English receptive vocabulary increased over time in both children with and without DLD. Children with DLD had lower receptive vocabulary raw scores than children with typical development. Children who spoke English-only at home had significantly higher English receptive scores than children who spoke Spanish-only or both Spanish and English at home.

Conclusions: Face-to-face and telepractice assessments seem to be comparable methods for the assessments of Spanish and English receptive skills. Spanish and English receptive skills increased over time in children with and without DLD.

Supplemental Material S1. Analysis including maternal education.

Castilla-Earls, A., Ronderos, J., McIlraith, A., & Martinez, D. (2022). Is bilingual receptive vocabulary assessment via telepractice comparable to face-to-face? Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_LSHSS-21-00054

Publisher Note: This article is part of the Forum: Can You See My Screen? Virtual Assessment in Speech and Language.