Question

5.an slp in private practice is looking to purchase speech and language evaluations. the slp is interested in tests that will correctly rule out children who do not have speech and language disorders. which statistical measure is best for the slp to identify in the evaluation manuals?

Answer 1

The SLP should look for the 'specificity' of speech and language evaluations to correctly rule out children without disorders, as it indicates the test's ability to identify true negatives and avoid false positives.

Step-by-step explanation:

The measure that an SLP in private practice should identify in evaluation manuals to correctly rule out children who do not have speech and language disorders is the 'specificity' of the tests. Specificity refers to a test's ability to correctly identify those who do not have the disorder (true negatives). High specificity means that the test has a low rate of false positives, indicating that children who do not have speech and language disorders are unlikely to be incorrectly diagnosed as having one. In contrast, 'sensitivity' is a measure of a test's ability to identify true positives (those who do have the disorder). In the context of speech and language evaluations, a balance of both high sensitivity and high specificity is ideal to accurately diagnose or rule out disorders.