MARLEEN WESTERVELD

What do you know about language assessments?

• Perhaps you’re an individual with DLD looking to have a language assessment completed;
• or you have a loved one who has been recommended for a language assessment.
• Or perhaps you are an SLP who simply wants a refresher.

In this episode of The Talking DLD Podcast Natalie Munro (University of Sydney) and I  were invited to talk about language assessments! Together, we combine our extensive experience as speech pathologists to help you understand what happens in a language assessment, why they are important and how you can prepare to make the most of your session.

The manual for this 7-week program is now available on my website. You will also find links to a range of materials we used.  You will find it under Resources!

The results from this study have been published – feel free to contact me for a copy!

Westerveld, M. F., & van Bysterveldt, A. K. (2022). Personal narrative intervention for school-age children with Down syndrome: A focus on macrostructure. Child Language Teaching and Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590221080306

I have now uploaded the program handbook: shared book reading intervention, an 8-week shared book reading intervention program for preschoolers with ASD. You will find it on the resources page – intervention programs. It contains the full program, access to resources, and links to ‘training’ videos. The results were published! You can download the paper here.

In this Podcast I explain the importance of narratives in speech pathology. I discuss why we need to think beyond fictional narratives and consider the importance of personal narratives for participating at school and in the home environment. The podcast is available on SoundCloud or wherever you get your Podcast (search for SpeakUp Speech Pathology Australia).

“SpeakUp podcast – To celebrate World Autism Month, Anneke Flinn (Speech Pathology Australia) talks to Associate Professor Marleen Westerveld and Dr Jessica Paynter from Griffith University about the literacy skills of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder “.

We highlight why we should be concerned about the low literacy achievement of many children on the autism spectrum and explain some of the potential reasons for these literacy difficulties in this population. We briefly outline some of the findings of our research studies, and explain the importance of assessing emergent literacy skills during the preschool period (“assess don’t assume”). Finally, we provide some suggestions for intervention, including the importance of shared book reading intervention.

Some of you may be interested in this Speak Up podcast, which aired on 20 Nov 2019 – click here to listen to the interview on SoundCloud.  For more information on any of the resources – visit the resources page on this website.

I have added links to some great websites with free evidence-based resources. I have also uploaded my new personal narrative elicitation app. Check it out under the Resources tab. Note that it only works on a PC or Android – for now 🙂

Thank you to everyone who attended my recent webinar at the Autism Hub, Brisbane, Australia. I have now uploaded the slides – go to the presentations page on my website :). The webinar itself should become available soon  – I have put link on the page.