From a Distance: Comparison of In-Person and Virtual Assessments With Adult-Child Dyads From Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds

Abstract

Purpose: Our proof-of-concept study tested the feasibility of virtual testing using child assessments that were originally validated for in-person testing only.

Method: Ten adult-child dyads were assigned to complete both in-person and virtual tests of language, cognition, and narratives. Child participants fell between the ages of 4 and 8 years; adult participants were speech-language clinicians or researchers with experience in administering child assessments. Half of child participants were Spanish-English bilinguals, and half were monolingual English speakers.

Results: Results showed similar performance across in-person and virtual modalities on all assessments. Recommendations for adapting, administering, and scoring virtual measures with linguistically diverse children are discussed.

Conclusions: Although additional research on virtual assessment is needed, our results open opportunities for appropriate remote assessment, particularly for bilingual children, who may not have in-person access to speech-language pathology services.

Figure 1.

Screenshot of receptive language item from Bilingual English–Spanish Assessment (BESA) Semantics, in which the child responds by touching or clicking on an image using remote mouse control. Reprinted from Elizabeth D. Peña, Vera F. Gutiérrez-Clellen, Aquiles Iglesias, Brian A. Goldstein, and Lisa M. Bedore, Bilingual English–Spanish Assessment (BESA), Baltimore, Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Inc. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission.

Figure 2.

Screenshot of an example item from Bilingual English–Spanish Assessment (BESA) Morphosyntax, with scoring survey (left, viewed by the examiner only) and shared stimuli easel (right, viewed by the examiner and the child). Reprinted from Elizabeth D. Peña, Vera F. Gutiérrez-Clellen, Aquiles Iglesias, Brian A. Goldstein, and Lisa M. Bedore, Bilingual English–Spanish Assessment (BESA), Baltimore, Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Inc. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission.

Figure 3.

Scatter plot of children's performance (using proportion correct scores) across conditions. BESA = Bilingual English–Spanish Assessment; MAIN = Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives; PTONI = Primary Test of Nonverbal Intelligence.