Secord Contextual Articulation Test (S-CAT)

Administration: Imitative Mode: 3

Record responses for the boxed target word and then continue, until all 10 pairs have been presented. To begin diphthong probes there are 20 responses required. The clinician says, "I'm going to say some words and then some sentences. Listen carefully and s ay what I say." Proceed with the entire probe. Give one item and record the client's response before moving on.

Administration: CPAC:

Select target sound(s) or process(s) for which a probe(s) are to be administered. Probes may be chosen because of errors noted in conversational speech or on any assessment of articulation or phonology. The testing space should be administered in a well-lighted room free from distraction. The clinician sits directly across the table from the client.

Administration: TWCT:

TWCT is the practical link between assessment and treatment. It was designed as a companion for CPAC, it can be used as a stand-alone resource for a variety of other clinical purposes.

Scoring: SPAC:

Find the total number of target responses by counting all marked boxes in the storytelling portion of the record form. Enter that total in the box marked Total Targets on the record form. Do not count omissions. Sum the correct responses and enter the total in the box marked Total Correct. Divide the number of Total Correct by the Total Targets. This number is the Response Accuracy Ratio (RAR). Then multiply the RAR by 100 to get the Percent Correct.

Interpretation:

In the acquisition of response, task, or skill, an individual usually moves through three phases: accuracy, fluency, and generalization. Clinicians understand that clients with speech sound errors typically learn how to produce a sound accurately, acquire the ability to produce the sound fluently, and then use it in a variety of phonetic contexts. SPAC can be a valuable tool to gather data for assessment and diagnosis. The results from S-CAT will give the clinician a good starting point for therapy and help narrow down the difficulties the client may have. The S-CAT is a great resource for clients of diverse ages will justify if the client is eligible for therapy.

Administration: SPAC for Children:

Open the SPAC Manual to the storytelling section. Find the set of four pictures that corresponds to the phoneme to be assessed. Open the book and set up the full view of the child and the text of the story facing you. Then say, "Now I'm going to tell you a story. I want you to listen very carefully. After I tell the story, you can tell it back to me." After reading the story say, "Here are the pictures of the story I just told you. Look at the pictures and tell the story back to me. The pictures will help you tell the story, and it starts here." Record correct and erred responses on an SPAC record form (located in Section 4). Prompt the child as much as necessary to help complete the story.

Uses:

The S-CAT contains three components. Storytelling Probes of Articulation Competence (SPAC) which provide a fast and efficient means to assess the connected speech of preschoolers, young-age children, adolescents and adults who misarticulate specific speech sounds. The Contextual Probes of Articulation Competence (CPAC) is for age range from preschool through adult. It is a contemporary instrument used to obtain in-depth assessment of a client's articulatory and phonological performance on specific speech sounds or processes targeted for treatment. The Target Words for Contextual Training (TWCT) saves clinician's time in designing practice materials for clients, ensure that treatment is targeted to the context where it is most needed, and provide a flexible resource that can be used informally by clinicians for a variety of clinical purposes.

Reliability:

The S-CAT has test re-test reliability.

Standardization:

The S-CAT is a non-standardized test. The testing time varies with clients.

Purpose:

The Secord Contextual Articulation Test (S-CAT) is a norm referenced test used to identify misarticulations. The S-CAT is a comprehensive assessment and treatment program designed to probe production of all English phonemes in a variety of phonetic and phonological contexts, examine performance across different speech production levels such as: pre and post-vocalic words, clusters, sentences, and connected speech, and plan intervention using more than 30,000 training words keyed to the multiple contexts in which target phonemes can be spoken. The S-CAT is an ideal instrument for obtaining pretreatment and post treatment data needed for an individualized Education Plan (IEP).

Administration: Imitative Mode: 2

The five stimulus sentences are then presented, allow the client to respond to each one in turn. To begin the administration of the vowel probes the clinician says, "I'm going to say some words to you. I want you to listen carefully and say what I say. "The first 10 words are the presented on at a time, with the client responding to each one. The clinician then says, "Now I'm going to say two words to you. Listen again and say what I say." Present pairs of contrasting words "Hit - heat."

Materials:

The materials needed are the examiner's manuals for the SPAC, CPAC, and TWCT that include probes, phoneme probes in two formats, 14 reproducible forms (process probes), 25 children's stories with 2x2 pictures in color, 25 adolescent-adult stories with words only, and over 30,000 training words. The record form is needed for the client's personal information and scoring.

Administration: SPAC for Adults:

The stimulus stories for the older children and adults are also found in the SPAC manual (Section 3). Open the manual to the appropriate story, and place the book at a comfortable distance for reading. Then say, "Ok, Now I want you to read this story for me (pointing to the first word in the story). Start here and continue reading until you are finished with the story. Ready. Go!" Record responses. Some may have reading difficulties and will not be able to read well enough to provide an adequate speech sample. In these cases, the examiner can read the stories to them and the client can immediately retell the story. The clinician can prompt the client if needed.

Validity:

The validity is not stated in the manual.

Administration: Imitative Mode:

To be begin the imitative administration of the CPAC pretest and posttest consonant probes, or the process probes, the clinician says, I'm going to say some words. Sometimes I'll say one word; sometimes I'll say two words. I want you to listen carefully, and say what I say." Read each stimulus word, record client's responses. Then the clinician say's "Very good. Now I'm going to say some sentences. Listen carefully and say what I say."

Administration: Reading Mode:

Turn to Section 2 of the easel and find the stimulus plate(s) corresponding to the phoneme(s) to be assessed. Sit to the side of the client. Guide the client from each list on the page. The lists are numbered. The clinician should say, "Here are some lists of words and sentences. I want you to read all the words out loud, and then do the same for the sentences."

Scoring: CPAC:

Two scores are figures for the consonant and vocalic R probes: a probes score and an optional storytelling score. The vowel and dipthong probes have only a single word and sentence score; no storytelling score is calculated. The process probes generate subsection totals as well as overall percentage occurrence. To score Word and Sentence Scores the clinician sums the number of correct responses (boxes left blank). On the consonant and vocalic R probes, a series of subtotals correspond to the sections (prevocalic/postvocalic, cluster, sentences) on the probe. On the vowel and a diphthong probes, only one space is provided. The final total is entered on the blank marked Probe Score. A percentage correct score may be calculated by dividing the total number of correct responses by the total number of possible responses.

Analysis:

Uses of CPAC can help before intervention that will assess consistency of articulatory production, assist in developing goals and objectives for (IEPs), gather pretreatment (baseline) measures, identify correct production of target sound in one or more contexts, determine which remediation program should begin, and probe phonological processes. The clinician can turn to TWCT to find additional practice materials. The second issue, when to change treatment goals or dismiss a child is more complicated. During intervention CPAC will gauge client's progress during the acquisition of production skills up to the sentence level. After intervention to posttest overall performance, justify discontinuance of training on one sound or process, and termination of treatment. CPAC probes should be used in combination with other measure such as the SPAC storytelling probes and samples of spontaneous speech. They provide the clinician with data needed to terminate treatment and satisfy the demands of an IEP.