SATISFACTION WITH STANDARDIZED LANGUAGE TESTING - A SURVEY OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGISTS

There is little documentation regarding which standardized tests of la nguage development clinicians prefer and their degree of satisfaction with tests and the testing process. This study reports the results of a survey of 216 clinicians in a variety of work settings across the st ate of Oregon. Clinicians rated their degree of satisfaction with seve ral factors associated with testing: time available for test administr ation and interpolation; funding available for purchasing tests; and p sychometric properties of tests. The findings indicated that approxima tely one-half of the respondents expressed neutrality regarding overal l satisfaction, with the remaining clinicians almost evenly split betw een expressing some degree of dissatisfaction or satisfaction. School clinicians were significantly less satisfied than clinicians in clinic /hospital settings. Clinicians with caseloads greater than 40 expresse d significantly greater dissatisfaction with tests and the testing env ironment. Clinicians also indicated the tests most commonly used with four age groups that covered the birth-to-19 years age range. Possible sources of clinician dissatisfaction are also explored.