Speech and Language Assessments
Supporting clear communication and connection.
What it examines
Examine how children speak, understand and use language, and how they interact socially. These assessments may clarify a child’s communication abilities and suggest helpful next steps.
Asked for when a child is hard to understand, is not talking as much as expected for their age, or is finding conversation with other children difficult.
The question it is usually asked to answer: What can this child understand, what can they express, and where is the gap?
Who carries it out. A speech and language therapist. You will be told who your child is seeing before the assessment begins, and you can read their profile on our team pages.
Communication assessments
These are the areas this pathway can cover. Which of them a particular assessment actually looks at depends on the referral question agreed with you beforehand. No child is put through all of it as a matter of routine.
Speech sound assessment
Looks at clarity and pronunciation: which sounds a child can produce, in which positions, and how much of what they say a stranger can follow.
Language development
Separates understanding from expression, because they can be a long way apart. A child may follow everything said to them and still not have the words to answer.
Social communication
Examines conversation and interaction: turn-taking, staying on topic, reading what the other person meant rather than only what they said.
Early language screening
Identifies early communication delays in the years where support makes the largest difference and the smallest fuss.
Reports and recommendations
Sets out what was found and what would help next, at home, at nursery or in a classroom, in language a parent can use straight away.
What is included
Camali Clinic confirms what is included before the assessment starts, and says plainly what is not. In general an assessment involves:
- An agreed referral question, confirmed before anything is booked
- Sessions with the child, using methods chosen for their age and the question
- Information gathered from the adults who see the child every day
- A feedback conversation explaining what was found, in plain language
- A written report and practical recommendations, where the service includes one
An assessment is not a promise of a diagnosis
Not all assessments are diagnostic, and a diagnosis is not a guaranteed outcome. What the assessment is for and what it can and cannot conclude is explained to you before it begins, not afterwards.
Before you book
The first conversation is short and it decides everything else. Have these four things ready and it will be a better one:
- What prompted the question, and who raised it: you, the school, or another clinician
- What a school, an examination body or an insurer needs as an outcome, in their own words
- What has already been tried, and what happened
- Any assessment done before, and roughly when
If a school or an examination body needs a report, ask them what their requirements are and share those with us before booking. Their requirements decide which assessment is the right one. Discovering them afterwards is how families end up paying for two.
Understanding, then a plan
An assessment that ends in a document nobody can act on has not finished. The point is a clearer picture of your child and a set of recommendations the adults around them can actually use: at home, in the classroom, and in whatever support follows. Where that support is ongoing, it often continues through paediatric speech and language therapy.
Ask about speech and language assessments
Tell us your child’s age, what prompted the question and who raised it. The team will confirm whether this is the right pathway before anything is booked.
Not sure which assessment fits? The assessment hub compares all four.
If someone is in immediate danger, use the appropriate UAE emergency service rather than this form. See our Referral and Emergency information.