Hi Reader,
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Today, I'm sharing 3 free assessment tools you may not have seen before.

I apologize for forgetting to mention that I would be sending my emails on the 2nd and 4th Mondays this month in observance of Labor Day. I didn't get any frantic emails, so I don't think I upset anyone!

The EST article and download are about the ways skilled clinicians can help beyond restorative therapy.

🧩 Under "Diverse Voices," you'll find a 1.5 minute video challenge.
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​🧠 Under "Interesting, Useful, or Fun," you'll find:

• Free resources to assess dysphagia risk.
• Excellent free online tool for motor speech assessment.
• Useful (free) checklist for cognitive assessment.

Feel free to reply to this email with any suggestions or comments!

MedBridge Education Discount for SLP, OT, PT, nurses, and athletic trainers.

​Save over $100 on a year-long subscription for unlimited access to hundreds of CEUs. Looking for a group rate?
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Read why I recommend Medbridge, and what you get with your subscription or sign up using the code EatSpeakThink.
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You may be interested in these courses:

• ​What's the Colorado Motor Speech Framework and How Do I Use It? - Sarah Baar & Allison Hilger (Listen for free on the Speech Scope podcast!)
• ​Mounting Assistive Technology to Wheelchairs - Michelle L. Lange
• ​Assessing and Addressing Social Determinants of Health - Breanna Lathrop

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​These are affiliate links. As an affiliate of MedBridge Education, I may earn a small commission on qualifying new subscriptions. There is no extra charge to you, and it will help make Eat, Speak, & Think sustainable.

EST post from the archives

​10 ideas for the speech therapy patient we’re not sure how to help. Restorative therapy (skill mastery) is only 1 of 10 arenas that SLPs can offer skilled intervention for.

This is true for OT and PT, as well!

So if we assess someone who we think we can't help because they have a neurodegenerative condition, take a moment to consider if we could:

1. Support participation mastery.
2. Help reduce environmental barriers. (may include more than what you think!)
3. Help reduce social barriers.
4. Teach problem solving skills to care partner.
5. Locate educational resources for the patient or care partner.
6. Teach strategies to improve interactions with medical providers.
7. Teach self-efficacy skills to the patient or care partner.
8. Help the patient (or care partner) connect with peers.
9. Guide patient or care partner in re-interpreting their symptoms or problems.

PDF Download from the archives

You can access all free Eat, Speak, & Think PDF downloads in the password-protected Free Subscription Library.
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​☕Treat EST to a coffee and you'll get the Mini Resource Binder (84 pages). Become a member at the "Supporter" level and you'll receive the full Resource Binder (326 pages), plus updated editions. Thank you if you choose to support me in this way!

• ​10 ideas to help the speech therapy patient we’re not sure how to help This is a 5-page cheat sheet for SLPs (easily applicable to OTs and PTs). It lists the 10 arenas and offers concrete ideas for each arena.

🧩 Diverse Voices

I'm intentionally seeking out new voices that differ from me in some way. Reply to this email with your suggestions for future newsletters! ​
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​Can you stand watching this 1.5 minute video? Join an autistic child as he walks through a mall. This video is part of an a campaign to raise awareness and has 1.8 million views.

🧠 Interesting, Useful, or Fun

Want more of this? Check out the Eat, Speak, & Think Blog Facebook page.​
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Free assessment tools for "Eat", "Speak", and "Think":

(1) The BOLUS Framework is a helpful tool for assessing the risk of adverse outcomes for patients who have dysphagia. I linked to Dysphagia Cafe's blog post, which explains the framework differently from how I talked about it.
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(2) The Colorado Motor Speech Framework (CMSF) is a free, online tool that makes differential diagnosis of motor speech easier. There are downloadable versions, too.

It gives suggestions for assessment tasks (hover on the blue "i" by the heading under groups). The SLP checks off what is true for their patient, and it color codes (and uses symbols) to show which features are diagnostic v. common v. unexpected for each type of dysarthria or apraxia. See the summary at the bottom. The website does not save the data, so print or save to PDF. Tip - click to hide irrelevant rows to make it shorter.
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(3) The CCABI (Cognitive-Communication Checklist for Acquired Brain Injury) is a handy checklist that can help guide SLP's decisions for assessment and treatment. It can be used for any acquired brain injury (even cancer-related cognitive impairment). It's free and available in 10 languages.

Thanks for reading!
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Consider supporting EST by telling a friend or directly with a small tip through Buy Me a Coffee.

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Stay safe and be well,

Lisa
(she/her)