Compare and contrast the two philosophical approaches to child language assessment. What will be ...

Two philosophical approaches to child language assessment include: (1) Some approaches to assessment emphasize the description, appraisal, and consequences of a child's language behaviors. With these approaches, aims are to identify problematic areas in the child's language performance and specify the patterns of language performance that the child possesses and those that are missing from the child's repertoire. The outcomes of such an approach are guidelines for developing appropriate intervention strategies. (2) Other approaches emphasize looking for a cause of a child's language problem. Implied in these approaches is that knowing the etiology of the problem can lead to specific intervention plans. This approach is allied with the medical model, and the aim is to identify the etiology of a child's language disorder.