Speech-language pathologists’ assessment and intervention practices with multilingual children

Abstract

Within predominantly English-speaking countries such as the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, there are a significant number of people who speak languages other than English. This study aimed to examine Australian speech-language pathologists' (SLPs) perspectives and experiences of multilingualism, including their assessment and intervention practices, and service delivery methods when working with children who speak languages other than English. A questionnaire was completed by 128 SLPs who attended an SLP seminar about cultural and linguistic diversity. Approximately one half of the SLPs (48.4%) reported that they had at least minimal competence in a language(s) other than English; but only 12 (9.4%) reported that they were proficient in another language. The SLPs spoke a total of 28 languages other than English, the most common being French, Italian, German, Spanish, Mandarin, and Auslan (Australian sign language). Participants reported that they had, in the past 12 months, worked with a mean of 59.2 (range 1-100) children from multilingual backgrounds. These children were reported to speak between two and five languages each; the most common being: Vietnamese, Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Australian Indigenous languages, Tagalog, Greek, and other Chinese languages. There was limited overlap between the languages spoken by the SLPs and the children on the SLPs' caseloads. Many of the SLPs assessed children's speech (50.5%) and/or language (34.2%) without assistance from others (including interpreters). English was the primary language used during assessments and intervention. The majority of SLPs always used informal speech (76.7%) and language (78.2%) assessments and, if standardized tests were used, typically they were in English. The SLPs sought additional information about the children's languages and cultural backgrounds, but indicated that they had limited resources to discriminate between speech and language difference vs disorder.

Identification of Specific Language Impairment in Bilingual Children: I. Assessment in English

“…English is a common language for second-language-learning students from a wide range of language backgrounds (Paradis, Schneider, & Duncan, 2012) and for speech-language pathologists (SLPs), who often administer English language standardized assessment instruments to bilingual children in order to inform their diagnostic decisions (e.g., Caesar & Kohler, 2007;Williams & McLeod, 2012).…”

“…The average LR− value, which represents the confidence in using scores above the cut-point for identifying typical language, was 0.22, 95% CIs [.11, .46]. Dollaghan and Horner concluded that no language measure in Spanish or English stood out as optimal for discriminating between bilingual children with SLI or typical language, with most measures yielding only somewhat suggestive results.English is a common language for second-language-learning students from a wide range of language backgrounds (Paradis, Schneider, & Duncan, 2012) and for speech-language pathologists (SLPs), who often administer English language standardized assessment instruments to bilingual children in order to inform their diagnostic decisions (e.g., Caesar & Kohler, 2007;Williams & McLeod, 2012).The current study was designed to derive empirically supported cutoff scores for identifying SLI in bilingual (Spanish-English-speaking) children based on their English language performance. Starting with a group of English-language learners (ELLs) who share Spanish as their first language was a logical first step in the process of examining the diagnostic value of English language testing for the larger population of ELLs in U.S. schools.…”

“…Unfortunately, the usefulness of bilingual assessment is limited by the combination of numerous languages being spoken in school settings, few bilingual SLPs, lack of developmental data on many languages, few tests that are normed on bilinguals, and a lack of empirically derived cut scores for determining good versus poor performance in either L1 or L2. English is the common language for all bilingual, second-language learners in the United States, and English language testing routinely informs diagnostic decisions about ELLs at risk for SLI (e.g., Caesar & Kohler, 2007;Williams & McLeod, 2012). This study provides evidence-based criteria for using English language testing to identify language impairments in bilingual children who have been enrolled in school for at least 1 academic year and are listening to and speaking English at least 30% of the day.…”

Evidence-based intervention for preschool children with primary speech and language impairments: Child Talk – an exploratory mixed-methods study

“…253,255,256 Internationally, a high proportion of therapists report using informal, self-designed assessments. 253,254,257,258 Each method of assessment has its own strengths and limitations and, ideally, the determination of the most appropriate intervention should be made on the basis of information collected using a number of processes. 250 Formal assessment measures are usually norm-referenced and standardised, enabling children's scores to be compared with data from typically developing (TD), same-aged peers.…”

Are South African speech-language therapists adequately equipped to assess English additional language (EAL) speakers who are from an indigenous linguistic and cultural background? A profile and exploration of the current situation

“…The discipline of Speech Language Pathology (SLP) has a clientele, both in South Africa and globally, which is becoming increasingly multilingual and multicultural (Jordaan, 2008;Williams & McLeod, 2012;Wium, 2010). The assessment of diverse populations needs to take into account and to accommodate this diversity of languages and cultures (Gopaul-McNicol & Armour-Thomas, 2002;McLeod, 2014;Tabors, 2008).…”