A distance from Dei and cultural competence – which involves understanding and trying to respond to differences in the language, culture and the family environment of children – could have a devastating effect at a time when the two are necessary to reach and help multilingual learners, said several experts and speech therapists.
They told me about some promising strategies to strengthen speech services for multilingual infants, toddlers and preschool children with delays in speech – each involving strong dependence on Dei and cultural competence.
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The Navajo nation faces serious shortages of staff trained to assess and work with young children with developmental delays, including speech. Thus, in 2022, Allison-Burbank and his research team began to provide training in speech evaluation and therapy to native family coaches who are already working with families as part of a tribal home visits program. Family coaches provide support provided until a more permanent solution can be found, said Allison-Burbank.
Home visiting programs are “an unexploited resource for people like me who are trying to have a wider scope to identify these children and operate temporary services,” he said. (The existence of the home visit program and speech therapy is seriously threatened due to federal cuts, including in Medicaid.)
Use linguistic tests designed for multilingual populations
Decades ago, little or not from one of the exams used to diagnose speech delays had been “standardized” – or presumed to establish expectations and references – on non -English -speaking populations.
For example, early childhood intervention programs in Texas were held several years ago to use a single tool that was based on English standards to diagnose Hispanophone children, said Ellen Kester, founder and president of Bilinuistic speeches and language services in Austin, which provides direct services to families and training in school districts. “We have seen an increase in the diagnosis of very young children (Spanish-speaking),” she said. It is not because all children had delays in speech, but because of the fundamental differences between the two languages which were not reflected in the design and notation of the test. (In Spanish, for example, the sound “Z” is pronounced like an Englishman. “)
There are now more options than ever before screening and standardized tools on multilingual and various populations; States, agencies and school districts should be selective and informed, by looking for them and by pushing continuous refinement.
Develop training – formal and self -initiated – for speech therapists in the best way to work with various populations
In the long term, the best way to help more bilingual children is to hire more bilingual speech therapists thanks to solid dei efforts. But in the short term, speech therapists cannot count solely on performers – if you are even available – to connect with multilingual children.
This means using resources that break down the main differences in structure, pronunciation and use between English and the language spoken by the family, Kester said. “As therapists, we must know the models of languages and what we can expect and what we do not expect,” said Kester.
It is also crucial that therapists understand how cultural standards can vary, especially since they lead parents and caregivers in the best way to support their children, said Katharine Zuckerman, professor and deputy chief of the general pediatrics of Oregon Health & Science University.
“This idea that parents sit on the ground and play with the child and teach them to speak is a very American cultural idea,” she said. “In many communities, this does not work this way.”
In other words, to help the child, therapists must adopt an idea which is suddenly besieged: cultural competence,
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In recent years, several studies have dressed on how early state intervention systems, which serve children with development delays, age of birth to 3 years, short -term multilingual children with vocal challenges. A study based in Oregon, and co-written by Zuckerman, revealed that the diagnostics of speech for Hispanophone children were often less specific than for English speakers. Instead of identifying a particular challenge, the Spanish tended to obtain the general designation of “language delay”. This made the connection of families more difficult to the most suitable and beneficial therapies.
A second study revealed that speech therapists regularly lack critical steps when evaluating multilingual children for early intervention. This can cause overdiagnosis, sub-diagnosis and inappropriate aid. “These results indicate the critical need for increased preparation for pre -professional levels and strong advocacy … to ensure utrony assessments based on evidence and a cultural intervention sensitive to family for children from all backgrounds,” concluded the authors.
Carr is a member of New America, focused on reports on early childhood issues.
Contact the editor samuels@hechingerreport.org.
