Blog

How to go about assessing bilingual children as a monolingual SLP regarding all languages.

• Conduct a family/caregiver interview:
  • Minimize bias
  • Gain insight to expectations and the possibility for deficits
• Use an interpreter
  • Meet prior to review process, terminology, and expectations
  • Obtain key information such as: “It was very hard for me to understand him,” or, “He doesn’t use prepositions correctly.” This along withadditional testing measures can help support or negate a true disorder.
• Use highly pragmatic tests
  • if formal/standardized testing is not available in the child’s primary language. 
  • These tests will help determine the client’s grasp of conversational language, which is the first building block to more complex language.
  • You cannot report standard scores when using standardized testing notnormed for that language. You can use the information as qualitative data to support the rest of your findings.
• Employ dynamic assessment
  • a pretest of a skill, an intervention to address that skill, and then a post-test to determine if there was progress.
• Include a communication sample in any communication evaluation:
  • Determine how language is used through the use of a conversation or story.

Be mindful:

• The silent period occurs when a client is first exposed to a new language.
  • Can be misdiagnosed with another disorder or language delay
  • Lasts up to 6 months to a year
• Bilingual development is recognized in two stages.
  • Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS), also known as “conversational language,” typically takes two to three years to acquire.
  • Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP), also known as “academic language,” takes five to seven years to develop. 
  • common misidentifications during these phrases are Language Disorder and Specific Learning Disability.

https://leader.pubs.asha.org/do/10.1044/leisha-vogle-assessing-bilingual-children-as-a-monolingual-slp/full/

Rosemary D.