Language Disorders:from Infancy through Adolescence:

Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing, and Communicating

Rhea Paul, PhD, CCC-SLPProfessor, Yale Child Study Center

New Haven, Connecticut

Courtenay F. Norbury, PhD

Senior Research Fellow Department of Psychology Royal Holloway University of London London,England

pages 148-155

assessing culturally and linguistically different children

language disorder or language difference?

the first problem in assessing a culturally or linguistically different child is determining whether a real disorder exists or whether there is merely the perception(usually on the part of teachers or others professionals)of a disorder that is based on a language difference.

a language disorder should be diagnosed in a CLD child only when the child's language skills deviate significantly from the norms and expections of the child's home community.

a language diorder is likely to exist if the client's communication:

is considered defective by the individual's cultural community

operates outside the norms of acceptability for that community

calls attention to itself or interferes with communication within that community

results in difficulties in adjustment for the client

example of processing-dependent tasks include various memory tasks,such as digit span(repeating a series of numbers in random order),woring memory(children hear a sentence,are asked to tell whether it is true,and then recall the last word in the sentence),and non-word repetition(repeating nonsense words varying in length from two to four syllables that have no resemblance  to familiar English words).

when children perform poorly on processing-dependent measures,there is a high likelihood that they will have some type of language-learning difficulty.

establishing language dominance

we need to determine whether the child's primary language is English or some other language

we need know whether the home language or English is the child's stronger communication modality in order to decide which will yield the most valid information.

observation is one method,here the clinician would observe the child in the classroom and in less formal settings,such as the lunchroom or playground,and chart communicative behaviors in each.

a second methods is the use of structured questionnaires to assess language dominace.

dynamic methods for the assessment of CLD children

test the limits(traditional test procedures are modified by providing feedback about the correct-ness of the answer,why it was correct or incorrect,and an explanation of the principle in the task;or by asking the child to describe the test question and tell why they gave).問問孩子為什麼他會這樣答

purpose:to get a more accurate assessment of the child's knowledge of items on the test,modified responses cannot be included in standard scoring,but supply deeper information about the child's knowledge.

example:when child incorrect on expressive vocabulary test,point to the stimulus and say,"yes,we do eat that.do you know a special name for this thing?"

interview on responses(generate questions to help children understand how they are thinking about test problems and help them become aware of target skills).

purpose:to understand how the task appears from the child's point of view

example:when child is incorrect on expressive vocabulary test,ask questions such as,"how did you know that?"or "what would happen if you wanted one of these from the store?what would you say?"

graduated prompting(identify zone of proximal development 最近發展區 by providing a hierarchy of prompts to vary the level of contextual suppot).

purpose:child responses to the prompts are used to make predictions about response to intervention. number of prompts needed to elicit targets can predict gains after intervention.

example:to predict readiness for productions of 2-words utterance,provide a hierarchy of prompts for single words;such as :modeling(it's a baby),modeling with elicitation(it's a baby,what is it?),and nodeling with obstacle (withhold object until child says word).fewer cues needed for word production predicts readiness for multiword speech.

test-teach-retest(identify deficient or emerging skill;provide intervention by teaching principles of the task,post test to find out how modifiable the child's performance is).

purpose:to equalize students' experiences that can affect test performance.

example:if a child performs poorly on a language test,provide instruction on items similar to those in the test by giving verbal explanation,models,examples,and prompts.post-test on an alternate form.

measure modifiability:(rate the child at the beginning and end in the intervention phase of dynamic assessment).

purpose:to document change in child behaviors not measured by pre- or post-tests.

if the clinician has a child who is dominant in one of these languages on the caseload,testing may be carried out by a trained speaking paraprofessional or speech assistant who can report results to the SLP for interpretation.

obtaning interview data

just as we need to gather data on hearing,speech-motor,and non-verbal skills for every client suspected of a language disorder,we need to gather these data on children with CLD,obtaining information about a child's medical,language,feeding,and the developmental and language history regarding both the child and ohter family members;interviewing parents about current skills in communication and related areas;and finding out about family concerns and priotities are important parts of the assessment for each child we see.

a model for comprehensive assessment of English language learniers

developmental history:information provided:history of language acquisition;age of first word,word combination;like/unlike siblings;like other children in the community;medical history that could affect speech and language;development;hospitalizations;ear infections;PE tubes;feeding problems

school history:history of schooling;U.S./non-U.S.academic settings;stable or interrupted;instruction in English or home language;history of supports for 2nd language acquisition;supportive/non-supportive environment;academic progress similar/not similar to ELL peers

language use history:use of primary and secondary language at home with parents,siblings,extended family,and friends;language preferences in difference settings or for different activities

dynamic assessment:ability of child to learn new tasks in structured teaching environment;assists in differentiating a child woho has not had the opportunity to learn a language skill from one who has difficulty learning new skills

language sampling:child's connected speech in less structured,social/interactive tasks,including:mean length of utterence,narrative structure,pragmatic language skills

behavior observation:connected speech in social(low structure)vs. academic settings(high structure)to compare BICS vs. CALP;pragmatic language patterens;language preferences

norm referenced assessment:quantitative comparison of the child's language skills to typically developing peers

Langdon's (2002)BID process for working with interpreters

briefing:clinician and interpreter review client's background information and outline the purpose of the session.

interaction:each team member addresses the client or family when speaking,even when through the interpreter("are you ..."rather than"ask Ms. X if she...").the clinician must always be present with the interpreter,to monitor task presentation and client/family reactions.

debriefing:clinician and interpreter review the session and develop a follow-up plan.clinician should give interpreter feedback on performance and seek interpreter's impressions of client/family responses.

Davison's(2009) typology of bilingualism

additive:a second language is learned without any adverse effect on the first language.

subtractive:a second language is aquired,but the first declines.

dominant:an individual speaks two languages,but has a higher degree of proficiency in one language than the other.

balanced:an individual has equivalent competence in two language.

simultaneous:a child is exposed to two languages from birth.

sequential:a child is exposed to one language from birth;second language aquisition occurs later in child development.

one way to evaluate whether an interpreter has been trained adequately is borrow a technique from anthropology.here two interpreters are used.one translates the clinician's questions into the second language and the other translates the responses into English.in this way the clinician can assess whether the interpreter will correctly convey the sense of the interview to the family.

is this child like your other children or different in some way?

using standardized tests with CLD children

the primary purpose of standardized tests is to find out whether a child is significantly different from other children in the area assessed by the test.

suggestions for modifying standardized tests for assessment of CLD children(p.154)

review test content for items that tap knowledge or experiences CLD children are unlikely to have. determine whether modification can reduce bias.

have menbers of the team perform the tasks on the test and make suggestions about how to make them less culturally biased.

consider administering the test to an adult from the community to get information on the appropriateness of the test items.

review past testing of CLD children  to look for items or subtests that were problematic for many of these children.

make an effort to identify tests that include substantial numbers of individuals from CLD backgrounds in the norming sample.

determine appropriateness of vocabulary for community;poll team for most appropriate vocabulary to use for local children.

review pictures for familiarity.sbustitute other pictures or objects for those likely to be unfamiliar.

reword instructions to make them more comprehensible for CLD children.

give additional response time;repeat items and instructions it needed.

continue testing beyond ceiling.

record children's comments,explanations,and changes of response for qualitative analysis.

observe code switching(alternations between languages within an utterance)and language interference (the influence of one language on another,such as mispronounciations due to accent),and interpret how these affect performance and results.

compare children's answers not only to the "right"answer according to test norms,but also to dialect, home language,or second-language learning features.rescore articulation and expressive language results, giving credit for these kinds of variations.

on picture-pointing tests,have children name the items as well as point to those named by the teacher, to examin the appropriateness of the children's label.

have children explain why they answered as they did,if answer is incorrect according to test norms.

report all modifications when writing up assessment information;use norm-referenced scores with caution,and only if they are valid for the population to which the client belongs.