Resourcing speech pathologists to work with multilingual clients: From Arabic to isiZulu
Almost
7000 languages are spoken throughout the world, and many people speak more than
one language. Speech pathologists across the world have critical roles to play
in supporting children to be competent communicators in the languages of their
communities. However, there is a mismatch between the languages
spoken by children and families and the languages spoken by speech
pathologists. Recent population studies of Australian preschool children show
that the most common languages other than English are: Arabic, Vietnamese, Italian,
Spanish, and Greek; whereas, Speech Pathology Australia members frequently
offer services in: Auslan, French, Italian, Greek, and Cantonese. The need for accessible
culturally and linguistically appropriate resources for working with
multilingual children has been highlighted in international surveys. For example,
Guiberson and Atkins (2012) found that only 51% of speech pathologists
were confident in assessing and
providing intervention for multilingual children. Recent
international collaborations have resulted in innovative and practical
strategies to support speech pathologists during
assessment, intervention, and collaboration with families, communities, and
other professionals. The International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s
Speech was assembled to prepare a position paper to address issues faced by clinicians
in working with multilingual populations. The new Multilingual Children’s
Speech website fulfils one of the aims of the position paper by providing
resources and information for speech pathologists in over 30 languages. The
recent international collaborations have been framed around the World Health
Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and
Health (ICF-CY) and have been established with the goal of supporting multilingual children to participate in
society.
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| Chris Stone (President of Speech Pathology Australia) presenting the Elizabeth Usher Award |
Links
https://www.facebook.com/DoOneThingforDiversityandInclusion
Early Years Learning Framework
http://foi.deewr.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/belonging_being_and_becoming_the_early_years_learning_framework_for_australia.pdf
The cultural and linguistic diversity of 3-year-old children with hearing loss
http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/content/17/4/421.abstract
Factors contributing to language use for multilingual children with hearing loss
http://clt.sagepub.com/content/29/1/111.abstract
Influence of bilingualism on speech production: A systematic review
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-6984.2012.00178.x/abstract
Prevalence of speech and language concern for Australian children
http://jslhr.asha.org/cgi/content/full/52/5/1213
Speech-language pathologists’ assessment and intervention practices with multilingual children
http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/17549507.2011.636071
Multilingual children’s speech position paper
http://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/position-paper
Multilingual children’s speech acquisition
http://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-acquisition
Children's acquisition of Hong Kong Cantonese consonants, vowels, and tones
http://jslhr.asha.org/cgi/content/abstract/56/1/103
Non-English speech assessments
http://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-assessments
English validation of Intelligibility in Context Scale
http://jslhr.asha.org/cgi/content/abstract/55/2/648
Intelligibility in Context Scale
http://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/ics
Comparison between the speech sounds of English and other languages
http://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/languages
Multilingual and multicultural considerations in speech-language pathology
http://informahealthcare.com/toc/asl/14/6
World Report on Disability and people with communication disability
http://informahealthcare.com/toc/asl/15/1
Working in a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Society: SPA position paper
http://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/library/Clinical_Guidelines/Working_in_a_CALD_Society.pdf
References
References
Guiberson, M., &
Atkins, J. (2012). Speech-language pathologists’ preparation, practices, and
perspectives on serving culturally and linguistically diverse children. Communication
Disorders Quarterly, 33(3), 169-180.
World Health Organization
(2007). International Classification of
Functioning, Disability and Health: Children and Youth Version (ICF-CY).
Geneva, Switzerland: Author.
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| Sharynne presenting the Elizabeth Usher Memorial lecture |
