2015–2016 Projects on Multicultural Activities
A Mixed Methods Cross-Cultural Investigation of Conversational Turn-Taking in Families of Children With Hearing Loss
Hillary Ganek
University of Toronto
Several organizations teach parent-focused language intervention in Vietnam, with at least one organization providing a certificate in speech-language therapy to Vietnamese professionals. It has been noted that some strategies being taught to the Vietnamese professionals conflict with their language socialization practices—the processes by which children learn appropriate ways to interact with and through language. The goal of this project was to compare North American families and Vietnamese families of children with and children without hearing loss as an example of how variations in language socialization practices may affect parent–child communication.
Qualitative analysis of translated interviews and a thematic analysis of the data provided by Vietnamese families of children with hearing loss and Vietnamese families of typically developing children were completed. There was a delay in the Canadian recruitment and data collection because it was difficult to locate, in Ontario, families of children with hearing loss who speak English rather than a minority language. Recruitment efforts were expanded to also include British Columbia and Nova Scotia.
The project results demonstrate the importance of language socialization processes in a treatment setting. Results provide speech-language pathologists and researchers with a better understanding of Vietnamese language socialization so that they may design more culturally appropriate therapy methods.
Developing Values and Ethics for Effective Interprofessional Collaborative Practice
Amy L. Weiss
University of Rhode Island
The goal of the project was to create a set of teaching materials to assist students in learning core competencies needed to become effective practitioners of interprofessional collaborative practice. Specifically, the project plan included the development of a series of teaching tapes with a focus on understanding the role that cultural and linguistic diversity play in the provision of appropriate, nonbiased service delivery.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the project could not be completed.
Development of a Free, Online, Interactive Naming Therapy for Bilingual Aphasia
Chaleece Sandberg
Teresa Gray
Swathi Kiran
The Pennsylvania State University
Bilingual aphasia is an impairment in one or more languages spoken by a bilingual individual after a stroke or other acquired brain injury. The combination of an increasing bilingual population and an increasing aging population points to current and developing health disparity issues. The goal of this project was "to foster excellence in professional practice by making evidence-based therapy for bilingual aphasia freely available and easily accessible for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who provide services to bilingual persons with aphasia but do not have access to evidence-based therapy materials that are culturally and linguistically appropriate for their clients."
Because online interactive naming therapy materials are becoming more popular, personal computers are becoming more common, and clinicians are becoming more tech savvy, several online programs have been developed specifically for persons with aphasia. The specific goals of this project were as follows:
- Extend the current database of 678 words and 430 features from 17 to 23 languages to provide a more diverse resource for SLPs working with bilingual aphasia.
- Develop an online interactive naming therapy for 23 different languages based on an existing evidence-based semantic feature therapy that will be freely available to SLPs, and compile a downloadable and printable version of the therapy for offline use.
Completed as of April 2017, this work verified the translation, category fit, semantic feature applicability, and cultural appropriateness for each word–feature pairing within English, Spanish, and Polish. Work on Chinese, French, Greek, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Russian continues. Materials will be made available on a website created for the purpose of dissemination. A downloadable and printable version will be available on the same website for offline use.
2015 Review Panel
Amee Evangelista-Marcayda
Aaron DeLaine Hardy-Smith
Archie Harmon
Lisa Abbott Moore
