2020 Projects on Multicultural Activities
Adding Confidence to our CCCs: Identifying Barriers and Providing Solutions to Strengthen SLPs’ Service of Bilingual Children
Xigrid Soto, University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc. (KUCR)
Juniper Gardens Children’s Project
The number of bilingual children in the U.S. is rising and has grown to more than 22% of children. Yet, only 51% of SLPs feel confident when assessing and treating bilingual children. There is currently limited knowledge on what factors are contributing to SLPs’ reduced confidence when assessing and treating bilingual children. In addition, there are few comprehensive professional development (PD) programs for SLPs that extend beyond didactic presentations and webinars. Consequently, many SLPs are using English-only approaches with bilingual students resulting in misdiagnoses and the loss of children’s home language. The objectives of this project were (1) conducting a national survey of pediatric SLPs to identify how they have been trained regarding the treatment of bilingual students, the practices they currently employ in assessing and treating this population, and the barriers they face; and (2) analyzing these survey data to inform the development of a prototype PD program that combines interactive online presentations with virtual consulting from expert, bilingual SLPs. Social validity and SLPs’ pre-post knowledge of bilingual assessment and treatment will be gathered.
An nou pale: Helping Haitian Families and Professionals Understand Communication Sciences and Disorders
Martine Elie, Haitian American Caucus
Haitian Creole (HC) is the fourth most-spoken language among English language learners, yet few resources are available in HC that explain speech pathology conditions. This project will provide different types of print brochures and a website, both in Haitian Creole, that will increase awareness of speech disorders and the discipline of speech-language pathology. The proposed project will address the speech language pathology profession, speech and language milestones, how speech and language impacts academics, and what a patient can expect when getting evaluated. Additional materials will outline specific disorders including aphasia and dysphagia. Both print and online materials will be written by a bilingual ASHA member and reviewed by peers prior to publication. The brochures and web content will increase the understanding of both the profession as well as the nature of available services.
Innovative Mentoring and Professional Advancement through Cultural Training (IMPACT)
Lauren Calandruccio, Case Western Reserve University
Jessica Sullivan, Hampton University
The proposed program is a year-long mentoring program for undergraduate students in communication sciences and disorders from underrepresented backgrounds. IMPACT is a collaborative project between the faculty and students of Hampton University (Virginia) and Case Western Reserve University (Ohio). The program follows ASHA’s exemplary practices to recruit and retain students from racial and ethnic minority groups. The IMPACT program will provide formal mentoring by faculty of color at research-intensive universities, enhance experiential learning opportunities through research training, strengthen the students’ oral presentation and written communication skills, and expand access to formal test preparation to improve the students overall readiness for success in graduate school. Data from the IMPACT program will be disseminated broadly to continue to improve recruitment efforts of minority students. Future research will include developing collaborations with additional institutions and pursuing larger-scale federal and private funding opportunities to support the efforts of increasing diversity within undergraduate and graduate communication sciences and disorders programs and eventually ASHA.
Percent Grammatical Utterances in Mandarin–English Bilingual Children: Initial Reference Data and Psychometric Properties
Ling-Yu Guo & Szu-Han Kay Chen, SUNY–University at Buffalo
Identifying language impairment in bilingual children is challenging because both under-identification and over-identification have been observed. Mis-diagnosis has been attributed to inappropriate tests and the lack of normative data. Thus, there is a critical need to obtain normative data for bilingual populations, such as Mandarin–English bilinguals, to assist clinicians in setting appropriate developmental expectations during the evaluation process and hence improve the accuracy of diagnosis. The objectives of the project are:
- To provide initial reference data for Mandarin and English percent grammatical utterances (i.e., means, standard deviations, confidence intervals) in typically-developing Mandarin–English bilinguals between ages three and five years using a picture description task
- To evaluate the psychometric properties (i.e. split-half reliability, construct validity) for Mandarin and English percent grammatical utterances in the proposed population
- To characterize the types of grammatical errors in the proposed population and determine the extent to which the errors are attributed to cross-linguistic influences
