2022 Projects on Multicultural Activities
Establishing an Emotional Narrative Database of Bilinguals: A Cultural-Linguistic Research Experience Program
Pak Wing (Jacky) Lam, University of North Texas
A significant gap hinders the development of cultural competence in speech-language pathology (SLP)—there is little attention to cultural-linguistic effects on emotional processes in training and research. To address the gap, we propose a cultural-linguistic research experience program that has two aims. First, as a part of the research program, we will collect pilot data for the establishment of a searchable database of bilingual autobiographical narratives that are understudied. Not only are autobiographies highly effective in revealing cultural-linguistic influences, but they impact wellbeing and reveal emotional deficits in clinical populations. Student researchers in this program will collect and analyze autobiographies produced by English monolingual speakers, Spanish-English bilingual speakers, and Chinese-English bilingual speakers, who represent strategic differences in cultural-linguistic features (e.g., collectivism/individualism; word formation rules). The second aim is to evaluate the efficacy of the empowering research experience program that targets cultural competence. Student researchers will complete a journal reading group that follows a structured cultural-linguistic curriculum, supervised research activities, and produce a recorded online seminar on cultural-linguistic influences on emotional processes that is open to all SLP students and professionals. Furthermore, student selection criteria will be based on our aim to increase racial and ethnic diversity in future clinician-researchers.
Retaining Under-Represented Students in CSD: A Model for CSD Faculty
Mariam Abdelaziz, North Carolina Central University
Mentorship is an important, yet under-investigated, component of recruitment and retainment within the professions of speech-language pathology and audiology. The goal of the present project is to initiate a mentorship curriculum focusing on preparing undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds through the graduate admissions process (e.g., resume writing, preparing for the GRE, preparing a personal statement, etc) using multiple communication methods including monthly group and individual meetings, group chat, and an online website to access materials. Students will provide feedback at the beginning and end of the program, as well as after each monthly group session. The information provided from student feedback will inform the final product (an open-access website). The website will be shared with graduate programs as well as other platforms (e.g., social media, NSSLHA community site).
Supporting Outcomes & Healthcare Access to Refugees (SOAR): An Interprofessional Training Program for CSD Students
Jamie Desjardins, Stephanie McMillen, Syracuse University
The number of refugee children referred to speech-language pathologists and audiologists is increasing in the United States. Refugees have higher rates of trauma and toxic stress which places them at risk for language disorder and auditory processing difficulties. CSD professionals need to be competent in providing culturally responsive and trauma-informed services to refugees who have complex educational and healthcare needs. To address this, we propose the development of a unique interprofessional training program: Supporting Outcomes & Healthcare Access to Refugees (SOAR). The SOAR program will consist of four learning modules providing direct instruction in key intersecting content needed to effectively serve the healthcare needs of refugee clients. This program is designed using established trauma-informed and IPE theoretical frameworks, as well as evidence-based instructional methods to increase students’ retention of content and develop skills in critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. The SOAR modules may be implemented as stand-alone seminars or as a 1-credit course. The program will be made available as a free open-access resource for CSD programs to improve the preparation of SLPs and audiologists to serve refugee populations. The SOAR program supports ASHA's objectives to increase members' cultural competence and advance IPE.
Training Monolingual Clinicians on Language Assessment for Bilingual Mandarin-English Speaking Children via Teletherapy
Yao Du, Monmouth University
Chinese is the most spoken Asian-Pacific island language for individuals five years and older within the U.S. in the U.S., with Mandarin being the most popular spoken dialect of Chinese. However, bilingual Mandarin-English speaking SLPs and bilingual language assessment tools are significantly lacking in serving the diverse population of Mandarin-English speaking clients. As a result, SLPs are at risk of over-and under-diagnosing language disorders in bilingual children and cannot provide accessible and equitable assessment and intervention services through culturally and linguistically responsive practices. This project addresses two of the ASHA strategic objectives: #2 “Advance Interprofessional Education and Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (IPE/IPP)” and #6 “Increase Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) within the Association and the discipline of speech, language, and hearing science (SLHS). The project has two specific aims: (1) to provide the training of a web-based Mandarin-English Receptive Language Screener (MERLS) to graduate clinicians in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology at Monmouth University via teletherapy as a service delivery model, and (2) to establish a research-practitioner partnership across bilingual child language researchers, monolingual and bilingual clinicians, and bilingual web designers and developers to develop, validate, and train a novel tele-assessment for bilingual Mandarin-English speaking children among monolingual clinicians.
