2023 Projects on Multicultural Activities
Birds of a Feather Flock Together: Implications of and Solutions for Homophily in Communication Sciences and Disorders
Erin Meier, Northeastern University; Shannon Sheppard, University of Washington
“Birds of a feather flock together” is a familiar saying that reflects the social phenomenon of homophily, that people tend to seek out individuals like them. Implicit bias is thought to underlie homophily and can lead to reduced diversity, equity, and inclusion within professions, including in communication sciences and disorders (CSD). However, there is very little empirical work that directly addresses homophily, implicit bias, or the mechanisms of action truly needed to diversify our workforce. We propose a four-step plan. Step 1 will investigate the impact of implicit bias on CSD hiring practices with regards to gender, race, and language background. Step 2 will disseminate findings of Step 1 studies. Step 3 will create a diverse working group on implicit bias in CSD comprised of clinicians, researchers, and implicit bias experts. The working group will create implicit bias trainings on a devoted website used in Step 4 to educate multiple groups on implicit bias in CSD. This project will launch future work devoted to understanding the mechanisms leading to the lack of diversity in CSD with the ultimate goal of promoting more diversity, equity, and inclusion in our field to better serve CSD clients, students, and professionals.
Measuring Total Vocabulary in Mandarin-English Bilingual Toddlers Using Parent Checklists: Initial Reference Data and Psychometric Properties
Ling-Yu Guo, The State University of New York- Buffalo; Kay Szu-han Chen, University of New Hampshire
A common way to identify late talkers is to evaluate children’s expressive vocabulary size using norm-referenced parent checklists. Because bilingual children typically score lower than their monolingual peers on expressive vocabulary even when their dominant language is assessed, using monolingual norms for identifying bilingual late talkers increases the likelihood of over-identification. One potential solution is to sum up the expressive vocabulary size from each language to obtain the total vocabulary score and then make norm-referenced comparison. However, few normative data are available for total vocabulary scores in the bilingual population. The proposed project will provide initial reference data and evaluate psychometric properties for total vocabulary scores in 200 typically-developing Mandarin-English bilinguals between 16 to 30 months. Children’s total vocabulary size across Mandarin and English will be tallied using parent checklists in three-month intervals. The means, standard deviations, and confidence intervals of total vocabulary scores will be computed for each age group. Reliability and validity of the score will be evaluated.
The outcomes have significant theoretical and clinical impacts. Theoretically, the project will advance our understanding of early lexical development across different bilingual populations. Clinically, the project will increase cultural competence of clinicians and provide empirical data for implementing evidence-based assessment.
Preschool Autism Communication Education (PACE): Pragmatic Language for Autistic Children in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Educational Settings
D’Jaris Coles-White, Western Michigan University
Young children with neurodivergent (ND) brains develop differently than neurotypical (NT) children’s brains. As such, some autistic preschool children may communicate, behave, and learn differently. When other intersecting variables, such as the autistic child’s cultural and linguistic background is factored, providing ethical and equitable culturally responsive neurodivergent-affirming education may be overwhelming without the additional education and resources. Consequently, preschool professionals may not be fully educated in neurodiversity-affirming care (e.g., education or therapy services) for young neurodivergent autistics from racially/ethnically minoritized groups. The need for neurodiversity-affirming care in adults has been noted however, there exists an equally, if not greater need to educate, provide resources, and materials in neurodivergent-affirming preschool care to preschool stakeholders. The PACE program aims to provide best practices and evidence-based care to speech-language pathologists (SLPs) so that they may communicate with other professionals (e.g., teachers, administrators, staff) and parents/caregivers regarding neurodiversity-affirming culture and best practice guides for fostering social communication for all preschool children, particularly neurodivergent and autistic children from racially/ethnically minoritized (R/EM) groups.
Undergraduate CSD Recruitment: Identifying the Most Effective Strategy to Recruit Minority Students
Brooke Holt, Sena Crutchley, Joya Robertson, & Emily Hamuka (University of North Carolina, Greensboro)University of North Carolina- Greensboro
Despite serving diverse populations, there is a lack of diversity in the Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) profession which must be addressed in university recruitment efforts. Given recent decline in enrollment of undergraduate CSD students, there is a need to enhance recruitment efforts and opportunity to direct those efforts at increasing student diversity. Outreach to high schools, particularly those with high percentages of underrepresented students, has the potential to increase CSD student and professional diversity. Therefore, this project aims to determine the most effective recruitment method(s) into an undergraduate CSD program to increase enrollment of students from underrepresented communities. Project activities include: (1) Creating and distributing a recruitment video, (2) Training diverse undergraduate student ambassadors, (3) Recruitment method 1: Email outreach to high schools across NC, (4) Recruitment method 2: In-person recruitment presentations at 10 schools in Guilford County, (5) Recruitment method 3: In-person UNCG CSD Prospective Student Day, and 6. Student feedback survey. Descriptive statistics will be used to analyze survey responses to determine which recruitment method resulted in the largest increase in: 1. knowledge of the CSD field, and 2. recruitment of undergraduate students from minoritized groups based on intent to enroll. Findings will inform future recruitment efforts.
