Working with Bilingual Children and Families

1
Working with Bilingual Children and Families

• National Student Study Day
• 3rd April 2009
• Panna Chavda Clinical Lead SLT Bilingualism

2
Questions and Discussions

• Get into groups of four and discuss and answer
  questions 1 4
• You have 5 minutes for this exercise

3
Definition of Bilingualism

• ?Individuals or groups of people who acquire
  communicative skills in more than one language.
• They acquire these skills with varying degrees
  of proficiency, in oral and /or written forms, in
  order to interact with speakers of one or more
  languages at home and in society.
• An individual should be regarded as bilingual
  regardless of the relative proficiency of the
  languages understood or used.?
• (Communicating Quality 3, Royal College of
  Speech and Language Therapists, 2006 268)

4
Bilingual Language Development

• Two Ways
• 1. Simultaneous Bilingualism- Usually when two
  languages are learnt before the age of 3 years.
  The stages of development are the same as they
  are for monolingual speakers of those languages.
• Successive (Sequential Bilingualism)- When a
  child learns to become bilingual by adding a
  language to their first language/s.

5
Patterns of Language Use in Bilingual Learners

• Language Mixing
• Code Switching
• Interference
• Silent Period

6
Pre-assessment Details

• The following are some areas that the RCSLT
• Core Clinical Guidelines (2004) lists that are
• during case history taking consideration needs
• to be given to
• Name, Place of birth, religion and culture
• Language/s understood and spoken inc dialect
• Communicative context
• Length of exposure of each language
• Literacy levels
• Medical, educational history, eating and drinking
  info.
• Family dynamics, employment .

7
Pre-assessment Details

• The therapist working with a linguistic minority
  client must obtain information on
• The patterns of language use and attitudes to the
  languages by the client and family members e.g.
  map the language use in the home and in the wider
  community, determine which languages the family
  can read.
• The attitudes towards language disability held by
  the client and family.
• RCSLT SIG Bilingualism Good Practice Guidelines.
  (2007)

8
Questions and Discussions

• Get into groups of four and discuss and answer
  questions 5 9
• You have 10 minutes to do this exercise

9
Assessment

• Informal assessment
• RIOT Approach (Cheng (1997 in Isaac, K.)
• Dynamic Assessment (Cheng, (1997) Lidz Pena,
  1996 in Isaac.K)
• Bilingual assessments
• English assessments
• Multi-professional approach
• Isaac K. (2002) Speech Pathology in Cultural
  and Linguistic Diversity. London Whurr
  Publishers

10
Important Points to Remember

• Assessments need to be carried out in all of the
  languages the child is exposed to.
• Always work with bilingual staff, Specialist SLT
  (Bilingualism), co-workers and interpreters when
  assessing bilingual clients.
• Do not translate language assessments from one
  language into another due to linguistic and
  cultural differences.
• Results from English assessments that are used
  for second language English performance, are
  quoted in descriptive way.

11
When to Intervene?

• Is there a presence of pure language
  delay/disorder as
• compared to having English as additional
  language. If a
• child is showing difficulty acquiring language
  then
• Try to determine whether the problem exists in
  the home
• Language. Is it delayed/disordered language
• development?
• Or
• Acquisition of English as an additional language
  (EAL).
• If the problem is in the home language then
  intervene. If
• The problem is with second language only (EAL)
  speech
• And language therapy is not indicated.

12
Language choice for intervention

• Communicating Quality 3 (CQ3) 2006 states
• Language choice should be discussed and
• agreed with families.
• SLTS should not advise individuals and their
• carers to abandon their mother tongue to
• facilitate progress in English.

13
Language Choice Questions?

• What language/s do you treat in?
• What are the implications of choosing one over
  another?
• What are parents/carers views and what if their
  language choice is different from yours?
• Who else might you liaise with?

14
Language Choice

• It is important that the communicative
  differences are distinguished from the
  communicative disorders. Bilingualism will
  co-exist with, but not be the primary cause of
  language difficulties.
• Often a link between language delay and
  bilingualism is made. Language delay has a
  variety of causes, but in approximately two
  thirds of all cases, the precise reason for the
  delay is not known.
• Baker, C. A Parents and Teachers Guide to
  Bilingualism. (2007) 3rd
• edition. P.86

15
The Anchor Language

Gives feelings of familiarity
Gives assurance
Gives feelings of security
More important to learn to sail in familiar boat
16
Language Boundaries

• One language One parent (OPOL)Each parent
  speaks a different language to the child who
  responds in that language.
• Language Compartmentalization Where the home
  language is used predominately at home. English
  used outside the home. Or speaking second
  language on certain days of the week or for
  particular tasks e.g. homework, mealtimes.
• Trying to achieve balance in quality and quantity
  of exposure to two languages.
• Baker, C. A Parents and Teachers Guide to
  Bilingualism. (2007) 3rd edition. P.47

17
Working with Interpreters and Co-workers

• Does the interpreter speak English and clients
  language fluently?
• Allow time for briefing and debriefing.
• Does the client establish rapport with client?
• Three way communication- seating, eye contact.
• Use jargon-free and terminology-free English for
  interpreting.
• Be aware of levels of oracy and literacy.

18
HELP! Where to go for support?
Guidelines - National SIG Bilingualism Working
with Linguistic Minorities
RCSLT Advisors
Communicating Quality 3 RCSLT P. 268
Bilingual Specialists within Trusts
http//www.rcslt.org/resources/publications/downlo
adable
Shadowing colleagues
Keep up to date with current literature
National Local Bilingual SIG
19
Finally!

• What key ideas do you want to remember?
• How will you use those ideas in your clinical
  practice?