Assessing Emergent Bilingual Students for Speech-Language Impairments and Collaboration with School Psychologists
摘要
Emergent bilingual (EB) students continue to be disproportionately represented in special education. There are multiple reasons for this disproportionate representation, including widespread misconceptions about bilingual language development, the use of inappropriate assessment tools and practices, and challenges in accurately distinguishing between typical and atypical speech and language skills in EB students. This chapter focuses on practices used by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to accurately assess the speech and language skills of EB students. We present an overview of the field of speech-language pathology, describe the role of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) within the school system, and detail nondiscriminatory approaches and procedures utilized to conduct speech and language evaluations for students who speak more than one language. We also offer ways in which SLPs and school psychologists (SPs), within the framework of interprofessional practice (IPP), may collaborate to support accurate identification and promote appropriate services and supports for EB students within the U.S. public school system.