Understanding the Complexity of Speech and Language Disorders in Multilingual Children

This podcast episode explores the challenges of diagnosing and treating speech and language disorders in multilingual children. The guest, Carla Washington, an associate professor at the University of Cincinnati, emphasizes the need for a consistent definition of bilingualism and multiculturalism to compare data across studies. Washington discusses the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children's Speech, which developed a position statement on working with multilingual children. She emphasizes the importance of cultural competence, responsivity, and humility in speech-language pathology practice. Washington also highlights the discrepancy between the linguistic diversity of clients and the linguistic homogeneity of the profession. Additionally, she shares her research on distinguishing difference from disorder and the use of assessment tools like the intelligibility and context scale and the index of productive syntax. The episode concludes with the discussion of ongoing research projects, including the examination of variability in speech sound production and the study of functional communication in bilingual children.