ERIC Number: EJ1478930
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0161-1461
EISSN: EISSN-1558-9129
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Methods of Diagnosing Speech Sound Disorders in Multilingual Children
Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, v56 n3 p469-487 2025
Purpose: Identification of speech sound disorder (SSD) in children who are multilingual is challenging for many speech-language pathologists (SLPs). This may be due to a lack of clinical resources to accurately identify SSD in multilingual children as easily as for monolingual children. The purpose of this article is to describe features of multilingual speech acquisition, identify evidence-based resources for the differential diagnosis of SSD in speakers of understudied language paradigms, and demonstrate how culturally responsive practices can be achieved in different linguistic contexts. Method: Examples of different approaches used to inform accurate diagnosis of SSD in 2- to 8-year-old multilingual children are described. The approaches used included (a) considering adult speech models, (b) completing validation studies, and (c) streamlining evidence-informed techniques. These methods were applied across four different language paradigms in countries within the Global North and Global South (e.g., Jamaican Creole-English, Jamaica; Vietnamese-English, Australia; French and additional languages, Belgium; Icelandic-Polish, Iceland). The culturally responsive nature of approaches in each cultural/linguistic setting is highlighted as well as the broader applicability of these approaches. Results: Findings related to dialect-specific features, successful validation of tools to describe functional speech intelligibility and production accuracy, and the utility of different techniques applied in the diagnosis of SSD are outlined. Conclusions: Culturally responsive methods offer a useful framework for guiding SLPs' diagnostic practices. However, successful application of these practices is best operationalized at a local level in response to the linguistic, cultural, and geographic context.
Descriptors: Speech Evaluation, Speech Impairments, Accuracy, Clinical Diagnosis, Multilingualism, Native Language, Second Language Learning, Children, Preschool Children, Cultural Awareness, Evidence Based Practice, Validity, Identification, Speech Language Pathology, Cross Cultural Studies, English (Second Language), Creoles, Language Variation, Vietnamese, French, Polish, Indo European Languages, Foreign Countries, Dialects, Contrastive Linguistics, Cultural Context
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. 2200 Research Blvd #250, Rockville, MD 20850. Tel: 301-296-5700; Fax: 301-296-8580; e-mail: lshss@asha.org; Web site: http://lshss.pubs.asha.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Iceland; Jamaica; Australia; Belgium
Grant or Contract Numbers: R21DC018170; R21DC01817002S1
Author Affiliations: N/A