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ERIC Number: EJ1468902
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1479-0718
EISSN: EISSN-1747-7530
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Supporting Multilingual Children with Language Impairment in a Multilingual Environment: Experience and Perspectives from Speech and Language Therapists in Switzerland
Emily Stanford1; Maren Eikerling2; Olivia Hadjadj1; Hélène Delage1
International Journal of Multilingualism, v22 n2 p630-649 2025
This work reports the results of a survey study conducted with French-, German-, and Italian-speaking speech and language therapists (SLTs) in Switzerland. In this survey we asked respondents about their language background, training in multilingual matters, and practices with multilingual patients, as well as their opinions on the current SLT provisions for multilingual children in Switzerland. The main results showed that despite high levels of SLT multilingualism in Switzerland, there is often a mismatch between the additional languages spoken by the SLTs and the heritage languages spoken by their patients. To circumvent the challenges of assessing a multilingual child, SLTs across Switzerland reported using a variety of assessment tools and methods, although therapeutic options are still missing. The results also revealed some differences based on linguistic region, with SLTs working in French-speaking region having the highest number of multilingual caseloads but those working in the German-speaking region receiving the most training on multilingualism. Conclusions drawn are that across Switzerland there is still a need for SLTs to be better trained to work with multilingual children and for suitable tools for assessing and especially treating multilingual patients to be developed. Full results are reported and discussed.
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Switzerland
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Psycholinguistics, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; 2Department of Special and Inclusive Education, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany