How can I assess children’s speech in a language I do not speak? Insights from VietSpeech research
Tracks
Concurrent session M1
Assessment
Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD)
Speech sound disorders
| Monday, May 27, 2024 |
| 2:10 PM - 2:25 PM |
| BelleVue Ballroom 02 |
Overview
Kate Margetson and Sharynne McLeod
Details
⏫ Research insights
📚 Assumed knowledge of attendees: Intermediate (some previous learning/working knowledge of topic e.g. treated a few cases)
📚 Assumed knowledge of attendees: Intermediate (some previous learning/working knowledge of topic e.g. treated a few cases)
Presenter
Mrs Kate Margetson
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Charles Sturt University
How can I assess children’s speech in a language I do not speak? Insights from VietSpeech research
2:10 PM - 2:25 PMPresentation summary
Background: Multilingual children should be assessed in all the languages that they speak to ensure accurate diagnosis of speech sound disorders. There is limited evidence regarding how speech pathologists can directly assess speech in children’s home languages. This presentation translates research to practice by sharing protocols from a large-scale study of bilingual Vietnamese-English-speaking children and how these protocols can be applied clinically.
Aim: To describe how speech pathologists can assess, transcribe and analyse children’s speech in a language that they themselves do not speak.
Method: 154 bilingual Vietnamese-English speaking children and adults were assessed in Vietnamese and English, according to two research protocols. The VietSpeech Multilingual Assessment Protocol included collaborating with a bilingual Vietnamese-English-speaking linguist and bilingual speech pathologists, assessing speech in Vietnamese and English, assessing adult family members, distinguishing standard forms from dialectal variants, accepting dialectal variants as correct; and analysing speech based on language proficiency. The VietSpeech Multilingual Transcription Protocol enabled a team of four transcribers to achieve high levels of transcription agreement through: team training, assessing speech with bilingual speakers, comparing transcriptions and reaching consensus.
Results: A step-by-step clinical process based on the VietSpeech protocols will be presented, encompassing assessment procedures, transcription and speech analysis for differential diagnosis. This process includes: how to phonetically transcribe unfamiliar languages; how to collaborate with family and interpreters to conduct assessments; how to determine children’s speech accuracy through comparison to adults’ speech; and how to analyse multilingual speech in the context of developmental, dialectal, cross-linguistic and ambient phonology influences.
Conclusion: Direct speech assessment of home languages is important for accurate diagnosis of speech sound disorders in multilingual children. Speech pathologists can learn to assess speech in languages that they do not speak by applying insights from the VietSpeech research to their clinical practice.
Aim: To describe how speech pathologists can assess, transcribe and analyse children’s speech in a language that they themselves do not speak.
Method: 154 bilingual Vietnamese-English speaking children and adults were assessed in Vietnamese and English, according to two research protocols. The VietSpeech Multilingual Assessment Protocol included collaborating with a bilingual Vietnamese-English-speaking linguist and bilingual speech pathologists, assessing speech in Vietnamese and English, assessing adult family members, distinguishing standard forms from dialectal variants, accepting dialectal variants as correct; and analysing speech based on language proficiency. The VietSpeech Multilingual Transcription Protocol enabled a team of four transcribers to achieve high levels of transcription agreement through: team training, assessing speech with bilingual speakers, comparing transcriptions and reaching consensus.
Results: A step-by-step clinical process based on the VietSpeech protocols will be presented, encompassing assessment procedures, transcription and speech analysis for differential diagnosis. This process includes: how to phonetically transcribe unfamiliar languages; how to collaborate with family and interpreters to conduct assessments; how to determine children’s speech accuracy through comparison to adults’ speech; and how to analyse multilingual speech in the context of developmental, dialectal, cross-linguistic and ambient phonology influences.
Conclusion: Direct speech assessment of home languages is important for accurate diagnosis of speech sound disorders in multilingual children. Speech pathologists can learn to assess speech in languages that they do not speak by applying insights from the VietSpeech research to their clinical practice.
Key messages
At the conclusion of my presentation, attendees will take away
Key message 1: that speech pathologists can learn to assess, transcribe and analyse speech in a language that they do not speak.
Key message 2: an understanding of the importance of assessing each language and the different influences on multilingual children’s speech.
Key message 3: evidence-based strategies for assessing, transcribing and analysing multilingual children’s speech in each language that they speak.
Key message 1: that speech pathologists can learn to assess, transcribe and analyse speech in a language that they do not speak.
Key message 2: an understanding of the importance of assessing each language and the different influences on multilingual children’s speech.
Key message 3: evidence-based strategies for assessing, transcribing and analysing multilingual children’s speech in each language that they speak.
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Kate Margetson is a PhD candidate at Charles Sturt University. Her research focusses on assessment and differential diagnosis of speech sound disorders in Vietnamese-English speaking children. She has worked clinically as a speech-language pathologist in both Australia and Vietnam, and is a director of Trinh Foundation Australia.
Professor Sharynne McLeod
Professor
Charles Sturt University
How can I assess children’s speech in a language I do not speak? Insights from VietSpeech research
2:10 PM - 2:25 PM**********
Professor Sharynne McLeod, Ph.D. is a speech pathologist and professor of speech and language acquisition at Charles Sturt University, Australia. She has received Life Membership of Speech Pathology Australia and Honors of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. She is an elected Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Royal Society of New South Wales, and was an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. She is President of the International Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics Association, a Board Certified Member of the American Board of Child Language and Language Disorders and served as editor of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology for 9 years. The Australian Newspaper named her Australia’s Research Field Leader in Audiology, Speech and Language Pathology (2018, 2019, 2020, 2022) and Best in the World based on the “quality, volume and impact” of research in the field (2019, 2023).
Sarah Verdon
How can I assess children’s speech in a language I do not speak? Insights from VietSpeech research
2:10 PM - 2:25 PM**********
Session chair
Shaun Ziegenfusz
Co-CEO| Lecturer
Griffith University | The DLD Project
Student volunteer(s)
Lillian Hennessy-Ellis
Student
Curtin University
Michelle Spillman
Edith Cowan University
The information contained in this program is current at of the time of publishing but is subject to changes made without notice.
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