Considering Culture in the Screening and Assessment of Young Children with Developmental Concerns: Evaluation Results of the Vermont

Statewide Conference
1,2 Avila,
1Vermont

Maria M., MED

1Contompasis,

Stephen, MD

2Barry,

Sara,

1Beatson, MPH

Jean, Ed.D, MS, RN

Interdisciplinary Leadership Education for Health Professionals, College of Medicine, University of Vermont 2 Vermont Child Health Improvement Program, College of Medicine, University of Vermont

INTRODUCTION
The Vermont Child Health Improvement Program (VCHIP) developed pre and post surveys to collect data from participants who attended the Considering Culture and Language in the Screening and Assessment of Young Children with Developmental Concerns Conference. One hundred and seventy two participants attended this conference that took place in Burlington, Vermont on May 29th 2012. The survey instruments were designed to assess participants knowledge and competence skills in working and assessing children from multi-cultural backgrounds and to be completed in no more than 10-15 minutes. Knowledge and competence topics included, among others: Issues of bilingualism Level of familiarity with culturally diverse groups in Vermont (e.g. refugees, immigrants, migrant farmworkers, etc.) Cross-cultural issues related to treatment plans Cultural limitations of screening and assessment tools Level of competency in working with culturally diverse groups Cultural reciprocity processes Ways to understand disability and special needs Incorporating peoples stories in service providing Level of competency in working with children with developmental concerns who are culturally and/or linguistically diverse

RESULTS
Issues of Bilingualism1
Percentage of the U.S. population estimated to speak another language other than English at home by 2030 Percentage of linguistically isolated families

DISCUSSION
Following participation in Considering Culture and Language in the Screening and Assessment of Young Children with Developmental Concerns Conference, participants made significant changes in their knowledge and cultural competence skills in working and assessing children with developmental concerns from multicultural backgrounds. It will be important to assess whether these changes were sustained, and additionally whether they were associated with improved services for young children in Vermont.

CONCLUSION
Brain mechanisms which one does NOT apply to learning languages Languages a bilingual infant should receive a speech and language evaluation

Most concerning myth to support children learning two or more languages

Length of time it takes a child or adolescent to achieve academic English proficiency

With the increasing diversity in the United States, there has been a call for early intervention/early childhood special education services to be responsive and sensitive to the diversity of children and families represented in communities (Gullo, 2004; Lynch & Hanson, 2011). Culturally responsive practice is particularly important for early intervention/early childhood special education professionals because of the clear focus on family involvement and partnerships in providing appropriate early intervention and educational experiences for young children with special needs. A greater emphasis has also been placed on ensuring that evaluation practices are responsive to the children and families backgrounds, when evaluating the child as well as when collecting information about families concerns, priorities, and resources.2 When students with Autism Spectrum Disorders are from culturally or linguistically diverse families, the professionals assessing and providing services to the students need the additional dimension of how cultural and linguistic differences may affect identification, assessment, and treatment strategies (Dyches, 2011).3

PARTICIPANTS
Work Setting and Role of Participants Familiarity with Cultural Groups

While early studies were conducted with the assumption that bilingual children would be disadvantaged in their cognitive and language development relative to monolinguals, more recent studies have refuted this contention (Bialystok, 2001; Pacheco, 1983; Payan, 1989). Indeed, research now suggests evidence for a variety of advantages that result from bilingualism (Cromdal, 1999; Oller, 1983; Pacheco, 1983). Perhaps the most frequently reported finding is that bilingual children exhibit advanced metalinguistic skills relative to monolingual peers (Bialystok, 2001; Bruck & Genesee, 1995).4 Recognizing the need to improve direct service providers knowledge and cultural competence skills in working and assessing children from multi-cultural backgrounds with developmental concerns is a first step towards ensuring culturally responsive care. From participants comments, it is clear that there is still a need for broadening multi-cultural knowledge for service providers and for learning about ways on how to work with agencies/organizations and share this knowledge in order to avoid services being declined to diverse groups in Vermont (e.g. using interdisciplinary collaborative models).

Demographic Information of Participants Cultural Competence Level Skills

REFERENCES
1Steiner,

N. & Hayes, S. L. (2008). 7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child. AMACOM. 2 Banerjee, R., & Guiberson, M. (2012). Evaluating Young Children From Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds for Special Education Services. Young Exceptional Children, 15(1), 3345. doi:10.1177/1096250611435368 3 Dyches, T. T., Wilder, L. K., Sudweeks, R. R., Obiakor, F. E., & Algozzine, B. (2004). Multicultural Issues in Autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34(2), 211222. 4 Bird, E. K.-R., Cleave, P., Trudeau, N., Thordardottir, E., Sutton, A., & Thorpe, A. (2005). The Language Abilities of Bilingual Children With Down Syndrome. Am J Speech Lang Pathol, 14(3), 187199. doi:10.1044/1058-0360(2005/019)