ACQ Vol 11 No 1 2009

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ACQuiring knowledge in sp eech, language and hearing, Volume 11, Number 1 2009 23
MULTICULTURALISM AND DYSPHAGIA
Updates from the Multicultural
Interest Group (NSW)
The Multicultural Interest Group (MIG) (NSW) has been
very active in 2008. Three seminars were held during the
year. They were:
n Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Considerations in
Stuttering Treatment presented by Mary Erian, speech
pathologist at the Stuttering Unit, Bankstown Health
Service;
n Building the Connections with Aboriginal Families and
Communities presented by Cynthia Grayston-Riley,
casework consultant (Aboriginal specialist), Department
of Ageing, Disability, and Home Care; and
n Evidence-Based Practice in the Context of Cultural & Linguistic
Diversity presented by the MIG (NSW) committee.
All of the seminars were well attended by speech pathologists,
case managers, and community workers from a range of
agencies.
MIG (NSW) has been undertaking an evidence based
practice project in the last 2 years. There have been monthly
evidence base practice meetings attended by MIG members,
the MIG (NSW) committee, and student speech pathologists.
To date, we have mapped out the current evidence in the field
of the culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) area, the
nature of the evidence and some of the gaps. A number of
resources and tools have also been developed, including a
database of current evidence and an evaluation tool to
examine different types of evidence in the area of CALD. The
database was developed utilising the EndNote Library
referencing software. There are currently over 200 entries of
various types of materials, including journal articles, books,
and websites. Keywords and categories of various evidence
were identified, for example, preschooler, assessment,
intervention and Asian cultures. The EndNote Library has a
search by keyword function which allows members to gain
quick and easy access to all relevant evidence regarding a
particular topic. The next phase of the project will involve
identification of key research questions of interest to MIG
members and attempt to answer these questions utilising the
current EndNote database and evaluation tool.
The group meets on Friday afternoons and everyone is
welcome. Meeting dates and times for 2009 have not yet been
finalised, but will be posted on the Speech Pathology
Australia website when they are available. Anyone who is
interested in accessing the information about one of the
seminars held or about the Evidence Based Project, please
contact Candy Leung, MIG (NSW) Liaison Person via email:
Candy Leung is a Manager Access at the Department of
Ageing, Disability, and Home Care (DADHC) at Rose­
bery, Metro South Region, NSW. Candy manages a multi­
disciplinary team of speech pathologists, occupational
therapists, physiotherapists, and psychologists. She has
previously worked as a speech pathologist at DADHC,
providing services to children, young people, and adults
with a range of developmental and intellectual disabilities
across different community settings. Candy is also one of
the project leaders of various DADHC regional initiatives
concerning CALD issues.
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,
Because this ACQ issue deals with bilingualism, we would like to
alert readers to a pertinent article about to be published in
Archives of Disease in Childhood: “The effects of bilingualism on
stuttering during late childhood” by Howell, Davis and Williams
(available on-line at DOI:10.1136/adc.2007.134114). Howell et al.
conclude that speaking two languages from birth increases the
risk of developing stuttering and decreases the chances of recovery
from stuttering. We and colleagues from the United States and
Canada have written to the editor of the journal refuting this con­
clusion. We maintain that the data gathered in the study do not
support the claims by the authors. As we see it, the main problem
with the study is that conclusions about stuttering and the general
population of bilingual children have been drawn from a limited
clinical sample. Our letter has been accepted for publication.
In modern multicultural and multilingual societies many
children speak more than one language from birth. The
Howell et al. findings are already attracting considerable
media attention worldwide and there are reports of concerned
parents asking clinicians whether they should restrict their
children to speaking only one language during the preschool
years. It is critical, then, that speech pathologists and other
health professionals are aware of our interpretation of the
Howell et al. data; namely, that speaking two languages from
birth has not been shown to increase the chances of stuttering
nor to reduce the likelihood of recovery from stuttering.
Yours sincerely,
Ann Packman, PhD
Mark Onslow, PhD
Australian Stuttering Research Centre, The University of Sydney
Sheena Reilly, PhD
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute; Department of Pediatrics,
University of Melbourne
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