ACQ Vol 13 no 3 2011

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Cultural diversity
One of the questions in my Australian citizen-
ship test sounded like this: “How many languages are spoken in
Australia’s diverse society? a) 20, b) 50, c) 150, or d) over 200”.
In the last couple of weeks, I have put this question to friends
and neighbours; most of them answered incorrectly, guessing
options b or c. The fact is that more than 400 different
languages are spoken in Australia. Moreover, people from more
than 270 different ancestral backgrounds call Australia home
(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010). Of the approximately 22
million people living in Australia, over one-quarter were born
overseas (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009). As a result,
speech pathologists are likely to encounter clients from
culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds on a regular
basis. This edition of ACQuiring Knowledge in Speech,
Language and Hearing aims to bring our readers up-to-date,
evidence-based information related to working with culturally
and linguistically diverse populations that will no doubt help
raise our awareness of the complex issues surrounding this
topic.
Williams starts by providing us with an overview of some
of the challenges we face when working with children from
culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in Australia. The
author concludes that further evidence is needed to support
our clinical practice and calls for all practitioners to consider
conducting small-scale studies. McLeod presents data from
a nationally representative Australian sample of nearly 5,000
children (4- to 5-year-olds) and their parents. This information can potentially be used to
guide allocation of resources for development of culturally and linguistically appropriate
information, assessments, and intervention by state/territory.
The next two papers address assessment of Indigenous children. Cahir considers how
culturally valid our current (standardised) assessments are for Indigenous children and
highlights the importance of community consultation. Pearce and Stockings’ preliminary
investigation analysed the oral narrative skills of six Aboriginal children from North
Queensland. Interestingly, language sample analysis revealed lower than expected (based
on overseas norms) performance on grammatical and semantic measures, but average
performance on a measure of story quality. The authors call for further research into
culturally appropriate language sampling practices for Indigenous Australian children.
The final two peer-reviewed articles concentrate on Mandarin-speaking clients. Lee
and Ballard do an excellent job in raising our awareness of the linguistic and cultural
considerations when working with this population by clearly outlining the implications for
the clinician. Vong and colleagues describe three bilingual/multilingual clients whose first
language is Mandarin, and who received stuttering treatment. Most of the issues the authors
raise, however, would apply to all bilingual clients. Examples include which language to
target in assessment and intervention and the generalisation of treatment to the untreated
language(s).
The number of clinical insights articles clearly reflects speech pathologists’ interest in
cultural diversity. For example, Stewart provides a vivid description of her experience in
treating an African woman post-stroke. Our What’s the Evidence column, brought to you
by Linda Hand, addresses the well-known conundrum “should we treat bilingual children
with language impairment in English, in their first language, or in both?” Hand considers all
available evidence, using a step-by-step approach, and comes to the conclusion that the
evidence base is increasing for making an informed decision. Last, but not least, our regular
columns focus on diversity in one way or another (see Webwords 41). Our sincere thanks
are extended to all the authors for your inspiring contributions to this issue of ACQ and your
obvious commitment to the profession.
From the editors
Marleen Westerveld and Kerry Ttofari Eecen
105 From the editors
106 Working with children from
culturally and linguistically diverse
backgrounds: Implications for
assessment and intervention –
Cori Williams
112 Cultural and linguistic diversity in
Australian 4- to 5-year-old children
and their parents – Sharynne
McLeod
120 Examining culturally valid
language assessments for
Indigenous children – Petrea Cahir
126 Oral narratives produced by
Aboriginal Australian children:
Dilemmas with normative
comparisons – Wendy Pearce and
Emma Stockings
132 Working with Mandarin-speaking
clients: Linguistic and cultural
considerations – Taiying Lee and
Elaine Ballard
137 Working with bilingual children
who stutter and their families –
Etain Vong, Linda Wilson, and
Michelle Lincoln
141 Clinical insights: Partnerships: A
service delivery option for speech
pathology in Indigenous communities
– Andrea Coleman, Tania Porter,
Ursula Barber, Jillian Scholes, and
Helen Sargison
144 Clinical insights: Home-based
speech pathology rehabilitation for
an African stroke survivor –
Katy Stewart
148 What’s the evidence? Working
bilingually with language disordered
children – Linda Hand
155 Webwords 41: GLBTI affirmative
practice – Caroline Bowen
157 Our Top 10 resources for working
with children from culturally and
linguistically diverse (CALD)
backgrounds – Multicultural Interest
Group (Victorian Branch)
159 Around the journals
160 Resource reviews
Contents
ACQ Volume 13, Number 3 2011 105