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Speech Pathology Australia: Speech Pathology in Schools Project
Children from Culturally and Linguistically
Diverse Backgrounds (CALD)
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)
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics
(2017), many Australians do not speak English
at home; indeed in 2016, 72.7% of Australians
spoke only English at home. The most
frequently spoken other languages included
Mandarin 2.5%, Arabic 1.4%, Cantonese
1.2%, Vietnamese 1.2% and Italian 1.2%. In
2016, 66.7% of people were born in Australia,
whereas 34.4% of people had both parents born
overseas. To remain relevant and effective in the
changing landscape of the Australian population,
it is essential that your speech pathology
services are informed with sound knowledge
and equipped with the appropriate resources to
support students from culturally and linguistically
diverse (CALD) backgrounds.
It is also important to undertake culturally
sensitive services when working with Indigenous
Australian students. This will include awareness
of local (vs. individual students’) Indigenous
knowledge, customs, and approaches to
learning, education and health care. Speech
pathologists need to be aware of the features
of Aboriginal English compared with standard
Australian English and acknowledge that for
some children English (or Aboriginal English)
may not be a student’s first language, but may
be one of eight languages spoken (McLeod,
Verdon, & Bennetts Kneebone, 2014).
Verdon (2015) outlines six key principles for
speech pathologists to undertake culturally
competent practice. These are:
1) getting to know yourself; 2) knowing
and forming relationships with families and
communities; 3) setting mutually motivating
goals; 4) using appropriate tools and resources;
5) collaborating with other key people, and 6)
being flexible: one size does not fit all.
Speech Pathology Australia (2016 a, b) has
published clinical guidelines and a position paper
titled
Working in a Culturally and Linguistically
Diverse Society
that provides resources, and
additional resources are found below.
Prior to planning assessment and intervention,
you will need to undertake a comprehensive
case history with individuals and/or their
family. Additional information is required from
individuals from CALD backgrounds including a
comprehensive language profile and information
about their beliefs, concerns and reasons for
seeking help as these may differ from dominant
western perspectives on health and disability.
Case history information should be obtained in a
culturally respectful and ethical way. Often family
members are asked to complete a case history
form. However, this may not be appropriate as
families may not read or speak English fluently
or understand western medical questions and
concepts. The use of an interpreter, multicultural
worker, or cultural broker from the family’s
cultural background may be required in order
to make families feel more comfortable in the
clinical setting, to explain concepts and to
accurately collect case history information during
an interview.
Once you are aware of a student’s specific
language and culture from the information
collected in the case history interview, you
should obtain information about the features of
significant cultural and linguistic influences, as
well as the typical developmental characteristics
of the language(s)/dialect(s) that are spoken or
signed. When explaining the assessment and
intervention process to the family, you should be
sensitive to their reactions. In certain cultures it
may be offensive or cause “shame” to challenge
a person’s abilities or to use a label to diagnose
difficulties. Therefore, cultural knowledge and
understanding on your part is essential for
engaging in culturally competent practice with
diverse families.
When assessing multilingual speakers it is
important to distinguish between an underlying
speech and/or language disorder (which can
be expected to affect learning in the home
language(s) as well as English) and language
differences which arise from learning a second
language. Determining whether speech and
language learning difficulties are evident in
each language is most appropriate for the
identification of speech and/or language disorder
in people from CALD backgrounds. Practical
considerations may, however, make this difficult.
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It takes up to 5–7 years of exposure to a second language in order to be able to adequately complete standardised
testing; hence, there is a need to use other forms of assessment (criterion referenced procedures, observation,
language sampling, dynamic assessment) for children who are learning English as an additional language
(Roseberry-McKibbin, 2007).