Assessment of Spanish-English Bilinguals Tutorial

Speech and language assessment of bilingual children is complicated, and consensus on methodology is hard to find. We intend this site to serve as a compilation and interpretation of how to apply the most current research to empower fellow speech-language pathologists to be more comfortable with the process. It is an ongoing project through Portland State University’s Speech and Hearing Department, and it will evolve and change with current research and feedback from the community. Our focus is on Spanish-English bilingual children; however, the guiding principles and assessment concepts are the same for children of other bilingual backgrounds. 

This guide is intended for all speech-language pathologists, Spanish-speaking or not. It is essential that all SLPs assessing bilinguals know the principles of bilingual assessment, which will be explained in this tutorial. Because both Spanish and English must be assessed, an interpreter may be needed if the SLP does not speak Spanish. We hope that, whether or not the SLP speaks Spanish, this tutorial will empower them to make well-informed decisions regarding the gathered information. 

Guiding Principles 

 Before we get to the tutorial, it is vital to know some basic guiding principles for the assessment of bilinguals. Keep in mind the following when planning an assessment.

• The main task is to determine whether there is a difference or a disorder. Bilinguals are expected to have differences in speech and language due to the effects of exposure to each language.

• A comprehensive assessment should include multiple components. Piecing together converging evidence is the key to bilingual assessment. Because accurate bilingual assessment is complicated, using just one or two measures is insufficient.

• Both of the child’s languages must be assessed. Because bilinguals’ skills may be distributed between two languages, we must look at both to get a complete picture of the child’s skills. Errors will be present in both languages if there is a disorder; errors in just one language indicate a speech difference.

• Norm-referenced scores from standardized tests are not appropriate for bilinguals. Tests are rarely normed on bilingual subjects and are, therefore, not representative of a specific child. The few tests that are normed on bilinguals do not consider the wide variety of bilingual language histories, stages of bilingualism, or Spanish dialect variation and are therefore not representative of a specific child. Raw scores from tests may be helpful for test-teach-retest dynamic assessment or gauging a child’s progress over time.  

• Federal and state (Oregon) law does not require reporting scores from norm-referenced tests. Federal IDEA law clearly states that any practices discriminating against culturally and linguistically diverse children are unlawful. Oregon Administration Rules state that a standardized test of expression and/or comprehension must be used, but it is not stipulated that the scores be reported.

• Bilinguals develop speech and language skills at a rate comparable to monolingual peers; they are not expected to be delayed in their overall language skills. Typically developing bilinguals may have different speech and language trajectories than their monolingual peers due to the influence of their other language, but this is not a delay.

Original contributors: Clare Hogan and Mary Darin