Teacher Discussion Forums

I have a student that is LEP that we (myself and his teachers) are concerned has a severe developmental delay. I have assessed him with a language proficiency test and tests as Limited English. How can we assess him for additional services when all the tests are norm referenced on English speaking children? I have offered the idea of having an interpreter give the tests in Mandarin, his native language, but no one seems to think that will give us valid results. Are there any tools available for assessing proficiency in Mandarin? Or any other ideas? Please help!!

Maybe the parents could help with this. You would just need to talk to them, and see if there is a problem with his development from their point of view. If he/she can't even count, speak, or preform other basic skills in the L1, then there is reason for concern. I've had the same worries about some of my Mexican students. Some of them just need more time to understand the concepts presented in class, but speak English and Spanish well. Another one, who came from Mexico, is having trouble adjusting to American schools, and from what I've seen from his math abilities, his old teachers wouldn't last a day as a student here. He had no instruction there, and is behind.

You need a bilingual speech-language pathologist.

You cannot assess a child for language disorders if you are an ESL teacher. You can know in your heart what the child's level is, since you have a background dealing with lots of different ESL speakers. But only an SLP can quantify the child's abilities, and can declare the child eligible for special services in US public schools.

To find a Chinese-speaking SLP in your state, go to www.ASHA.org and click on Find a Professional. If there are none in your state, then try contacting one in a different state and asking for testing advice ( they can't test long distance, but they can tell your local monolingual SLP what to do). I know in Metuchen, New Jersey, there's an agency called Learning Tree that does Chinese evals. I've worked with them before (I do Korean-bilingual evals) and feel comfortable with their reports. There are also people in NYC who do Chinese evals, though I don't know their names offhand.

To my knowledge there are no norm-referenced tests developed to determine the presence/absense of language learning disorders in Chinese populations. I believe most Chinese-bilingual SLPs use a combination of translated tests (with no scores reported, just strengths and weaknesses), language sample analysis, and dynamic assessment (teach the child a new concept; see how quickly the child catches on). But you might see what's on the website of the communication sciences and disorders departments of Hong Kong University. They do a lot of research into Chinese language development/disorders. You might also try reading the book written by an SLP named Lilly Lirong Cheng (I think that's the name...) called Assessing Asian Language Performance (I think that's the title...). It's a whole book about how best to assess the language skills of speakers of various Asian languages. And it focuses mostly on Chinese.

Good luck,
-EH

I am an SLP in New Jersey. I am looking for a bilingual Korean SLP to evaluate a case. I was wondering if there was a way to contact one or if EH would be willing to give his/her contact information. I would love to speak with you reguarding a Korean student that we are trying to evaluate.

Thanks,
akw

[email protected]

I was also told that a psychologist (not a psychiatrist) is also qualified to diagnose learning disorders.

Nope. Only SLPs are qualified to diagnose language disorders. Other professionals can add their two cents and often have useful info to contribute to the process, but only SLPs can diagnose.

Alexis, I sent you and email. Let me know what your schedule looks like.

Thank you SOOOOOO MUCH for the feedback! Since that email I have had two other of my students referred and this information is helping me give some answers as how to approach the situation.

I wasn't trying to suggest that we can make the diagnosis, but if there are problems with the L1 at home, then maybe there is cause for concern, and then you could get the ball rolling. One of my co workers had the same kind of worries about a Hmong student, and this is how I know that looking at the abilities in their native language could help gauge ability.