This week Sarah Verdon is presenting two papers from her PhD at the International Society for Cultural and ActivityResearch Conference in Sydney.
- Verdon, S., McLeod, S., & Wong, S. (2014,
September). Using CHAT to explore
speech-language pathology practices from around the world with culturally and
linguistically diverse children. International Society for Cultural and
Activity Research Conference, Sydney, Australia.
- Verdon, S., McLeod, S., & Wong, S. (2014,
September). Imagining new
possibilities for embracing cultural and linguistic diversity in children with
communication difficulties. International Society for Cultural and
Activity Research Conference, Sydney, Australia.
The continued mobility of people across
geographic boundaries has made the world a melting pot of people from diverse
linguistic and cultural backgrounds. As a result, monolingual and monocultural
approaches to supporting the needs of children with communication difficulties
are not effective among diverse populations. To address this issue, the International
Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech was assembled in 2012. Fourteen
members of this panel met in Cork, Ireland to discuss future aspirations for
the transformation of the speech-language pathology profession in its provision
of services to children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Six hours of discussion were recorded and transcribed. Analysis of the
transcribed data was undertaken using Cultural Historical Activity Theory
(CHAT) as heuristic framework. The individual components of CHAT (object,
subject, mediating artefact, rules, community and division of labour) were
considered in relation to the panel’s discussion. This analysis revealed that
within each component tensions existed between what panel members imagined as
the ideal enactment of speech-language pathology practice, and the current
reality of service provision. The findings of this analysis reflected a need to
view children holistically, by acknowledging and incorporating their individual
culture and exposure to language(s) into all aspects of planning and implementing
strategies to support them to prosper in the context of their daily lives.
Members of the panel advocated the use of the World Health Organization’s
International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health - Children
and Youth version (ICF-CY). This framework was seen by panel members as a
transformative tool which could be used to empower speech-language pathologists
in their practice by facilitating consideration of the many
internal and external factors that may influence children’s speech and language
development. This presentation will highlight the productivity of using CHAT to
identify possibilities for influencing changes to complex activity systems by
identifying inhibitory processes occurring within the system and identifying means
to affect these changes. In making achievable changes to everyday practices, speech-language
pathologists have the potential to challenge the existing constraints of
practice and influence the transformation of the profession in working towards
positive outcomes for culturally and linguistically diverse children.
