The following manuscript has been accepted for publication
">Verdon, S., McLeod, S., &
Wong, S. (2015, in press October). Supporting culturally and linguistically
diverse children with speech, language and communication needs: Overarching
principles, individual approaches. Journal
of Communication Disorders.
It is one of the final papers from Sarah Verdon's PhD and outlines six overarching principles of
culturally competent practice.
>Here is the abstract
Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are working with an
increasing number of families from culturally and linguistically diverse
backgrounds as the world’s population continues to become more internationally
mobile. The heterogeneity of these diverse populations makes it impossible to
identify and document a one size fits all strategy for working with culturally
and linguistically diverse families. This paper explores approaches to practice
by SLPs identified as specialising in multilingual and multicultural practice
in culturally and linguistically diverse contexts from around the world. Data
were obtained from ethnographic observation of 14 sites in 5 countries on 4
continents. The sites included hospital settings, university clinics,
school-based settings, private practices and Indigenous community-based services.
There were 652 individual artefacts collected from the sites which included
interview transcripts, photographs, videos, narrative reflections, informal and
formal field notes. The data were analysed using Cultural-Historical Activity
Theory (Engeström, 1987). From the analysis six overarching principles of
culturally competent practice (PCCP) were identified. These were: (1)
identification of culturally appropriate and mutually motivating therapy goals,
(2) knowledge of languages and culture, (3) use of culturally appropriate
resources, (4) consideration of the cultural, social and political context, (5)
consultation with families and communities, and (6) collaboration between
professionals. These overarching principles align with the six position
statements developed by the International Expert Panel on Multilingual
Children’s Speech (2012) which aim to enhance the cultural competence of speech
pathologists and their practice. The international examples provided in the
current study demonstrate the individualised ways that these overarching
principles are enacted in a range of different organisational, social, cultural
and political contexts. Tensions experienced in enacting the principles are
also discussed. This paper emphasises the potential for individual SLPs to
enhance their practice by adopting these overarching principles to support the
individual children and families in diverse contexts around the world.
