Supporting speech-language pathologists' clinical decisions

What is it about?

While most children in the world speak more than one language every day, many speech-language pathologists in the United States only speak English. If a speech-language pathologist does not speak the same languages as the child they are assessing they may incorrectly conclude that the child has a speech-language disorder when they really don’t, or that they don’t have a speech-language disorder when they really do. To address this problem, more information is needed about how assessment tools and methods can be used in a better way to avoid these mistakes.

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Photo by TopSphere Media on Unsplash

Photo by TopSphere Media on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Making the right decision about whether a child needs speech and language therapy services relies on a speech-language pathologist’s clinical judgement. This is very challenging when making clinical decisions about whether children with whom they do not share the same culture and language will require speech/language therapy. This article provides practitioners, researchers, and students with guidance about how to make clinical decisions that follow evidence-based practices.