Language Disabilities In Cultural And Linguistic Diversity

Language Disabilities in Cultural and Linguistic Diversity offers a new approach to understanding the familiar dilemma of disentangling difficulties in communication for learners developing the language of schooling. The author takes a socio-cultural Vygotskian approach to reinterpret international research in language disabilities, namely specific language impairment, communication difficulties, dyslexia and deafness.

When children with learning challenges are identified, the educational community in the United States diligently applies a well-established model of remediation that has, for the most part, yielded positive results. Research, however, has demonstrated that the American perception of disability may vary from those in Eastern cultures. These cultural differences can play a significant role in the failure to achieve learning success on behalf of children from the Middle East, North Africa, and Southwest Asian (MENASWA) families. It is critical for the school community to recognize and acknowledge these differences and bring them into alignment in order to meet these students’ learning needs. Learning Challenges for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) Students With Disabilities is an essential reference publication that identifies ways in which CLD families can be involved with schools to help build educators’ cultural competence and explores the idea of disabilities as a social model with a focus on strengths rather than a medical model focused on needs and weaknesses. Featuring coverage on a wide range of topics including racial identity, leadership wisdom, and family-school collaboration, this book is ideally designed for educators, principals, administrators, curriculum developers, instructional designers, policymakers, advocates, researchers, academicians, and students.

This comprehensive guide is designed for speech-language pathologists who work with individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse populations. It bridges the gap between existing research and the use of that information in clinical practices. It includes easy-to-access information on normative data, assessment techniques, intervention approaches, and resources. Practical information is included to help readers provide speech and language services that meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse populations.

This volume draws together current research on dyslexia and literacy in multilingual settings across disciplines and methodologies. The contributors, all internationally recognised in the field, address developmental and acquired literacy difficulties and dyslexia in a range of language contexts including EAL/EFL. The book uses theories and analytical frameworks of a critical nature to reveal prejudicial social practices, and suggests future research directions towards a critical re-consideration of current understandings of dyslexia in multilingual settings, with a view to foregrounding the potential for interdisciplinarity. The book also suggests ways forward for evidence-informed practice, and it will be a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners and students alike.

The decision to write this book was taken by a group of practising speech therapists who worked with bilingually language handi capped children in the UK. They formed a professional interest group called the Specific Interest Group in Bilingualism because of the need felt by speech therapists to have some forum for discuss ing the challenges posed by the assessment and treatment of the bilingually language handicapped. In these regular discussion groups it became clear that similar experiences were encountered by all speech therapists working with these client populations up and down the country. They centred on managing the linguistic diversity, the need for develop mental language information, the need for appropriate assessment protocols, the recruitment of bilingual staff and appreciating the positive perspective of working in this field. In the UK the range of languages is extensive. Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Turkish, Polish, Ukranian, Hong Kong Chinese, Vietnamese Chinese, Creole, Black English, Bengali, Gujerati and Panjabi cover the main ethnolinguistic groups. In the 1987 ILEA language census over 140 languages were recorded as being spoken in London.

This unique guide for special education teachers, teachers of English language learners, and other practitioners provides the foundational information needed to determine whether the language difficulties experienced by English language learners (ELLs) result from the processes and stages of learning a second language or from a learning disability (LD). The book addresses the following critical factors in detail: determining whether an ELL's struggles with reading in English are due to LD or language acquisition; characteristics of language acquisition that can mirror LD; different types of ELLS and why these differences are important; considering a student's "opportunity to learn" when determining whether he or she may have LD; common misconceptions and realities about ELLs and the second language acquisition process; ways that learning to read in English as a second or additional language differ from learning to read English as a first language, and how the differences can be confusing for ELLs; how schools can establish structure to facilitate the process of distinguishing between language acquisition and LD; how families are involved in the process; guidelines for determining which ELLs should be referred for evaluation; and what it means to use an ecological framework to determine whether ELLs have LD.

This volume presents four articles on cultural and linguistic diversity in special education from the perspectives of three ethnic groups: African Americans, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and Mexican Americans. The first chapter focuses on issues related to education reform as embodied in the General Education Initiative and service delivery to African-American students with disabilities. The second chapter reviews the current bilingual special education efficacy literature, offers a prototype ecobehavioral approach, and reports on a pilot study utilizing this approach. The third chapter examines academic performance of Asian and Pacific Islanders in San Diego (California) as it relates to referral of this population to gifted programs, and draws implications for practitioners in the form of recommended multidisciplinary practices. The fourth chapter discusses assessment strategies that provide qualitative data for the identification of gifted Mexican-American students. These strategies are grouped into four categories: student production, informant data, language and cognitive style data, and data organization systems.