EAL or Speech and Language? When to refer to an SLT

Identification 

Do you struggle to identify whether a child has SLCN when English is not their first language? For starters, you are not alone! This is not a straightforward issue, it is incredibly complex. The best practice in the ideal situation, is for the child to be assessed by a speech and language therapist who is a native speaker of their first language. But, as we know this is rarely available in schools anywhere; not just in the UK.

So, although I always advocate best practice, I also recognise there may be difficulty accessing bilingual speech and language therapists to provide you with the information you need. With that said, I am going to give you a few tips on how to piece the puzzle together, and give you some advice about when to make a referral to a Speech Therapist.

Let’s break this down

Bilingual children are just as likely to experience communication impairments as their monolingual peers.

Identifying children with speech and language needs is intuitive for a lot of teachers. But, how can you begin to gather the evidence you need to support your intuitions? If a child has EAL and SLCN, difficulties will occur in all languages; not just in English. Asking the child’s parents how they are communicating in their home language will give you an insight into their abilities. Where possible, ask a bilingual interpreter or member of staff to ask them questions about their child’s development in their first language.

Understand the culture

Sometimes a child’s perceived difficulties with interaction can be explained by cultural differences and we must demonstrate knowledge and awareness of these cultural differences in order to get a full picture of the child’s communication abilities.
I have provided some examples below. Please understand these examples are cultural stereotypes and do NOT apply to individual families. You must use your common sense as well as sensitive information gathering skills to decide whether an individual’s culture is impacting on perceived communicative behaviour.

• Islamic children may demonstrate passivity in the presence of an authority figure, which could be interpreted as a communication difficulty by western standards.
  
  
• Similarly, in countries such as China and Japan, eye contact is not a marker of social communication as it is in western cultures. Reduced eye contact can often be considered appropriate in these countries, yet would present as a red flag for social difficulties in the West.
  
  
• In Pakistani families, Father’s are not encouraged to take part in direct child care. However, fathers are considered the major decision maker for health care, education, and money spending matters in a family. Consequently, the major responsibility lies on the mother’s shoulders for childcare and rearing.  This is NOT the case with all Pakistani families. 
  
  
• In some African cultures, intense eye contact is seen as aggressive, confrontational and extremely disrespectful. This would prove important not only when observing and assessing the child’s communicative ability, but also when communicating with family members.

As educators, we must ensure cultural stereotypes are not assumed and we must be sensitive to those behaviours that appear communicative but are embedded in culture, rather than a manifestation of specific difficulties.