Responses from the Texas Speech-Language Hearing Association's Task Force on Cultural and Linguistic Diversity
 

By: Ellen Kester, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Alejandro Brice, PhD, CCC-SLP and the CLD Task Force of the Texas Speech-Language Hearing Association.
 

I have a few questions regarding language proficiency and language dominance in bilingual speech-language evaluations.

• According to best practices, what information is collected to address language dominance and language proficiency prior to formal and informal speech-language assessment? Is it appropriate to determine if a student is English dominant, Spanish dominant, or mixed proficiency prior to the formal and informal assessment for the code of Speech Impaired?

Prior to the assessment, as much information as possible should be gathered about the child's language experiences. That information would include finding out the language(s) spoken in the home and by whom, at what age the child was introduced to the 2nd language, whether or not they watch television in English or another language and how 

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By: Stephen Rothenberg, Psy.D
 

Calvin ( a fictional name) is 9 years old, creative and full of great ideas. He is always making up games and wants the other kids to play with him. Unfortunately, Calvin's game are so complex that only he can understand what to do and he can't understand why the others are reluctant to play with him.
 

Sharon is 13 years old and is really excited about going on a ski trip with her school. When they arrive she is in such a rush to get on the lift that she impulsively pushes ahead of the other kids. She doesn't really understand why they are angry with her.
 

Charlie Brown (real name) always tries his best to be optimistic and make friends but, due to his low opinion of himself and past experiences of failure, he fails. A woman you know at the office is a very nice person but she tends to always stand a little too close (both to the men and 

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By: Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP
 

The four steps of communication help to define how the communicative act is heavily anchored in a synergistic process that involves the mind, the body, the eyes and language. More specifically, it involves social emotional thought, the nuance of physical presence and visually processing non-verbal cues in addition to language use and interpretation. As obvious as these steps may sound to the reader, the reality is that most speech and language social treatment programs teach students to focus almost exclusively on their social language production, called 'conversational skills' when teaching students how to be more appropriately social, often working with them seated around therapy tables while practicing having conversations. The four steps of communication strongly encourage us to recognize the social communicative act as being synergistic, always involving the first three steps, but not necessarily involving the fourth.

By: Shahal Rozenblatt, Ph.D., Clinical Neuropsychologist 

 People are highly complex organisms whose problems are of equal complexity. In order to effectively treat the problems with which people present, we need to have a way of understanding the nature of this complexity, breaking it down so that targeted solutions can be implemented. The neuropsychological evaluation is one such method. This article is meant to serve as an introduction to neuropsychology and neuropsychological evaluations and how they can be helpful to physical, occupational, and speech therapists in developing and guiding interventions.

Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology where the focus is on understanding brain-behavior relationships, using a variety of tests that tap into multiple brain functions in order to gain insight into a person's difficulties. Most clinicians who do this type of work are licensed clinical psychologists with specialized training in and understanding of brain-