ASHA Learning Pass

A significant portion of school-age children speak languages in addition to English. To make appropriate diagnostic decisions when there are few available measures, SLPs must conduct assessments that have good classification accuracy and that are culturally and linguistically appropriate. This session addresses questions about assessments for bilingual or multilingual children, such as: How do we know how to select the best test for clinical diagnostic decision-making? What evidence-based procedures can we use? What are appropriate procedures for interpreting assessment results from children who use different varieties of English?

This course is a recorded session from the 2022/2023 online conference “Assessment, Eligibility, and Dismissal in Schools: Strategies, Tools, and Decision-Making.”

Learning Outcomes
You will be able to:

• Review and evaluate standardized and nonstandardized tests to use for diagnostic decision-making 
• Define psychometric principles that guide selection of appropriate measures, including sensitivity and specificity
• Compare available standardized measures and nonstandardized procedures appropriate for diagnostic assessment for children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds

Elizabeth D. Peña, PhD, CCC-SLP, is a professor in the School of Education at UCI. She is an ASHA Fellow. Her research focuses on two lines of inquiry that address the goal of differentiating language impairment from language difference. These two interrelated areas include dynamic assessment and semantic development in bilinguals leading to test development.

Financial Disclosures:

• Associate Dean of Faculty Development & Diversity at UCI
• Financial compensation from ASHA for this presentation
• Author of Bilingual English-Spanish Assessment (BESA)

Nonfinancial Disclosures:

• None

Assessment Type

Self-assessment—Think about what you learned and report on the Completion Form how you will use your new knowledge.

To earn continuing education credit, you must complete the learning assessment by April 11, 2028.

Program History and CE Information

Online conference dates: October 12–24, 2022, February 1-13, 2023
End date: April 11, 2028