Language Assessment of Bilingual Children: A Survey Study

There is an increasing number of bilingual children in the United States. The purpose of this study was to identify the current practices of school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who work with bilingual children. This study included electronic surveys from 230 school-based SLPs who work with bilingual children in the United States. Surveys were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Based on the survey responses, current assessment practices of school-based SLPs who work with bilinguals included standardized testing and nonstandardized measures. This survey also collected information on SLPs’ use of interpreters and SLPs’ reported confidence levels when assessing bilingual children. Future studies should further explore accessibility and efficiency of interpreter use in bilingual populations and when the SLP does not speak the child's language.