Date Approved

2023

Degree Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department or School

Special Education and Communication Sciences and Disorders

Committee Member

Sarah Ginsberg, Ed.D., CCC-SLP

Committee Member

Lidia Lee, Ph.D., CCC-A

Committee Member

Joann Benigno, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Abstract

This paper consists of three distinct articles, all related to the speech and language assessment of internationally adopted children. The first article, “Speech and Language Assessment of Internationally Adopted Children,” is a qualitative study that explored how speech-language pathologists (SLPs) would conduct a speech and language assessment of internationally adopted children. The assessment of this population of children can be challenging for many reasons, and there is limited knowledge of what methods SLPs are currently using. In-depth interviews were conducted with five SLPs who had at least two years of experience working in a public school setting to learn how the participants would conduct such an assessment. Findings indicated that there is not a consistent method that would be used by the participants. Additionally, all of the SLPs believed that conducting such an assessment would prove to be challenging and were not fully confident in their abilities to do so. This study has shown the need for developing a gold standard within the field of speech-language pathology for evaluating these children. Further research is needed to determine what the gold standard would be. The second article, “How Much English Is Enough?” is an overview of a personal experience trying to get a speech and language assessment for an internationally adopted child. The third article, “Whose IDEA Is It?” reviews how the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act applies to both internationally adopted children and bilingual children. The article also reviews how SLPs should interpret and apply this law when working with children whose first language is not English.

Download

Share

COinS