A while back, I wrote a blog post with links to websites featuring picture communication symbol boards in Spanish. Premade communication boards with picture symbols like those mentioned make life easier, and can be used as is (manual boards), modified for the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) or placed in static communication devices.
Activity-Based (Sports, Mealtime) Communication Board Examples:
With more and more SLPs taking on the role of reading specialist in the school environment, important reading strategies must be reviewed with current evidenced based practice (EBP). Additionally, multilingual clients bring a greater challenge to the SLP teaching phonemic awareness. In fact, reading and writing can be more complex in English than in many other languages because English has a moderately complicated spelling system. In Spanish, for example, the relationships between letters and sounds are typically 1:1, meaning each sound is usually written using one spelling unit, and each spelling unit is typically pronounced one way. There are exceptions with a few letters like the “C,” which has a “soft c” and “hard c” distinction in both languages.
Continue reading “Building the Phonemic Awareness Skills of Multilingual Individuals”
The following apps are FREE and fun to use with kids who are multilingual:
1. First Vehicles by Moo Moo Lab
Ahoy! By land, by air or by sea, the First Vehicles free version offers six different vehicle options including a fire truck, police car, submarine, ship, dump truck and airplane. Kids 1 and up can color the vehicles, pick the correct vehicle from a choice of 6 or solve a basic one-two piece puzzle. Best of all, the vehicles are interactive and fun! This app would work best for toddlers.
Upgrade: Love First Vehicles? There are expansion packs. Buy an additional 15 vehicles for $1.99 and 30 additional vehicles for $2.99.
Languages: English, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish
Get it here.
2. Animal World by Moo Moo Lab
Elephants, Zebras and Peacocks, oh my! Another great game for toddlers, Animal World features Continue reading “Free Speech and Language Apps for Bilingual Kids!”
I’m always looking for fun and creative ways to assess linguistically diverse individuals who may present with speech deficits. When it comes to standardized assessments, it can be tricky. Many individuals present with language difference that standardized assessments are not designed to detect. As a result, many individuals who are culturally linguistically diverse appear to have deficits when in reality, they just communicate using different language productions. Articulation assessments such as the Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation are excellent for detecting speech sound disorders among monolingual students; however, I often find that they are difficult to use when assessing Spanish-speaking individuals.
Enter the Bilingual Articulation Phonology Assessment or the BAPA for short. Developed by Smarty Ears Apps, this app is extremely easy to use and efficient for speech therapists who work with individuals who present with articulation and phonological difficulties. While some may stand by the administration of standardized assessments on paper, over time with the support of empirical evidence, standardized assessment apps may just be the wave of the future for SLPs.
While looking into assessment apps, I immediately became intrigued by a demo provided by the developers. Now that I finally received the app and am able to review it (see below), I hope that this will help other SLPs looking for new assessment tools for Spanish-speaking individuals.
The BAPA was developed by Barbara Fernandes, Ellen Kester, Mary Bauman, and Scott Prath, and published by Smarty Ears. The BAPA can be used with individuals of all age groups. It is compatible with the iPad running iOS 5.1 or above.
Pros
Dialectal Difference Tool – This app can be customized depending Continue reading “Bilingual Articulation Phonology Assessment (BAPA) Application: The First Standardized Speech Assessment App”
Many apps are on the market now for speech and language purposes, but some go even beyond that to cater to bilingual students. A majority of these apps are for Spanish speakers only. A complete list of apps for a variety of languages is currently being developed. The following apps meet this need and make our lives a little easier:
1. Adjetivos Remix – This app is a great tool to use for individuals who present with difficulty identifying and using adjectives! Developed by bilingual speech therapists, this app also features various opportunities for customization. For example, there is a settings tool where the app can be customized for colors, appearances or feelings. The Spanish demo could not be found but the English version is included here and has the same user interface and design.
Get the Adjetivos Remix app here
2. Bilingual Articulation Phonology Assessment (BAPA) – Now this app is a whopping $84.99, and honestly for that reason I have not yet used it. However, with that being said, it is a standardized assessment (which are usually much more expensive) and appears to be a notably credible assessment tool at that. In fact, please watch the demo included here Continue reading “5 Bilingual Speech and Language Therapy Apps That Make Our Lives Easier”
Many children are using the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) or communication boards at school across various environments. Incorporating the system into the home environment is just as essential. In addition, it will help get the family on board and maybe put to rest the ever-persistent myth that communication symbols impede speech development.
See here for evidence-based practice supporting the use of AAC for enhancing the development of speech:
Click to access romski_18_3.pdf
Romski, M., & Sevcik, R. A. (2005). Augmentative communication and early intervention: Myths and realities. Infants & Young Children, 18(3), 174-185.
Additionally, it is just as important to work with families who speak other languages, such as Spanish, by inviting them to participate in the improvement of communication. One way to do this, is to introduce communication symbols into the home environment, in the home language.
Tips when introducing Spanish communication symbols into the home:
Direct links with communication symbols in Spanish:
http://www.speakingofspeech.com/uploads/FirstWords1.pdf (core words, family members) Continue reading “Tips and Free Spanish PECS Resources”
The Proxtalker is a static display voice output device created for a child named Logan, who was diagnosed with autism. Logan was mastering PECS but experiencing some difficulty transitioning to a dynamic display device. Logan’s father, an engineer and ultimately the inventor of the product, decided to create a device which would prepare his son for a dynamic display device, like an iPad. The Proxtalker is brilliant in that it can hold 10,000 words and phrases. There is a 6 cell display which is constantly adaptable depending on the activity. Radio frequency identification tags (or the little white squares seen below), feature a chip and an antenna, and are coded with words and phrases which can be modified if the user feels necessary.
Let me just say this entry is merely an opinion and I am in no way endorsed by this company for discussing this device. That being said, I love the Proxtalker for my Spanish-speaking students and here’s why:
-The Proxtalker is not only easy to program, but the instructions for programming are built into the machine and provided in both Spanish and in English.
-The Proxtalker does not use laminated PECs symbols, but rather Continue reading “Proxtalker: The AAC Device That is Adaptable for Bilingual Students”
After moving from Puerto Rico to Ridgewood, Queens in New York City at the age of 10, Angelica Gonzalez is now an up and coming speech-language pathologist (SLP), with a great career on the horizon. Thanks in part, to her unique background and hard work.
1. It seems like, having known you a year, that you work nonstop. What does a typical day look like for you while in your last year of grad school?
On the weekdays, I wake up at 5 a.m. in order to prepare for my two externships which both start at 8 a.m. and occur on alternating days. After finishing a work day at an externship, I work full-time at a not-for-profit called Quality Services for the Autism Community (QSAC) as both a Bilingual Medicaid Service Coordinator (MSC) and MSC Documentation Specialist. In order to make up my full-time hours at work, I also work on the weekends. In other words, I have been working practically every single day during graduate school. Most of my studying hours are on weekends and typically occur late in the evening. I am dependent on this routine, so that I can pay for basic necessities (rent, groceries) while in school.
2. Describe your educational background in Puerto Rico and the United States. Did you speak English in Puerto Rico? When you first arrived here, did you have any difficulty in an academic environment when working in the English language?
Fortunately, I was raised from birth as a simultaneous bilingual. That is to say, we spoke Spanish and English interchangeably at home. In Puerto Rico (P.R.), I was in a private school where all of my classes and textbooks were in English except for Spanish class. Most of my teachers in elementary school had a Spanish accent when speaking in English which in turn influenced my pronunciation of words in English. The education system in P.R. Continue reading “A Look into the Journey of a Bilingual SLP Grad Student”
There is no doubt we are a society that does not take academic testing lightly. While there is some reform in progress, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 continues to ensure our students are tested for reading and math annually while in grades 3 through 8. Beyond these years, students prepare for the SATs and ACTs which determine entry into competitive universities. Let’s not forget the exams also determine if the students will receive scholarships to attend these schools, which for many, are crucial to pursue an education beyond high school.
If these tests were not difficult enough for the monolingual students and simultaneous bilingual students (acquired both languages at the same time) who were born in the United States, they are nearly impossible for many bilingual students who acquire English sequentially (after acquiring the home language). It is projected that by the 2030s, 40% of the public school population in the United States will be bilingual. Research indicates that the older the student, the more difficult it is to acquire the language in time to keep up with these strict testing requirements. These tests are enough to cause stress to any child, let alone a child who is taking the time to acquire a new language. And where did this child come from? Does the child have a well-educated family and come from an excellent school? While this may be the case, the child may have come from a country that is war-torn, resulting in gaps in academic learning due to these unfortunate circumstances. The move may also have resulted in a gap in academics.
So how do we help as educators you ask? The first step in determining the child’s abilities is to Continue reading “Bilingual Students: Academic Testing and the English Language Learner”
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