Stop Using L1?!? Ain’t No One Got Time for That!

Blog post explosion! I went from 2 months of no posts to 2 posts in 1 day! You’re welcome. I would normally wait a day or so to add a second post, but this feels too important to wait. In the past 2 weeks, I’ve had 3 different experiences of hearing from bilingual or multilingual parents that their child’s teacher, doctor, or (gasp!) speech-language pathologist has recommended limiting or eliminating all language input other than English in order to decrease the negative impact of a communication disorder.

SAY WHAT Y’ALL?!?!?!? The belief that having input from multiple languages either causes language disorders or makes them worse is FALSE!

I’d like to think that all my SLP friends and colleagues know better than to disseminate this kind of information to parents, but I’m finding that lots of people out there still are woefully behind on their bilingual/multilingual/ELL research and how it relates to communication disorders. With that in mind, I’m sharing a wonderful website that provides lots of information about the myths surrounding bi/multilingualism and communication disorders: Multicultural Topics in Communication Sciences and Disorders (www.multicsd.org). Here are some of the long-standing MYTHS they discuss:

1. Delays are to be expected in bilingual children because they are processing two languages at the same time

2. Code-Switching is a sign of disorder in bilingual children

3. If a bilingual child has a language disorder, parents should avoid using L1 in the home

4. If a child has a communication disorder, introducing a second language will make it worse

5. Bilingual children should only receive instruction and intervention in English in order to lighten their linguistic load

6. If your child is learning English at school, you should speak English at home, even if it is not your first language

If you are still mistaking these myths as facts, you better check yo’self and EBP (evidence-based practice) it up! Sit back, kick up your feet, sip a cup of tea, and read some research articles! Here’s to supporting a better educational environment for our amazing, fabulous, and uniquely special linguistically diverse kiddos!

ANAMAzing Ideas for Therapy! (Thanks Pixar)

While sitting in a day-long conference on school-based SLP challenges associated with qualifying kids from culturally and linguistically different backgrounds, one the the presenters mentioned using the Pixar animated short film, Partly Cloudy, as a great interactive, informal assessment or treatment tool to evaluate a child’s narrative skills, emotional recognition, inferencing skills, etc. This got me thinking that there might be other Pixar “shorts” out there that would be fantastic for use in treatment sessions. Below are some ideas about how you can use a few of these fun mini movies with your clients:

“PARTLY CLOUDY”

What your client can be working on:

• Recognizing and analyzing facial expressions (and explaining why the character might be feeling that way)
  
• Pausing the video at different points and making predictions about what will happen next (immediately next, after an hour or two, tomorrow, etc.)
• Problem solving when the character(s) feel sad/upset/disappointed
• Comparisons between happy/joyful/ecstatic/proud characters and sad/upset/disappointed/angry ones

“LUXO JR.”

What your client can be working on:

• Create a script for one or both lamp characters. This involves perspective taking, theory of mind, prediction, etc. (lots of those tough social cognition/executive functioning/social communication skills that many kiddos struggle to learn and use)
• Inferring how each lamp character feels at different points in the mini movie
• Making predictions about what will happen next (and supporting those predictions with contextual clues from the mini movie)

“DAY AND NIGHT”

What your client can be working on (this short is best for older elementary/middle/high school students):

• Create a script for one or both characters. What kinds of expressions are they likely to be using? Are these characters friends? Siblings? Strangers? How do you know?
• Categorize the differences between things that happen during the day versus at night. Work on finding an efficient way to document all of these examples without having to re-watch the short over and over (this is a critical study skill!)
• Pause the mini movie at various points and discuss how the characters feel and how you know

“THE BLUE UMBRELLA”

What your client can be working on:

• Fill in thought bubbles for each umbrella and notice and discuss the changes in what each umbrella is thinking as the short video goes on. Why do these changes in thoughts/emotions/behaviors occur?
• Make predictions about what will happen next

Media can be such a great way to engage students of all ages in working on therapy objectives. Any other animated shorts out there that folks are using?