For day 16 of Better Speech and Hearing Month, I am discussing what culturally sensitive SLP curriculum can look like. Part of being culturally sensitive SLPs come from our educational foundations. Today, I am going to share SLP courses that can contribute to culturally sensitive SLPs.
Cultural and Linguistic Diversity
University of Arizona
Hearing, Health and Society: This course introduces students to critical thinking in relation to hearing loss and quality of life issues associated with a disability across the life span.
Bilingualism, Multiculturalism and Non-Mainstream Dialects: This course provides students with an overall understanding of child socialization practices and typical language development across cultural-linguistic groups and issues related to the assessment of and intervention with individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse populations. This course is required for the graduate Bilingual Certificate Program in Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences but is also open to undergraduate students. The focus of the course will be on least-biased speech and language assessment and treatment for individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse populations.
University of Kansas
Multicultural Considerations in Speech-Language-Hearing I.
This course introduces foundational concepts of culture and diversity, bilingualism, bias, and components and processes leading to cultural competency. Students explore health and educational disparities in the United States and beyond. Students will reflect on their cultural identity, and how their experiences and perspectives may differ from others, and how their experiences can influence service delivery in speech-language pathology and audiology. Prerequisite: SPLH 566 or LING 415 or consent of instructor. LEC.
SPLH 589. Multicultural Considerations in Speech-Language-Hearing II. 1 Hour S.
This course builds on foundational concepts from SPLH 588 by exploring potential cultural and linguistic characteristics of populations that are typically underrepresented in many sectors of the Unites States, including education and health care. Case studies are implemented to examine cultural and linguistic influences on assessment and treatment processes in speech-language pathology and audiology.
Examining Global Perspectives in Speech-Language-Hearing: For students enrolled in an SPLH-sponsored Study Abroad program. Students will participate in 12 hours of meetings in preparation for the Study Abroad experience. Pre-trip meetings will focus generally on multi-cultural issues relevant to speech-language-hearing practice as well as specific cultural, linguistic, and service delivery issues for the target country. Students may be required to facilitate discussions or prepare presentations for these meetings. Students will spend two weeks abroad, visiting sites to observe different types of service delivery for people with disabilities and places that are culturally and historically relevant. Students may partner with undergraduates to facilitate any clinically focused experiences. Periodic debriefing and small group discussions will be conducted during the time abroad. A daily journal and post-visit reflection paper will be required. FLD.
Indiana University
Language Diversity and Clinical Practice: Examines the effects on current clinical practice in speech-language pathology of the linked issues of racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity. Both assessment and intervention issues will be considered.
MGH Institute of Health Professions
Teaching Language and Literacy to English Language Learners: This hybrid (on-site and on-line) course provides students with a theoretical and practical foundation for providing developmentally appropriate assessment and instruction of spoken and written language skills in English Language Learners.
University of Texas Austin
Bilingual and Multicultural Certificate: SLHS offers a Bilingual/Multicultural certificate (with an emphasis on Spanish/English bilingual populations) to students at the MSSLHS level in Speech Language Pathology to foster the development of the competencies required to serve bilingual individuals with communication disorders. Anyone accepted into the MSSLHS program can elect the Bilingual/Multicultural certificate option. The level of involvement in provision of services in other languages is provided at a level that is appropriate to the trainee’s language proficiency. Academic support to acquire knowledge of bilingual language development, manifestation of disorders in bilingual and multicultural populations, and culturally and linguistically appropriate service provision is provided through specialized coursework.
University of Texas Dallas
Cultural Issues in Communication: The multicultural nature of society, the role of language and communication in cultural identity, and how practice in the field of communicative disorders is tailored to cultural and linguistic diversity.
University of Maryland
University of Maryland Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Emphasis Program
CLD-EP is a limited enrollment program for admitted graduate students in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences. The program’s primary goal is to enable students to recognize cultural influences on communication disorders, language, and society to reduce health disparities in vulnerable communities. This specialty track includes diversity-focused coursework, diverse clinical experiences, scholarly activities, and community engagement.
University of Colorado Boulder
Bilinguals with Communication Disorders
San Diego State University
Concentration in Speech-Language Pathology: Bilingual Specialization
Students who have an interest in working with bilingual clients are encouraged to apply to the concentration in speech-language pathology with a specialization in bilingualism. Students are required to pass a language proficiency test in a language other than English. To be a candidate for the specialization, a student must be admitted to the master’s degree program in speech-language pathology since the specialization is coordinated with these endeavors. This concentration has a clinical focus and may be used to satisfy the academic and clinical preparation for the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); for the Speech-Language Pathology Credential from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing; and for licensure from the State of California. Students are required to complete coursework in all of the following areas: articulation, fluency, voice and resonance, receptive and expressive language, hearing, swallowing, cognitive and social aspects of communication, and augmentative and alternative communication modalities. Graduate Program.
Bilingual Speech-Language Pathology Certificate
The Certificate in Bilingual Speech-Language Pathology is designed for students who plan to work with bilingual Spanish-English speakers with communicative disorders. Students are required to pass a language proficiency test in a language other than English. To be a candidate for the certificate, a student must be admitted to the master’s degree program in speech-language pathology since the certificate is coordinated with these endeavors. The certificate program requires completion of 13 units to include nine units of substantive coursework and four units of graduate clinical practicum with bilingual speakers with communicative disorders. Based on research and clinical expertise of the faculty, as well as the availability of a clinical population, the certificate is currently focused on Spanish-English communicative disorders.
Teachers College Columbia University
Bilingual-Multicultural Program Focus
The Bilingual-Bicultural Program Focus is for students who wish to develop expertise in working with culturally and linguistically diverse children and adolescents with communication disorders. Following the Bilingual -Multicultural Program Focus will satisfy the coursework and field placement requirements for the bilingual extension to the New York State TSSLD. Under New York State Education Department regulations, the bilingual extension certificate is required to provide speech and language intervention for bilingual children and adolescents ages 3 through 21. This includes working in a school system in New York State as well as providing bilingual therapy in a private practice where funding comes from the New York City Department of Education.
Bilingual Extension Institute Advanced Certificate: This is a six-weekend course discussing topics of bilingualism, bilingual assessment and intervention, ethics, bilingual phonology and neuroscience of bilingualism.
These are just some courses offered in SLP courses across the U.S. related to cultural and linguistic diversity. Our SLP programs have a long way to go, but these courses and certificates are a great start.
This was day 16 of Better Speech and Hearing month.
If you missed the first fifteen days of BHSM, click here to check them out.
Come back tomorrow to learn more about cultural sensitivity as an SLP.
