Transcript CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE PRACTICES FOR FACILITATING EARLY

Culturally
CulturallyAppropriate
AppropriatePractices
Practicesfor
for
Facilitating
FacilitatingEarly
EarlyLanguage
LanguageDevelopment
Development
ofofIndigenous
IndigenousChildren
Children
Jessica Ball
Marlene
Lewis
Jessica
Ball
Marlene Lewis
Early Childhood Development Intercultural
Partnerships
Early Childhood
Development Intercultural
School of Child
and Youth Care
Partnerships
University
Victoria
School
of Childofand
Youth Care
University of Victoria
Human Early Learning Partnership
HELP Mandate:
To create, promote & apply new knowledge through
interdisciplinary research to help children thrive.
ECDIP Mission:
To expand knowledge & capacity for supporting Indigenous
children’s health and development in community contexts
Our focus in this project:
To expand knowledge & capacity for facilitating young Indigenous
children’s language development in community contexts
* Thanks to SLP respondents and Sharla Peltier, Patricia Carey, Dr.
Judith Johnston, Dr. Ken Moselle, Anne Hanson-Finger, Christina
El Gazaar, Deanne Zeidler, Valerie Irvine and Kevin Morris.
Many Aboriginal groups in Canada are seeking to facilitate
optimal development of Aboriginal children through high quality,
culturally guided early childhood care and development
programs (Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, 1996)
Negative effects of lack of service or ineffective and culturally
discordant services (British Columbia Aboriginal Network on
Disability Society, 1996)
Survey of ‘SLP reflections on practice’
SLPs across Canada were asked to complete a survey if they
had experience serving Indigenous children. The survey was
designed to learn more about:
• access to services
• appropriate training
• appropriate tools and models (assessment
methods, service delivery models...)
• readiness to work ‘in’ or ‘with’ community
• perceived efficacy
• needs
• recommendations
Survey repondents were recruited through CASLPA and through
provincial representatives.
Respondents
 70 completed surveys
were submitted on-line or
by mail
 27 long, 43 short
 2 First Nations
 3 visible minorities
Age and location of children served; amount of service
 Age - all respondents
had some experience working with
Indigenous children under nine years of age
 84% had worked with Indigenous
children 0-5 years
 37% reported spending ‘All’ or ‘A lot’
of their time working with Indigenous children in the past two years
 29% reported spending ‘Some’ of their time in the past two
years working with Indigenous children
 Location - respondents provided services almost equally in rural
and remote communities and a bit less in urban communities
Findings - Caveat
 Generalizations must be
taken cautiously
 Lots of variability across children, families, Indigenous
communities with regards to language development, experiences,
beliefs, values and traditions
 This is a study of SLP perceptions; a 2nd concurrent study
involves interviewing First Nations Elders and parents for their
views on supporting language development in ways they think are
best
Readiness to work ‘in’ or ‘with’ community
SLPs perceived that their skills in language,
social communication, pre-literacy and
early literacy made them well suited for
supporting Indigenous children including:
 normatively developing children
 children with delayed and disordered language
 children learning their Mother Tongue language
 children learning English as a second dialect.
HOWEVER...
need to take an ‘altogether different approach’
Survey question: “Do you think SLP’s need to
take an altogether different approach when serving
Indigenous communities?”
60
79% of respondents
perceived a need ‘to
take an altogether
different approach’
when serving Indigenous
communities
50
40
30
20
Count
10
0
NO
YES
SLP's Need to Take a Different Approach
Approach
Five themes constructed from analyses of survey
responses:
• Primacy of services being family & community driven
• Importance of including a population-based approach
• Goal of strengthening community capacity
• Perceptions of value of talk in Indigenous
communities distinct from European-heritage
orientation to language socialization
• Importance of building relationships and trust
Population-based and capacity building approach
favored over direct clinical services
Amount of Time Spent in Different Types of Interventions
with Indigenous Children and Families
3
2.
5
2
1.
5
1
0.
5
0
Community
education
re:
developme
nt of
speech &
language
skills
Caregiver
education
to teach
general
facilitation
techniques
Caregiver
education
re: needs
of specific
children
Mentoring
and skill
develop-ment
training for
caregivers
Indirect
(mediator)
model with
collaborative
consultation
Direct clinical Direct
group training group
blending care- therapy
giver mentoring
and SLP
treatment
Direct oneto-one
therapy
Median ratings on amount of time and effort: 1 = None /2 = Little /3 = Some /4 = Major
Recommended educational/intervention approaches to best suit
cultural values, beliefs and priorities of Indigenous families
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Community
education re:
development
of speech &
language
skills
Caregiver
education to
teach
general
facilitation
techniques
Caregiver
education re:
needs of
specific
children
Mentoring and
skill
development
training for
caregivers
Indirect
(mediator)
model with
collaborative
consultation
Direct clinical
Direct group
group training therapy
blending caregiver mentoring
and SLP
treatment
Direct one-toone therapy
Median ratings on most appropriate educational/intervention approaches
1 = least suited/ 5 = most suited
How SLP became engaged with Indigenous
communities
SLP respondents were
usually engaged in
providing services as a
result of referral for
individual children
(69%);
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
Count
6
4
2
0
Request by worker in
community for SLP
services to agency
Request by worker in
community for SLP
services to particular
children
Request by parent for
SLP services to
particular child(ren)
Request by outside
party for SLP services
to particular child(ren)
SLP initiated contact with
representative of
Indigenous community
Reflects perhaps a
limited understanding
in communities and
agencies of the
potential benefits of
SLP contributions at a
population-based,
capacity-building level.
Family and community driven programs
and services
64% of respondents reported on
importance of:
 developing and providing
programs and services that are
family and community driven
 learning about cultural beliefs,
practices and way of being of the
families and communities
served
 being aware of diversity
Perceptions of the value of talk and
language socialization practices
Recurrent themes in the perceptions of SLPs regarding
distinctive features in the social use of language were:
• a quiet and reflective nature in children appears to be preferred
by caregivers
• children present as quiet and reflective
• talk appears to be reserved for important matters in social
interactions
 a lot of talking as well as children initiating talking or asking
questions is discouraged
 children reluctant to talk with adults
 reticent about answering questions
 unlikely to talk about themselves
 make minimal eye contact
 engage in less frequent verbal dialogue and verbal turn taking
experiences than European heritage children
 listening and observing
appear to be highly
valued
 children learn through
listening, observing,
doing and being included
in family and community
activities, more than by
verbally processing their
experiences and asking
questions.
 parents hover less and encourage pre-school children’s selfdirected play and peer group socialization more than language
mediated adult-child interactions
 children respond well to interactions involving doing things
together, and to peer interaction
 they respond well to
slower talk,
more pausing,
sharing information
and storytelling
 characterized by some respondents as ‘late talkers’
 parents believe that children will talk when they are ready
 content, goals and fast-paced atmosphere in mainstream
preschool and school settings seem mismatched with
Indigenous children’s experiences, understanding and
expression
These perceptions are evocative of a
conceptual distinction made between
societies in which children are thought
to ‘grow up’ and those in which
children are ‘raised’ or ‘brought up’
 parents who believe children must be
‘raised’ engage in a distinct set of
verbalizations with their children
 parents who believe children ‘grow
up’ make fewer attempts at dialogue
with their young child, and are less
likely to prompt their child to
recount events in order to practice
verbal communication
SLP Evaluation: “How important is it
for Indigenous parents and other
caregivers that their young children
learn their Mother Tongue?”
SLP Evaluation: “How important is it
for Indigenous parents and other
caregivers that their young children
learn English or French?”
35
30
30
25
20
20
Count
Count
25
15
15
10
10
5
5
0
0
Not Important
2
Important in Urban Settings
Important in Remote Settings
3
Very Important
Important in Rural Settings
Not Important
2
Important in Urban Settings
Important in Remote Settings
3
Very Important
Important in Rural Settings
 possible that SLPs infer low value on language learning as
an interpretation of differences in the value of talk and
socialization of language use (eg. high contrast, low
frequency activity)
• Other evidence about Indigenous
people’s language use suggests that
talk is highly valued in particular
contexts, by particular people, with
particular intentions
• European-heritage parents tend to utilize and encourage
frequent verbal discourse, including child-initiated discourse
with adults, to serve a variety of functions (eg. low contrast,
high frequency activity)
 If there are indeed significant differences
between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
parents’ language socialization and
expectations for their children’s talk,
then some respondents’ comments that
the content, goals and fast-paced
atmosphere in mainstream preschools
& school settings are mismatched
with Indigenous goals for children’s
language use and Indigenous children’s
quietness, are particularly meaningful.
 Indeed, there may be a
strong cultural bias in
mainstream SLP practice, early
childhood education programs
and school-based practices
 appreciate risks some
Indigenous parents may feel in
accessing mainstream
education, speech-language
programs, and other services.
Relationship of findings to Aboriginal
experience in Australia
• Aboriginal English described as main language of 80% of
Aboriginal Australians
• differs from European-heritage English in its phonology, syntax,
pragmatics, discourse structure and lexico-semantic system
(Malcolm et al. 1999)
• similar differences reported by SLPs in current study
• educational difficulties faced by Aboriginal children in Australia
linked to cultural and linguistic differences between the home
and school (Walton 1993)
Mother Tongue language
 Mother Tongue typically not incorporated into SLP services
 if given help from speakers of a child’s Mother Tongue, would
be eager to incorporate it and could have a role in supporting children
learning and using their Mother Tongue
 encourage parents to maintain their
dominant language used at home; often
is Mother Tongue, especially in rural
and remote areas
 cited positive contributions that learning
Mother Tongue can make to a child’s sense
of connection to community and to self-esteem.
Inadequate funding and inappropriate
services
Respondents
overwhelmingly
indicated that funding
for Early Childhood
Development services
and for SLP services
are ‘inadequate’
in the settings that
they have observed.
30
25
20
15
10
Count
5
0
Inadequate
2
Adequacy of ECD Services
3
4
Adequate
Adequacy of SLP Funding
Need for new education and intervention
strategies
SLP Evaluation: “How important is it to create new educational/
intervention tools specifically for Indigenous children?”
40
30
20
Count
10
0
Not Important
2
3
4
Very Important
Important to Create Education/Intervention Tools
76% of the
respondents
perceived that it is
important or very
important to develop
new education and
intervention
strategies
specifically for
Indigenous children
Need for new assessment tools
SLP Evaluation: “How important is it to
create new assessment tools specifically for
Indigenous children?”
57% of respondents
reported that it was
important or very
important to develop
new assessment tools
specifically for
Indigenous children.
30
20
Count
10
0
Not Important
2
3
4
Very Important
Important to Create New Assessment Tools
Need for new screening tools
SLP Evaluation: “How important is it to
create new screening tools specifically for
Indigenous children?”
30
59% of respondents
reported that it was
important or very
important to develop
new screening tools
specifically for
Indigenous children
20
Count
10
0
Not Important
2
3
Important to Create Screening Tools
4
Very Important
Need for new tools to monitor overall child
development
SLP Evaluation: “How important is it to create
new tools for monitoring overall child development
specifically for Indigenous children?”
20
41% reported that
it was important or
very important to
develop new tools for
monitoring overall
child development
18
16
14
12
10
8
Count
6
4
2
Not Important
2
3
4
very Important
Important to Create Development Monitoring Tools
Knowledge capacity:
Implications for training
Unprepared &
Very unprepared
At Outset
Now
General
Specific
cultural issues cultural issues
54%
68%
14%
Moderately well
Prepared
20%
19%
40%
Well prepared &
Very well prepared
25%
13%
44%
Improving knowledge to serve Indigenous
families and communities in culturally
appropriate ways
To deliver more culturally
appropriate services, respondents
believed that it was:
• most important to learn from the
families being served
• also very important to learn from
representatives, Elders,
Indigenous mentors within the
Indigenous community as well
as conferences and workshops
Cultural and language
competencies of SLPs
• Requires working in collaboration and with support of one or
more people in the community who are proficient or nearly
proficient in the Native language/dialect and who are from the
same cultural background as the client to be able to provide
effective and culturally appropriate services (CASLPA,
Speech Pathology Australia)
• 4% of respondents reported obtaining feedback from
Indigenous peoples regarding tools they used for screening,
4% re assessment tools and 36% re intervention tools/methods
(reflects missed opportunities for cultural guidance?)
Summary and conclusions
Taken together, descriptions by SLP respondents conveyed a
clear impression of the importance of:
 providing services that are driven by the values and wishes
of the families and communities in which the children live
 learning about and understanding the culture
 building capacity within families and communities
 establishing positive and trusting relationships with
Indigenous parents, caregivers and people trusted in the
child’s community
Further research
• Understand more about what Indigenous parents believe is
important for their children to learn and how
• What kinds of tools and training would be useful to help guide the
practice of family and community driven services?
• Given the variability that exists within and across Indigenous
communities, can tools and methods for screening, assessment
and intervention that are reflective of Indigenous values, beliefs
and experiences be developed?
•
How might the professions of SLP and Audiology attract more
Indigenous people to the professions?
Positive and Trusting Relationships
SLP respondents in the current study consistently pointed to
the importance of establishing positive and trusting relationships
with Indigenous caregivers of Indigenous children, and with
people who are trusted within the Indigenous community to
which the child belongs. This requires:
 a consistent presence in the community
 patience
 time
 flexibility
 understanding
 a desire to learn
For more information on this
and related studies:
ecdip.org
Dr. Jessica Ball: [email protected]
Marlene Lewis: [email protected]
Selected References
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (1985). Position
Statement: Clinical Management of Communicatively
Handicapped Minority Language Populations. Asha, 27 (6)
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2004).
Knowledge and Skills Needed by Speech-Language
Pathologists and Audiologists to Provide Culturally and
Linguistically Appropriate Services. ASHA Supplement 24 (in
press).
Ball, J. (2002). The challenge of creating an optimal learning
environment in child care: Cross-cultural perspectives. In L.
Girolometto & E. Weitzman (Eds.) Enhancing caregiver
language facilitation in child care settings. Proceedings from a
Symposium of the Canadian Language and Literacy Research
Network, Toronto, October 18, 2002.
British Columbia Aboriginal Network on Disability Society
(BCANDS) (1996). Identification of barriers to post-secondary
training and employment. Vancouver, BC.
Canadian Association of Speech-Langauge Pathologists and
Audiologists (2002). CASLPA Position Paper on SpeechLangauge Pathology and Audiology in the Multicultural,
Multilingual Context.
http://www.caslpa.ca/english/resources/multicult.asp
Chao, R. (1996). Chinese and European American mothers’
beliefs about the role of parenting in children’s school success.
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 27, 403-423.
Crago, M. (1992). Ethnography and language socialization: A
cross-cultural perspective. Topics in Language Disorders,
12(3), 28-39.
Heath, S. (1983). Ways with words: Language, Life and work in
communities and classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Johnston, J., & Wong, M.-Y. A. (2002). Cultural Differences in
Beliefs and Practices Concerning Talk to Children. Journal of
Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 45.
Malcolm, I., Haig, Y., Konigsberg, P., Rochecouste, J.,
Collard, G., Hill,A., & Cahill, R. (1999a). ‘Two way
English. Towards more user-friendly education for
speakers of Aboriginal English. ‘ Perth: Education
Department of Western Australia.
Malcolm, I., Haig, Y., Konigsberg, P., Rochecouste, J.,
Collard, G., Hill,A., & Cahill, R. (1999b). ‘Towards more
user-friendly education for speakers of Aboriginal
English.’ Perth: Centre for Applied Language and
Literacy Research.
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996). Gathering
strength: Report on the Royal Commission on Aboriginal
Peoples, Vol. 13. Ottawa: Canada Communication Group
Publishing.
Speech Pathology Australia. Speech Pathologists working in
Early Intervention Programs with Aboriginal Australians.
Fact Sheet 2.4.
Walton, C., (1993). ‘Aboriginal education in Northern
Australia: A case study of literacy policies and practices’
In P. Freebody & A. R. Welch (Eds.). ‘Knowledge,
culture and power: international perspectives on literacy
as policy and practice.’ Pittsburgh, PA: University of
Pittsburgh Press.
Van Kleek, A,. (1994). Potential cultural bias in training parents
as conversational partners with their children who have
delays in language development. American Journal of
Speech-Language Pathology, January, 67-78.
Warr-Leeper, G.A. (2001). A review of early intervention
programs and effectiveness research for environmentally
disadvantaged children. Journal of Speech-Language
Pathology and Audiology, 25(2), 89-102.