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What are these downloads for?

GOSH Bilingual Screen: This is an Early Years Tool which uses a tick box questionnaire to map the child's SLC against developmental norms. It is completed with the parent/carer.

Working with Interpretors: This is a guideline for consideration if you re using an interpretor for any reason in your practice for Assessment of Therapy.

Communication Skills Inventory: This is a list of communicative behaviours in the first and second language. This allows the SLT to collect information for different languages the child is exposed to.

Language map: This is a tool to complete with parents/carers to better understand the language profile and history of a child in the context of their family life. This should be completed at an Initial Assessment. This lends itself best to the Early years but can be used with any age group.

 

Language map crib sheet:

Some tips for filling in the language map in to ensure that you gather all the information you need for an accurate understanding of a child’s language abilities over time and in the current moment.  

 

Take time to fill this in with the parents/carers. Explain why you are asking the questions and how the information helps you to understand their child’s language.  Ask clear questions to gather all the information you need to complete the language map.

 

The language map will help you to determine which languages you need to go on to assess and understand the context of the languages for a particular child and their family. 

 

  1. The timeline at the bottom of the page. Some questions to consider:

 

  • Where was the child was born?

  • Where have they lived since birth and with whom?

  • How long did they live in each country?

  • To what extent they were exposed to the language/s during this time?  e.g. were they in childcare/did they have a nanny who only spoke the language of the country they were in etc? 

  • What educational setting has the child been to and for how long and how frequently?

 

2. Completing the language map.  Some questions to consider:

 

  • Who speaks what language to who?  How much of the time? Parents may speak one language to each other and a different one to the child.

  • What language does the child reply in? If the child responds in more than one language then how much of the time for each?

  • You can use the arrows to indicate which language the child hears (language adult uses to speak to a child – arrow inwards towards circle) and which language the child replies  in (arrows points outwards away from the circle)

  • Percentages can be useful to indicate the amount of time in each language. Sometimes different activities occur in different languages.

  • Who lives at home/spends time with the child? (may need to prompt with nanny or grandparent?)

  • If there is another carer for the child? The word for child care may differ in different cultures/regions. Do they speak fluent English?

  • When did the child start learning English?

  • Does the child watch TV in different languages?

  • Does the child frequently go on holiday to another country with a different language?

 

These questions are suggestions and not exhaustive of the questions you may need to answer the fully understand the child's exposure to the language since birth.

Differential Diagnosis Checklist: It is an observation checklist that maybe useful when assessing bilingual children and support you to work through the differential diagnosis process. 

Language Use Questionnaire - this is similar to a language map but it is primarily for use with older kids. It provides a visual format for kids to talk about their own perceptions of the languages they speak in different environments and with different people. Particularly useful for Assessment in Primary and Secondary Schools. 

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