2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference
March 13 - 15, 2022
Cultural Considerations when Working with Preterm Children
Children born preterm are at risk for speech and language concerns. Cultural and linguistic background play an important role in their developmental outcomes. This research focuses on the cultural sensitivity of standardized assessments for young preterm children's communication outcomes. Data from ~30-50 children born very preterm will be used to examine children’s language outcomes.
Speech-language pathologists provide early intervention (EI) to support speech/language development in children birth to three-years-old when there is a communication concern. Children who are born preterm are at risk for communication development concerns. One area of challenge in EI is the evaluation process due to the limited selection of assessments for children from birth to three-years and the assessment tools used to examine culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children fairly (i.e., African American (AA) children). This study examines: (1) differences between the performance of VPT AA and Caucasian children at 24 months corrected age based on the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scale (CSBS), (2) potential influence of scorer bias on the CSBS, and (3) the relationship between the MacArthur Child Development Inventory MCDI language stage communication composite scores (parent questionnaire) to the performance scores on the CSBS(direct assessment of the child). Preliminary results will be presented. Understanding these differences will help clinicians better diagnose the speech and language difficulties of VPT AA children.
- Identify culturally sensitive assessments for language outcomes of young children.
- Describe the potential influence of scorer bias and language outcomes of very preterm infants.
- Describe contextual factors influencing the language development of very preterm infants.
Poster:
3353554_15084LaurenPrather.pdf
Presenter: Lauren Prather
Lauren Prather, M.S., CCC-SLP, is a certified speech-language pathologist (SLP) and doctoral candidate at the University of Cincinnati (UC) in Communication Sciences and Disorders. She is a Black American citizen of the United States, a bidialectal English speaker of African American English (AAE) and General American English (GAE). Her research focuses on language and literacy for underserved populations, particularly Black language, and best assessment and intervention practices for SLPs working with the preschool population.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
• Has a Professional (Graduate research assistant )
relationship for Volunteer employment.