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thelinguist.uberflip.com JUNE/JULY 2017 The Linguist 11 FEATURES mother tongue, we treat in mother tongue, but only if it is their strongest language. After the therapist has written up a care plan with the aims for the child and what they are expected to achieve, they leave me to carry out the programme in mother tongue. As a senior assistant, I work directly with the child and parents. I need to know how long to carry on with a programme, and when to stop and ask the therapist to reassess the care plan. I was seeing a little boy recently, for example, but after several months he stopped engaging. He was running around, hiding; he was not achieving anything by coming to see me, so I suggested that we send him away with a homework pack for his school and parents after the next session, and review his care plan a few months later. Adapting materials In Rochdale, we have translated and adapted some of the assessments for the Pakistani community, including the Derbyshire Language Scheme: Rapid Screening Test, which is a basic comprehension test, and the Renfrew Action Picture Test (RAPT), an expressive language assessment. I worked with two of the therapists, going through the different languages and adapting assessments and therapy packages in-house. The English-language assessments have a standardised scoring system to assess whether a child is age-appropriate or behind in certain areas. When we adapt the assessments, the standardised scores can no longer be used, but they at least give an idea of where the child is struggling. It is better than nothing and it is better than assessing in English if that isn't the child's strongest language, as this would not give a true reflection of their abilities. For the Rapid Screening Test, we buy published forms in Punjabi and Mirpuri from Derbyshire Speech and Language Service, and use my adaptation for Urdu. In this test, the therapist puts objects in front of the child and asks, for example, "Can you show me the doll?" or "Can you put the spoon in the cup?". It is relatively straightforward to adapt. The objects include a knife and a fork, but a child in the South Asian community wouldn't use a knife and fork at home so we replaced them with a spoon and a comb. Equally, if we're using farm animals in an assessment or therapy session, we take out the pig, because in Islamic culture that is inappropriate and may upset parents, decreasing engagement. The Renfrew Action Picture Test uses pictures of people carrying out various actions to test spoken language. Our department created a new book of pictures for the South Asian community, entitled 'Je Zindagi' (meaning 'This Life'), with pictures of South Asian adults and children performing these verbs. We haven't translated the more complex assessments as they would be more difficult to get right and, for the most part, as children get to school age and have more complex language issues, they switch to English. If English is not their strongest language, we won't give them a standardised score for the English-language assessments, but we will gain an idea of their abilities in different areas of their linguistic system. The monolingual therapist When therapists first come to our department they are often nervous about working with bilingual children, as they don't want to get it wrong. We reassure them by explaining that they don't need to treat bilingual children any SUPPORT WORK: A child uses a special tool to improve sound creation (left); and (above) a therapist and children practise enunciating differently to English-speaking children, or adapt the therapy in any way; the programme and packages we offer are the same that we would offer to a child speaking English. For the 'Je Zindagi' assessment, there is a form with the sentences in English at the top, and underneath the sentences written phonetically in Urdu, Punjabi or Mirpuri, boxes in which to write what the child says, boxes in which to translate word for word (which will not make sense), boxes in which to put a meaningful translation, and finally comments boxes in which to write notes, such as 'did not use the pronoun' or 'did not use the gender ending'. This enables the therapist to see where the child is lacking in their mother tongue, and to make decisions about their care plan. When I carry out a programme, everything is written and recorded in this same format, so the therapist can monitor progress. During an assessment, I will let the therapist know what I think are the key issues. Because of my experience, they can be confident of my analysis and we can usually make a decision about the care plan then and there. If I don't agree that the programme suggested by the therapist would be the most effective I say so and explain why. Working with interpreters In Rochdale, we have a diverse community; there are, for example, Polish and Arabic families. The materials have not been translated for those communities, so an interpreter works through the English version and adapts it as best they can. IMAGES © SHUTTERSTOCK