Abstract
Multilingualism is the norm across the world and is increasingly seen in English dominant countries (Department for Education, 2010; Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 2010; State Government of Victoria, 2009). Yet when referred to speech and language therapy (SLT) services, it is likely that these children will be assessed by a clinician who does not speak one or more of their languages (Kritikos, 2003). Our need therefore for a text such as this, which lays out the principles of assessment and intervention for children who are bilingual or multilingual and provides information on specific languages, is obvious.
McLeod and Goldstein’s book is an edited collection of chapters from a total of 44 authors from 16 countries. The breadth of its content exposes the reader to a range of knowledge and experience that could only otherwise be obtained from a large, and expensive, international conference. The range of languages covered is vast and includes those which we may encounter more commonly in clinical practice such as Jamaican Creole, Polish, Urdu, Welsh and dialects of Arabic, to minority languages such as Bini and Yucatec. Other languages that are widely spoken in their country or culture of origin are also referred to including Basque, Icelandic and Xhosa, and also American, Australian and British sign languages.
The book is laid out in three parts. The first is titled ‘Foundations’ and covers issues that impact on all aspects of our work as clinicians with multilingual children. Information on sociolinguistic and cultural issues is followed by chapters on vowels, consonants and prosody in the world’s languages. A final chapter in this section outlines factors relating to speech perception in multilingual populations. In common with all three sections, these generic chapters are interspersed with translation to practice chapters, which illustrate the issues raised in relation to specific languages. Part 2 provides detail on speech acquisition in children exposed to multilingual environments. Over half of the book, however, is dedicated to SLT practice. This section covers assessment, transcription, analysis and intervention, with the final two chapters addressing issues related to literacy and metalinguistic development in multilingual children.
This book is valuable to clinicians at a number of levels. Explanations of how speech develops in multilingual children will challenge the current practice of many professionals. The impact of developing two or more interacting systems of speech sounds is that order of acquisition in children who are bilingual is qualitatively different to that of monolinguals (Hambly et al., 2013). As a consequence, standardized assessments and procedures used on monolingual children are invalid, and clinicians may be confused into thinking that the child is speech disordered. In contrast, where the clinician has knowledge of the sound system of each of the child’s languages, their ability to identify the range and accuracy of the child’s speech production is improved.
However, insights into how speech develops in multilingual children – and a consequent awareness of the deficits of our current practice – are balanced by suggestions and resources to enhance our understanding and competence. Appendices at the end of Chapters 13 and 19 provide information on assessments in a range of different languages and factors to consider in transcription respectively. More resources and ideas are also provided within the main body of chapters within each section.
As well as providing language specific information, this text provides a number of principles that are relevant for all multilingual children. Perhaps the most far reaching and important of these is the importance of valuing and supporting development in the child’s home language. Jordaan (2008) found that across the world, the vast majority (87%) of SLTs provided only monolingual intervention to bilingual clients, while Kritikos (2003) had found that the language used was typically the therapist’s first language and not that of the child. Yet Topbaş (2012) highlights the evidence that shows that without a solid first language, the child’s chances of developing competency in a second language and then subsequently achieving at school is significantly reduced.
There is still much to be learned with regard to meeting the needs of our multilingual clients, but this text can make a substantial contribution to our practice based on the knowledge available today. Not all languages commonly spoken by multilingual children are covered but details on some of the most frequently occurring are addressed while the general principles are relevant to all. In combination with The international guide to speech acquisition (McLeod, 2007), which provides information on the sound systems of a range of the world’s languages, this text is a must-read for all those clinicians working with multilingual children.