Transcript

The question of assessment for first language keeps coming up all the time. Some people actually believe that unless you've done assessment in the first language the assessment in second language is not relevant or not valid and I would disagree with that but at the same time I think clinically it is useful to find out what the children can do in their first language. So, if you can find someone who can assess the child in their first language, that's useful. However there are also some challenges, you have to be able to find somebody to do that. Some children come from languages where there is no writing system so they don't have any instruments to test them. You may use some educational materials, you don't have to use a standardized test as long as you're testing what you really want to test.

From a clinical perspective I think it's really important, but I would say it is not essential to do the assessment in both languages however it is useful if you can because you want to form a picture of what the child can actually do.