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Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Health
- Miami Herald
Speech therapists group moves to delete DEI from their standards guide
Scores of speech therapists across the country erupted last month when their leading professional association said it was considering dropping language calling for diversity, equity and inclusion and "cultural competence" in their certification standards. Those values could be replaced in some standards with a much more amorphous emphasis on "person-centered care." "The decision to propose these modifications was not made lightly," wrote officials of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) in a June letter to members. They noted that due to recent executive orders related to DEI, even terminology that "is lawfully applied and considered essential for clinical practice … could put ASHA's certification programs at risk." Yet in the eyes of experts and some speech pathologists, the change would further imperil getting quality help to a group that's long been grossly underserved: young children with speech delays who live in households where English is not the primary language spoken. "This is going to have long-term impacts on communities who already struggle to get services for their needs," said Joshuaa Allison-Burbank, a speech language pathologist and Navajo member who works on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico where the tribal language is dominant in many homes. Across the country, speech therapists have been in short supply for many years. Then, after the pandemic lockdown, the number of young children diagnosed annually with a speech delay more than doubled. Amid that broad crisis in capacity, multilingual learners are among those most at risk of falling through the cracks. Less than 10 percent of speech therapists are bilingual. A shift away from DEI and cultural competence - which involves understanding and trying to respond to differences in children's language, culture and home environment - could have a devastating effect at a time when more of both are needed to reach and help multilingual learners, several experts and speech pathologists said. They told me about a few promising strategies for strengthening speech services for multilingual infants, toddlers and preschool-age children with speech delays - each of which involves a heavy reliance on DEI and cultural competence. Embrace creative staffing. The Navajo Nation faces severe shortages of trained personnel to evaluate and work with young children with developmental delays, including speech. So in 2022, Allison-Burbank and his research team began providing training in speech evaluation and therapy to Native family coaches who are already working with families through a tribal home visiting program. The family coaches provide speech support until a more permanent solution can be found, said Allison-Burbank. Home visiting programs are "an untapped resource for people like me who are trying to have a wider reach to identify these kids and get interim services going," he said. (The existence of both the home visiting program and speech therapy are under serious threat because of federal cuts, including to Medicaid.) Use language tests that have been designed for multilingual populations. Decades ago, few if any of the exams used to diagnose speech delays had been "normed" - or pretested to establish expectations and benchmarks - on non-English-speaking populations. For example, early childhood intervention programs in Texas were required several years ago to use a single tool that relied on English norms to diagnose Spanish-speaking children, said Ellen Kester, the founder and president of Bilinguistics Speech and Language Services in Austin, which provides both direct services to families and training to school districts. "We saw a rise in diagnosis of very young (Spanish-speaking) kids," she said. That isn't because all of the kids had speech delays, but due to fundamental differences between the two languages that were not reflected in the test's design and scoring. (In Spanish, for instance, the 'z' sound is pronounced like an English 's.') There are now more options than ever before of screeners and tools normed on multilingual, diverse populations; states, agencies and school districts should be selective, and informed, in seeking them out, and pushing for continued refinement. Expand training - formal and self-initiated - for speech therapists in the best ways to work with diverse populations. In the long-term, the best way to help more bilingual children is to hire more bilingual speech therapists through robust DEI efforts. But in the short term, speech therapists can't rely solely on interpreters - if one is even available - to connect with multilingual children. That means using resources that break down the major differences in structure, pronunciation and usage between English and the language spoken by the family, said Kester. "As therapists, we need to know the patterns of the languages and what's to be expected and what's not to be expected," Kester said. It's also crucial that therapists understand how cultural norms may vary, especially as they coach parents and caregivers in how best to support their kids, said Katharine Zuckerman, professor and associate division head of general pediatrics at Oregon Health & Science University. "This idea that parents sit on the floor and play with the kid and teach them how to talk is a very American cultural idea," she said. "In many communities, it doesn't work quite that way." In other words, to help the child, therapists have to embrace an idea that's suddenly under siege: cultural competence, In recent years, several studies have homed in on how state early intervention systems, which serve children with developmental delays ages birth through 3, shortchange multilingual children with speech challenges. One study based out of Oregon, and co-authored by Zuckerman, found that speech diagnoses for Spanish-speaking children were often less specific than for English speakers. Instead of pinpointing a particular challenge, the Spanish speakers tended to get the general "language delay" designation. That made it harder to connect families to the most tailored and beneficial therapies. A second study found that speech pathologists routinely miss critical steps when evaluating multilingual children for early intervention. That can lead to overdiagnosis, underdiagnosis and inappropriate help. "These findings point to the critical need for increased preparation at preprofessional levels and strong advocacy … to ensure evidence-based EI assessments and family-centered, culturally responsive intervention for children from all backgrounds," the authors concluded. Carr is a fellow at New America, focused on reporting on early childhood issues. Contact the editor of this story, Christina Samuels, at 212-678-3635, via Signal at cas.37 or samuels@ This story about the speech therapists association was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter. The post Speech therapists group moves to delete DEI from their standards guide appeared first on The Hechinger Report.
Malaysian Reserve
06-05-2025
- Health
- Malaysian Reserve
ASHA Shares Resources for Families on Feeding Development This Pediatric Feeding Disorder Awareness Month
Pediatric Feeding Disorder Affects 1 in 37 Children Under Age 5 in the U.S. ROCKVILLE, Md., May 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Many young children have difficulty eating in their first few years of life, but it isn't always easy for families to differentiate between age-appropriate feeding challenges and those that could indicate a potential medical or developmental problem. Pediatric feeding disorder can affect a child's health and result in serious issues. To help, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is sharing free resources for parents and caregivers this May, which is Pediatric Feeding Disorder Awareness Month. Typical Feeding and Swallowing Development Eating and drinking are among the most complex functions of the human body. Starting from birth, children learn to eat and drink in stages. Developmental milestones are the skills that most children demonstrate by a particular age range. ASHA provides evidence-based checklists of feeding and swallowing milestones that families can expect their child to achieve between birth and 3 years. These milestones include the following: turns head toward nipple and opens mouth (birth to 3 months) brings hands to breast or bottle (4–6 months) brings food to mouth with hands and starts to feed self (6–9 months) begins chewing food on both sides of mouth—called 'rotary chewing' (9–12 months) drinks from a sippy cup without help; can drink from an open cup with some spilling (12–18 months) chews all foods, including those with tougher textures, without gagging or choking (2–3 years) The age range specified with each skill represents the time frame in which most children (at least 75%) will have mastered that skill. Not meeting one milestone doesn't necessarily mean that the child has a feeding problem. However, if a child is not meeting several feeding milestones, is not progressing in their skills, or is losing skills that they once had, then families should talk to their pediatrician and seek a feeding and swallowing evaluation from a certified speech-language pathologist (SLP). Pediatric Feeding Disorder Pediatric feeding disorder (PFD) is impaired oral intake that is not age appropriate; lasts at least 2 weeks; and is associated with medical, nutritional, feeding skill, and/or social–emotional challenges. More than 2 million children in the United States have PFD. ASHA encourages families to not only familiarize themselves with feeding milestones but also to learn the warning signs of PFD. These warning signs include the following: arching back when feeding turning head away from food vomiting (more than the typical 'spit-up' for infants) having breathing difficulties when feeding coughing and/or choking during or after swallowing crying during mealtimes losing food or liquid from the mouth when eating taking a long time to finish meals or snacks (longer than 30 min per meal—and less time for small snacks) losing weight—or having trouble gaining weight Families can complete a six-question screener from Feeding Matters to determine if their child is at risk of PFD. Regardless of the results, if they have questions or concerns, families should trust their instincts and act on them quickly by obtaining a feeding and swallowing evaluation from an SLP. Taking that step is critical. PFD can affect a child's health and result in serious issues—including dehydration or poor nutrition; food or liquid going into the windpipe instead of the food pipe (when this happens, it is called aspiration); and pneumonia or other lung infections. Families should look for an SLP who specializes in feeding and swallowing disorders. A searchable database of these professionals is available at SLPs can help with feeding problems in a variety of ways—beyond conducting a feeding evaluation: Helping the child learn how to breathe while sucking and swallowing (for babies only). Improving the child's ability to suck from a bottle or drink from a cup. Changing food textures and liquid thickness to help the child swallow safely. Showing the caregiver a different way to hold their baby—or the way their child sits when eating. Helping children to chew foods. Encouraging children to try—and accept—new foods. To learn more about feeding and swallowing development in children, visit ASHA's website. Learn more about PFD from Feeding Matters. About the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for 241,000 members and affiliates who are audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language, and hearing scientists; audiology and speech-language pathology assistants; and students. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing and balance disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment, including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) identify, assess, and treat speech, language, and swallowing disorders. Media Contact: Francine Pierson (301) 296-8715 fpierson@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)
