Research Corner

Have you ever wondered how Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) distinguish between a speech difference—something that’s typical in a multilingual child’s speech—and a true disorder, which is a real difficulty with producing speech? Many of the speech assessments that SLPs rely on were made for monolingual speakers. That means multilingual kids can be misdiagnosed—just because they mix languages or pronounce things differently than the test expects. So, how do we fix that - that’s the heart of my research. I have focused on Jamaican Creole–Jamaican English (JamC–JamE) bilingual preschoolers as a model system, under the mentorship of Dr. Karla N. Washington. This language pairing as we call it is more closely related, that is in contrast to French-English, which has more distance as a pairing, so that I might broaden and deepen my knowledge base and skillsets about children who are multilingual.

My three‑phase study aims to support SLPs in accurately assessing the speech of multilingual children. First, I’m conducting a scoping review to map out what’s already out there by reviewing current evidence for assessing multilingual children’s speech. Next, I’ll interview speech‑language pathologists across Canada to learn from their real‑world practice-based experiences assessing multilingual children. Finally, I’ll use those insights to co‑design and pilot a culturally responsive assessment protocol with JamC–JamE children both in Toronto, Canada (migrant setting) and Kingston, Jamaica (native setting). The goal is to develop an assessment protocol that respects the rich interplay between Creole and English, rather than forcing children into a one‑size‑fits‑all model.

It all started in the therapy room. As an SLP, I’ve had the joy of working with many multilingual families and experienced the frustration of realizing that our standard tools often miss the mark. I saw children being labeled with speech disorders when they were simply speaking the way they’d grown up hearing at home.

That feeling of “there has to be a better way” is what led me to research. That’s when I met with Dr. Washington. From the start, I was inspired by her passion for bridging research and real‑world practice. She’s led groundbreaking work on how monolingual and multilingual preschoolers learn to speak and communicate. Hearing about her work with both typical and disordered children focussed on expressive language, functional communication, and speech production, as well as her many leadership roles and work with many international collaborators, inspired me to pursue my own research under her mentorship. I’m excited to collaborate with Dr. Washington to develop tools and grow the knowledge base to truly reflect the rich language experiences of multilingual children.

Now working under her supervision, I want to help close the gap between research and practice so that every child’s voice is heard accurately. Along the way, I’ve been lucky to learn from mentors and peers who share that passion for culturally responsive care, and their encouragement has kept this project grounded and community‑focused.

I hope our protocol guide can help clinicians feel a little more confident when assessing a JamC–JamE child. I hope clinicians will adapt our protocol to their own multilingual caseloads - whether it’s Italian‑English, Tagalog‑English, or any other pairing - and feel empowered to distinguish difference from disorder with a little more clarity and cultural responsivity. 

In the long run, I’d love to see fewer children misdiagnosed, fewer families stressed by unnecessary referrals, and a healthcare system that spends its time and resources where they really matter. If this work sparks new ideas, new tools, or even just a fresh conversation about what “typical” speech development looks like across cultures, then I’ll consider it a win for everyone involved.

One of the most rewarding and humbling aspects of this research has been working on ways to include children’s voices into the assessment process. When I worked with children who stutter, I learned how powerful it can be to gather their perspective on their own communication. That direct approach helped those kids feel heard and gave me insights about how to help them. But there didn’t seem to be very many similar tools designed for very young children or those with other speech and language difficulties, especially kids who speak more than one language. 

Rather than relying solely on adult‑administered tests, we’re weaving in non‑traditional methods like drawing tasks and child‑report measures such as the Speech Participation and Activity Assessment of Children (SPAA-C; McLeod, 2004). These approaches invite children to directly share their communication experiences in their own words, pictures, and stories, so that assessment feels more like a conversation and less like a quiz.

Grounded in the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (WHO‑ICF), we recognize that “functioning” isn’t just about sounds produced correctly; it’s about participation in everyday life and personal experience of communication (WHO, 2024). By asking children to draw a “picture of themselves talking to someone” or to rate how they feel when talking to family or friends using the SPAA-C, we capture nuances that traditional articulation tests simply miss.

Importantly, this isn’t just theory. In our work with JamC–JamE bilinguals in Kingston, Jamaica we found that even preschoolers as young as three years old could meaningfully engage with drawing prompts and the SPAA-C’s smiley‑face scales to express their feelings in talking with a variety of conversational partners. Those insights can help to shape intervention plans, ensuring we address real‑world barriers children themselves highlight. 

At its heart, this approach acknowledges children as experts of their own experience. When we give them the power to describe what communication feels like, what’s fun, what’s frustrating, we foster genuine partnership. That partnership not only enriches assessment accuracy but also lays the groundwork for intervention plans that truly resonate with each child’s goals, preferences, and cultural context. By centering children’s perspectives, we’re taking a small step toward more equitable, empowering care - one drawing, one smiley face at a time.