ACQ Vol 11 No 1 2009

MULTICULTURALISM AND DYSPHAGIA

U pdates from the M ulticultural I nterest G roup (NSW) T he Multicultural Interest Group (MIG) (NSW) has been very active in 2008. Three seminars were held during the year. They were:

and websites. Keywords and categories of various evidence were identified, for example, preschooler, assessment, intervention and Asian cultures. The EndNote Library has a search by keyword function which allows members to gain quick and easy access to all relevant evidence regarding a particular topic. The next phase of the project will involve identification of key research questions of interest to MIG members and attempt to answer these questions utilising the current EndNote database and evaluation tool. The group meets on Friday afternoons and everyone is welcome. Meeting dates and times for 2009 have not yet been finalised, but will be posted on the Speech Pathology Australia website when they are available. Anyone who is interested in accessing the information about one of the seminars held or about the Evidence Based Project, please contact Candy Leung, MIG (NSW) Liaison Person via email: Candy.Leung@dadhc.nsw.gov.au Candy Leung is a Manager Access at the Department of Ageing, Disability, and Home Care (DADHC) at Rose­ bery, Metro South Region, NSW. Candy manages a multi­ disciplinary team of speech pathologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and psychologists. She has previously worked as a speech pathologist at DADHC, providing services to children, young people, and adults with a range of developmental and intellectual disabilities across different community settings. Candy is also one of the project leaders of various DADHC regional initiatives concerning CALD issues.

n Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Considerations in Stuttering Treatment presented by Mary Erian, speech pathologist at the Stuttering Unit, Bankstown Health Service; n Building the Connections with Aboriginal Families and Communities presented by Cynthia Grayston-Riley, casework consultant (Aboriginal specialist), Department of Ageing, Disability, and Home Care; and n Evidence-Based Practice in the Context of Cultural & Linguistic Diversity presented by the MIG (NSW) committee. All of the seminars were well attended by speech pathologists, case managers, and community workers from a range of agencies. MIG (NSW) has been undertaking an evidence based practice project in the last 2 years. There have been monthly evidence base practice meetings attended by MIG members, the MIG (NSW) committee, and student speech pathologists. To date, we have mapped out the current evidence in the field of the culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) area, the nature of the evidence and some of the gaps. A number of resources and tools have also been developed, including a database of current evidence and an evaluation tool to examine different types of evidence in the area of CALD. The database was developed utilising the EndNote Library referencing software. There are currently over 200 entries of various types of materials, including journal articles, books, Dear Editor, Because this ACQ issue deals with bilingualism, we would like to alert readers to a pertinent article about to be published in Archives of Disease in Childhood : “The effects of bilingualism on stuttering during late childhood” by Howell, Davis and Williams (available on-line at DOI:10.1136/adc.2007.134114). Howell et al. conclude that speaking two languages from birth increases the risk of developing stuttering and decreases the chances of recovery from stuttering. We and colleagues from the United States and Canada have written to the editor of the journal refuting this con­ clusion. We maintain that the data gathered in the study do not support the claims by the authors. As we see it, the main problem with the study is that conclusions about stuttering and the general population of bilingual children have been drawn from a limited clinical sample. Our letter has been accepted for publication. In modern multicultural and multilingual societies many children speak more than one language from birth. The L etter to the E ditor

Howell et al. findings are already attracting considerable media attention worldwide and there are reports of concerned parents asking clinicians whether they should restrict their children to speaking only one language during the preschool years. It is critical, then, that speech pathologists and other health professionals are aware of our interpretation of the Howell et al. data; namely, that speaking two languages from birth has not been shown to increase the chances of stuttering nor to reduce the likelihood of recovery from stuttering. Yours sincerely,

Ann Packman, PhD Mark Onslow, PhD Australian Stuttering Research Centre, The University of Sydney Sheena Reilly, PhD Murdoch Childrens Research Institute; Department of Pediatrics, University of Melbourne Visit www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

ACQ uiring knowledge in sp eech , language and hearing , Volume 11, Number 1 2009

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