ELLs (English Language Learners) in the Schools

ASHA Policy Documents

• Clinical Management of Communicatively Handicapped Minority Language Populations
• Cultural Competence in Professional Service Delivery
• Position Statement
• Professional Issues Statement
• Knowledge and Skills Needed by Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists to Provide Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services
• Issues in Ethics: Cultural Competence
• Provision of Instruction of English as a Second Language by Speech-Language Pathologists in the Schools
• Position Statement
• Technical Report
• Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education

The ASHA Leader Articles

• Ethics, Equity, and English-Language Learners: A Decision-Making Framework
• Service Delivery to English Language Learners in the Public Schools: A National Survey
• The Ethics of Assessment With Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations
• A Tale of Two Languages
• Biliteracy and Second-Language Learners
• Assessing Speakers with Limited English Proficiency

Additional Resources

• ASHA's Sample Syllabi Bilingual and Cross-Cultural Assessment
• Considerations for Assessment and Evaluation
• Cultural and Linguistic Variables
• Gathering a Case History
• The Assessment Process
• Using Interpreters
• Tips for Working With an Interpreter
• ASHA's Legislation Information
• ASHA Analysis on IDEA Part C Final Regulations [PDF]
• IDEA Issue Brief: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students [PDF]
• No Child Left Behind Fact Sheet on English Language Learners [PDF]
• ASHA's SIG (Special Interest Group) Perspectives Newsletter Articles
• Pre-Referral Procedures: Meeting Unique Needs of English Language Learners [PDF]
• Perspectives on Communication Disorders in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations, March 2008 issue
• But They Don't Speak English: Bilingual Students and Speech-Language Services in the Schools [PDF]
• Growing Diversity in our Schools—Roles and Responsibilities of Speech-Language Pathologists [PDF]
• Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center's Dual Language Learning: What Does it Take?
• Assessing Preschool Dual Language Learners: Traveling a Multiforked Road by Elizabeth Peña and Tamara Halle
• Online module Teaching English language learners: Effective Instructional Practices
• International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics Recommendations for Working with Bilingual Children
• Education Week's Learning the Language blog

Professional Development

Continuing education programs from ASHA on English language learners in the schools.

Consumer Information

• Learning More than One Language
• Center for Applied Linguistics' Raising Bilingual Children: Common Parental Concerns and Current Research (English) and La Crianza de Niños Bilingües: Preocupaciones Comunes de los Padres y las Investigaciones Actuales (Spanish)
• Does Learning Languages Make Kids Smarter?

Videos

View these YouTube videos for additional information.

• Bilingual Speech Therapy: Choosing the Language of Intervention
• Bilingual Speech-Language Pathology: Overcoming Barriers (AAC Devices)
• Facilitating Bilingual Speech-Language Development
• Speech Pathology: Key Components of Bilingual Language Assessment