2001-2002 Projects on Multicultural Activities

Computerized Phonological Analysis of Linguistically Diverse Speech Samples
Steven H. Long
COSI/Case Western Reserve University

Clinicians working with multicultural populations must be familiar with the phonological characteristics of the dialect or non-English language as well as with general procedures for phonological analysis and how these must be adjusted in order to produce a less-biased assessment. This project has the overarching objective of improving the quality of phonological assessment via a PC computer program that produces a detailed analysis of English and its dialectal varieties, with a focus on African American English (AAE), and Spanish and its dialectal varieties. Specific activities included:

the development of PC software that can be used for the phonological analysis of standard and nonstandard dialects of English and Spanish,
creation of a Web site for the downloading of computerized profiling (CP), related software, and access to online program support;
creation of documentation, tutorials, and other materials to help in program use and clinical application of the program's output; and
demonstration of CP and advertisement of its availability online.

Improving the Cultural Competence of the State of Maryland's Program in Universal Newborn Hearing Screening
Henry J. Ilecki
The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

One of the objectives of Maryland's Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS) program is universal accessibility of all of the program's features to all of the State's constituent families regardless of their language or cultural background. The Hispanic and Asian populations of the State emerge as groups to target for the preparation of materials specific to the various languages involved.

The Maryland UNHS Program has three broad goals in the area of cultural competence: (1) to produce a variety of language-appropriate materials incorporating different media (correspondence, paper-based and web-based educational material); (2) to facilitate networking among parents of like languages and/or cultures; and (3) to link parents with culturally competent audiological, remedial, and medical providers. The project's objectives included:

the preparations of a variety of materials in the Spanish language including but not limited to brochures and computer-generated correspondence,
posting select materials on the DHMH web-site in Spanish, and
determining what additional languages are sufficiently prevalent in the State to justify the creation of additional materials in that (those) languages.

Spanish Intelligibility Test
Daniel Kempler
Health Research Association/LAC & USC Medical Center

The Spanish Intelligibility Test (SIT) was created in response to the need for a Spanish intellgibility assessment test. This test is modeled after the English intelligibility test Assessment of Intelligibility in Dysarthric Speech (AIDS) (Yorktston & Beukelman, 1981). Both the AIDS and SIT are designed to provide speech-language pathologists with the qualitative data necessary for treatment planning and a quantifiable measure of treatment outcome.

The specific aims of the proposed project were to:

refine the SIT materials by verifying that the content is appropriate for the patient population,
collect inter-rater reliability and test reliability data, and
assemble both paper and computer-based versons of the test.

Yorkston, K., & Beukelman, D. (1981). Assessment of dysarthric speech. Tigard, Oregon: C.C. Publications.

2001-2002 Review Panel: Emi Isaki, Patricia MacIntyre, Luis Riquelme, Kenyatta Rivers, Linda Rosa-Lugo, and Janice Trent