Page 116 - Difference or Disorder Digital Version

Chapter 16: QUICK TIPS FOR ASSESSING IN ANY LANGUAGE

Look at the chart. Are there sounds that exist in English that do not exist in the student’s

native language? If so, these would not be sounds that we would expect in

English, nor good sounds to address in therapy. Tackle the sounds that exist in both

languages if they are difficult for your student.

3. If you are assessing language concepts, look at the syntactic features for that

particular language. Again, you will likely be able to find a chart or information on

specific features of the language. For example:

Punjabi has a canonical word order of SOV (subject–

object–verb). It has postpositions rather than

prepositions.

If you see the previous statement, it would tell you that errors regarding word order

when speaking English may be influenced by one’s native language of Punjabi. There may

also be prepositional errors, and that would be acceptable since prepositions are not used in

Punjabi.

Obviously, the quick tips above are a simplification of what can be a very lengthy
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process. Gathering the right speech and language information can take a while. Luckily, we

have completed this process for you by compiling the information you need from a variety

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