Evelyn Ramirez-Coombs, Vindia Fernandez, Ph.D. and Alberto Miranda, Psy.D.

Bilingual Latino/a children are rapidly becoming the majority among their peers in several states, increasing from 17% of all children in the US in 2000 to 25% of the pediatric population in 2016. In densely populated states such as California, Latino children comprise more than half of the child population at 52%. Despite this increasing proportion of students, there remains a paucity of bilingual assessment tools, normative data, cohesive strategies amongst assessors, and bilingual pediatric neuropsychologists that together threaten the validity of assessments in this population (e.g., over- or under-identifying neurodevelopmental disorders). While many school districts have adopted careful guidelines regarding testing English learners in their native language, significant challenges remain with respect to determining the appropriate testing language in the school setting, as well as more broadly in the community and academic medical centers. This workshop will aim to explore these clinical decision points by examining the current literature on neurocognitive functioning in bilingual children, outlining typical bilingual language development trajectories, reviewing instrumentation for language assessment in bilingual children, and discussing limitations in the literature about language development in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. We will also present case studies to illustrate the many linguistic and cultural nuances of working with multicultural families and children, including evaluation of neuropsychological data summary sheets, provision of “mock supervision” on the conceptualization and formulation of bilingual cases, and discussion of effective treatment planning for this population. Emphasis is placed on academic-community and legal partnerships ensuring that the treatment planning is systematically implemented and monitored.

After the session, participants will be able to:

Target Audience: Neuropsychologists and trainees

Instructional Level: Intermediate