Effective communication between different languages naturally presents inherent challenges. This is even more true when supporting children who come from other home languages/limited-English families. Collaboration between the child, family, other members of the care/education team, and interpreters is critical. This session will provide insight into best practices for equitable services for all individuals (regardless of home language), how to best collaborate with families (directly and with interpreters), and how to educate ourselves on linguistic and cultural biases and differences to better inform our professional and individual approach to language diversity.
Sarina Murrell is a multilingual medical speech-language pathologist with 15+ years as an educator and 10+ years’ in the field of speech-language pathology, working in medical operations for cleft-lip/palate, children’s hospitals in NICU/PICU and outpatient feeding clinics, autism centers, home-based early intervention and public schools across the US, Ecuador, and China. Sarina is the founder and director of The Airplane Spoon - a private practice for babies, children, and parents in feeding, communication, and coaching.
Core Competency Area:
Families and Community Partnerships
Skill Level:
Fundamental
Presentation Outcomes:
The presentation is structured to lead to productive outcomes by fostering effective, culturally sensitive communication strategies that respect and integrate the diverse backgrounds of children and their families. By enhancing the collaboration between care teams and interpreters, it ensures that families receive equitable services, tailored to their linguistic needs and cultural contexts. This approach helps in building trust and better understanding, ultimately contributing to improved educational and health outcomes for children from diverse backgrounds, including those with different abilities, cultural or religious backgrounds, and socioeconomic statuses.
Learning Objectives:
Participants will implement effective communication strategies that involve working with interpreters to ensure clear and precise interactions with limited-English proficient families.
Attendees will gain insights into identifying and addressing their own cultural and linguistic biases, and learn how to adapt their professional practices to be more inclusive and sensitive to the diverse cultural backgrounds of the families they serve.
Participants will discuss strategies for effective teamwork that respects the roles and expertise of each member, particularly the interpreters, to enhance service delivery and family engagement in multicultural settings.
