Non‐standard assessment practices in the evaluation of communication in Australian Aboriginal children

Abstract

Australian Aboriginal children typically receive communication assessment services from Standard Australian English (SAE) speaking non‐Aboriginal speech‐language pathologists (SLPs). Educational assessments, including intelligence testing, are also primarily conducted by non‐Aboriginal educational professionals. While the current paper will show that non‐Indigenous SLPs can conduct valid communication assessments with Indigenous children, it will also be shown that educational assessments do not always benefit the child being assessed, and may sometimes do harm to Aboriginal children. Many of the issues surrounding the assessment of Australian Aboriginal children by non‐Aboriginal SLPs are similar to those encountered in other countries where Indigenous populations represent a minority. Very little research has been conducted within Australia to examine this issue. This paper presents overviews of case studies from a longitudinal research project designed to examine the topic of cross‐cultural speech‐language pathology assessment with Indigenous children, making specific reference to the situation in Australia.

• Speech‐language pathology
• Aboriginal English
• language testing

Notes

1. The term Indigenous is being used to refer to the original inhabitants of a country. The term Aboriginal is being used to refer to one group of Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal peoples, and is not inclusive of the other group of Indigenous Australians, the Torres Strait Islanders.

2. AE Shame is different in meaning to SAE shame. This will be discussed in more depth later in the paper.

3. ‘Guidance officer’ is the term used within EQ for those educational psychologists who are qualified to diagnose ‘Intellectual Impairment’.

4. All names used in this paper are pseudonyms.

Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the paper.