With the numbers of Spanish-English bilinguals exponentially growing through the years, clinicians will continue to face different linguistic backgrounds, levels of proficiency, exposure, and experiences. In our field of speech-language pathology, there are still a lot of questions and misinformation when it comes to evaluating the Spanish-English bilingual population. Many clinicians lack the necessary knowledge and skills to appropriately evaluate this population. To complete a culturally and linguistically appropriate preschool speech-language evaluation, you should: 
 

• ​Gather information about language exposure and use

• Be aware of socio-cultural characteristics and issues 

• Obtain information about abilities in both languages

• Use both formal and informal assessment measures 

• Analyze test results by comparing the child to other bilingual children using appropriate criterion-referenced tools and databases

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If you are not fluent in Spanish, collaborate with a bilingual clinician or request an interpreter for help!