Is Bilingual Receptive Vocabulary Assessment via Telepractice Comparable to Face-to-Face?

Area of Science:

• Speech and Language Pathology
• Developmental Psychology
• Bilingualism Research

Background:

• Bilingual children's language development is influenced by various factors, including delivery method and language ability.
• Assessing receptive vocabulary in bilingual children requires methods that are both effective and comparable.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of delivery method (face-to-face vs. telepractice), time, home language, and language ability on bilingual children's Spanish and English receptive vocabulary.
• To compare the efficacy of telepractice and face-to-face assessments for bilingual children's language evaluation.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study of bilingual children with and without developmental language disorders (DLD) over approximately one year.
• Data collected at two time points, with telepractice and face-to-face assessments used at Time 2.

Main Results:

• Delivery method did not significantly predict receptive vocabulary scores in either language.
• Receptive vocabulary in both Spanish and English increased over time for all children.
• Children with DLD exhibited lower raw receptive vocabulary scores compared to typically developing peers.
• Home language influenced English receptive scores, with English-only speakers scoring higher.

Conclusions:

• Telepractice and face-to-face assessments are comparable for evaluating Spanish and English receptive skills in bilingual children.
• Receptive language skills in both Spanish and English demonstrate improvement over time in children with and without DLD.