Bilingual Speech Therapy World

20/07/2024

This testimonial got me feeling the feels! ✨I will be sharing a few testimonials the next few weeks from folks who took my webinars on Dynamic [DA] and non-standardized assessment practices. This one was from the first webinar, How to Get started with Dynamic Assessments 🎉
If you could only watch one webinar out of all 6 webinars available, I would pick this one. This one is introductory, but at the same time goes deep and you’re given a bunch of resources. It’s a good one to take before school starts up again! 😉
If you want to go deeper into DA, take a look at the other 5 webinars available. Pricing and more detailed information on each webinar is on my website (see link in bio!)
Let me know if you have any questions ⬇️

26/06/2024

A little update on my life recently. My sabbatical/gap year is coming to an end and have about a month left 😭
This past year my husband and I were able to travel around the country in our camper van for 6-7 months and then travel to Europe and Southeast Asia for the remaining year 🤪
This past year was also dedicated to exploration, rest, gratitude, and creativity. I was able to create several webinars/presentations on dynamic assessment and non-standardized assessment measures. This came out from a love of learning and a desire to refine my practice. I thought of making it a personal self-study time, but realized I can create these webinars for other SLPs too. Hence, all the webinars you may have seen 😉
My next chapter includes fulfilling a life-long dream of mine. ✨ I will be going back to being a school SLP, but this time around I will be working at an international school in Vietnam!
I’m beyond excited to serve children and families from 50+ nationalities 😅 You know what that means? I will be incorporating dynamic and non-standardized assessments measures like nobody’s business 🤣👏👏
Here’s to accepting change as the only constant and seeing dreams come to fruition!

13/04/2024

Let’s stop using static/standardized vocabulary assessments to determine if a child has a language disorder. We are not tapping into language learning ability when we administer these assessments. We are basically only documenting what words they know and have been exposed to. Understanding what words they know IS important and we can still take a thorough vocabulary inventory using these assessments (while not reporting or using the scores)…but please do not use them to determine the presence of a language disorder.
What do we use instead?
We want to use a task that taps into language learning ability and a fast mapping/word learning task does just that.
Comment below if you want more information on my webinar talking all about using word learning tasks instead of standardized vocabulary assessments and get all the resources (e.g. webinar replay, resource handout, scoring protocols, example write-up, how to explain results to team members)!
The live webinar event is tomorrow, but if you can’t make it, you have 30 days to access the replay 🥳

21/03/2024

Assessing vocabulary using a standardized assessment always felt wrong and unfair.
Why? Because I knew I was “testing” a child’s exposure to words, not ASSESSING their ability to learn new words.
I think it’s still important to know what words they know, but we have to dive deeper into their ability to learn language and one of those ways is to tap into their fast-mapping word learning skills.
I’m sooooo excited to talk about this in my next webinar!
Comment below with a 🔥 and I will send you more information about the webinar 👏
$30/webinar; if you sign up for the three webinars in the How to Reduce Bias in your assessment series you get a discount of $15! 🎉

11/03/2024

Stop just TESTING and start ASSESSING more dynamically. Learn how they learn language. Get curious on how quick they can pick up on skills. Do they do well when given repetitions? Use a modifiability rating scale to reflect on your experience, as a SLP, when teaching them a concept. Was it easy or were you really using everything you got to teach them and they are still not getting it?
All of these questions are critical when determining if there is a language disorder or something else like a language difference, language attrition, or academic/language gaps.
There’s no blame or shame here because I was there too. Use this post as a reminder to go inward and reflect on your practices and see what you can do practically speaking.
My advice is to always go at your own pace. Slow changes amount to big changes over time. So just learn and apply ONE dynamic or non-standardized approach at a time.
Learn more through my How to Reduce Bias in your Assessment Series or check out the previous series on dynamic assessments via my website 🔥

05/02/2024

📣How to Reduce Bias in your Assessments Series!
The first series, the Dynamic Assessment (DA) series, was meant to give you an overview of DA, give you examples of what to do, and encourage you to get started with DA and non-standardized assessment practices.
This second series, based on some feedback 😉, I decided to dive deeper into a few topics: Non-word Repetition Tasks, Fast-Mapping Word Learning Tasks, and Narrative Dynamic Assessments.🎉
I spoke about each one of these in the DA series, but we couldn’t possibly talk about each one in depth because 1) I wanted to keep costs affordable and accesible for everyone (aka: the longer the webinar, the more $$) 2) That’s just too much information to review in one hour 😅
FAQs:
-Each webinar is $30 (USD); If you purchase all three webinars you get a $15 discount on the entire purchase (you’ll pay $75 instead of $90). Email me (veronica@bilingualspeechtherapyworld.con) to get a discount code! 🎉
-Yes, you don’t have to attend live, and can just watch the replay (most popular option!). You can purchase a ticket and you will get an email from me the day of the event with the replay and resources 😉
Any other questions leave them down below ⬇️

03/02/2024

New year (January flew by too fast 😅), same me! Well maybe not because aren’t we always changing and evolving? Anyways…😂
Wanted to take a quick moment to re-introduce myself and share some fun facts with you all..
You can call me Veronica or Vero, I respond to both 😜
1. I lived in a campervan for 2.5 years to pay off my school loans, save money, and pay all debt, have an adventure van to travel around the country. Mission(s) accomplished 🔥
2. Taking a sabbatical (professional gap year) and currently in Budapest, Hungary 🇭🇺 (I welcome any tips and recs 😉)
3. My main professional love is all things non-standardized and dynamic assessments..basically anything to support my journey as a culturally responsive SLP 🔥
4. Yoga, hiking, and meditation are my thing🧘🏻‍♀️🥾🦋
Do we share anything in common?!

31/01/2024

Do you ask this question in your parent/caregiver interview?!
If you don’t, no shame nor blame. We are all learning and growing together.
However, now you know, so start asking it and including it on your assessment process. 😉
Why is this questions important? Glad you asked.😂
Well, we want to make sure we are comparing them (as much as possible) to children their age from similar cultural and linguistic backgrounds and not comparing them to a norming group (I’m looking at you standardized assessments) that they don’t belong to and risk over/under qualifying them for services.
What are some other questions you ALWAYS ask when interviewing parents/caregivers?

18/01/2024

📣Dynamic Assessment Series webinar replays available!📣
I hosted the live webinars of the dynamic assessment series on October/November of 2023 and January of 2024 and officially (only official because it’s now on my website 😅) making the webinar replays available to those who missed the live webinars.
This series is for those that would like a crash course in dynamic assessment & non-standardized assessment practices.
1️⃣The first webinar is all about how to get started using DA & an intro into DA. If you are brand new to DA I would recommend this webinar. It gives you a good overview of DA is and how to start implementing it.
2️⃣ The second webinar is a case study on the assessment process of a preschool child just using DA and non-standardized assessment practices. *Do not expect a thorough explanation of DA in this replay. That’s why I created the first webinar 😉*
3️⃣ The third webinar is a case study on the assessment process of a middle school child just using DA and non-standardized assessment practices. *Do not expect a thorough explanation of DA in this replay. That’s why I created the first webinar 😉*

You can purchase one, two, or all three replay webinars (hint: you get a discount if you purchase all three 😉).
Visit the link in bio or my website: www.bilingualspeechtherapyworld.com for more information ☺️
Leave any questions down below! 🎉

17/01/2024

Aka the “no sabo” kids. I’ve been knee deep in research and literature learning about children and their heritage languages and have a few thoughts. In my example I use Vietnamese and American but replace those words with any other identity, if you’d like.
Dualities exist. A child can be Vietnamese AND American.
Multi-dimensional people exist. A child can only understand Vietnamese and not speak it and still be Vietnamese. (Tip: yes, you should always assess in the home language even if they don’t speak it).
Remember that identity goes beyond language proficiency and to embrace the ways everyone communicates ✨

22/11/2023

‼️Ever wondered how to write an assessment for a middle school child only using language non-standardized and dynamic assessment practices?
This last webinar of this series will be for you ☺️
We are going to discuss this what to include in an assessment plan, what assessment measures I used, how I wrote it, and how I determined eligibility.
Plus, you get a bonus from me: a report template of how I wrote up everything I talk about in the webinar.
Use my link in bio to learn more and register for the webinar.
Remember you don’t need to attend live. You can just purchase the webinar and you can just watch the recording and receive all the resources 👍🏼
Let me know if any questions you have down below 👇🏼

10/11/2023

Debunking Dynamic Assessment (DA) myths one day at a time like it’s our superpower.💪🏽
Once you know the DA myths you can replace them with DA facts. For example, lots of folks think DA is only for culturally and linguistically diverse children. Nope. It’s a great tool for every child. Start thinking of DA as a norm for your assessment process and not an exception.
This mental shift can make you feel more confident in not only using DA, but explaining it to others.
Is there a DA myth that you’ve heard that we didn’t address?
Have any questions? Drop them below in the comments!

03/11/2023

Dynamic Assessment (DA) is a powerful, yet underutilized tool. Flexible, yet highly informative. So what’s stopping us from using it?
Usually it’s because we don’t really know what it is or why we should use it.
Once you realize that DA focuses on how a child learns language skills rather than just what they know in the moment and how it can help mitigate standardized assessment bias, you’ll unlock a whole new part of your speech brain 😂
Save this post just incase you need a quick reminder on how amazing DA is before talking to your SPED director, SLP friends, or school psych 😉
Have any questions or comments about DA? Drop them in the comments!

21/10/2023

🗣️Wanted to make an official stationary announcement since I’ve been getting messages about purchasing the first webinar: How to get Started with Dynamic Assessment: A Practical Approach ☺️
Yes, if you are seeing this you can still purchase the 1st webinar of the dynamic assessment series.🎉
Just DM or email me and I can send you some information to get the process going. There was more interest than I anticipated so don’t have anything automated just yet 😅
I might just turn this into a much longer virtual course you can pay from my website, but since this is a one-woman show we are not there yet! 😂
Thank you to those for all the support!
Reminder: the next live webinar in the dynamic assessment series will be on Saturday, November 18th and again, no need to attend live. The most popular option for people has been to watch the replay, which I get and prefer too, tbh 🤭

17/10/2023

🗣️Conducting Bilingual Evaluations using Dynamic Assessments: A Case Study (Preschool child) webinar is open for registration! 🎉
This will be part 2 of 3 of the dynamic assessment series and we will be walking through the initial referral to the written evaluation process for a 4.5 year old, bilingual (Spanish/English) child.
I’m even giving a bonus: an example report template with all of the dynamic assessment and non-standardized assessment procedures discussed. 🤩
Most people prefer to buy the webinar and watch the replay on their own time-so if that’s you-no worries-you don’t have to attend live. 😉
I offer a live format to be able to answer questions in real time 🔥
For those that watch the replay, you’ll still get access to the entire recording for 30-days and get access to all the resources. 🔥
To register, use the link in bio or go to my website and sign up there. 💯

16/10/2023

Conducting Bilingual Evaluations using Dynamic Assessments: A Case Study (Preschool Child) webinar is on Saturday, November 18th @ 1:00 PM (EST)!

You do not need to attend live, you can purchase the webinar and you will get access to the replay & resources.

Feel free to look over what we will be discussing and purchase tickers via link below. Let me know if you have any questions.

Want to learn more about how it would look like to conduct a bilingual (English/Spanish) speech & language assessment on a ...