Communication Disorders In Spanish Speak

by Jose G. Centeno (Editor), Raquel T. Anderson (Editor), Loraine K. Obler (Editor)

Overview

Spanish speakers, whether in monolingual or bilingual situations, or in majority or minority contexts, represent a considerable population worldwide. Spanish speakers in the U.S. constitute an illustrative context of the challenges faced by speech-language practitioners to provide realistic services to an increasing and diverse Spanish-speaking caseload. There is still considerable paucity in the amount of literature on Hispanic individuals with clinical relevance in speech-language pathology. Particularly lacking are works that link both empirical and theoretical bases to evidence-based procedures for child and adult Spanish users with communication disorders. Further, because communication skills depend on multiple phenomena beyond strictly linguistic factors, speech-language students and practitioners require multidisciplinary bases to realistically understand Spanish clients’ communication performance. This volume attempts to address those gaps. This publication takes a multidisciplinary approach that integrates both theoretical and empirical grounds from Speech-Language Pathology, Neurolinguistics, Neuropsychology, Education, and Clinical Psychology to develop evidence-based clinical procedures for monolingual Spanish and bilingual Spanish-English children and adults with communication disorders.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781853599729
Publisher:	Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Publication date:	07/01/2007
Series:	Communication Disorders Across Languages Series , #1
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

José G. Centeno, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Program at St. John’s University, New York City. He has worked extensively as a bilingual speech-language pathologist and published on bilingualism issues in Spanish-English bilinguals in the U.S. and on stroke-related language impairments in monolingual Spanish speakers. His current research and professional interests focus on stroke-related impairments and aspects of service delivery in monolingual Spanish/bilingual Spanish-English adults.

Raquel T. Anderson, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. She has worked with both monolingual Spanish and bilingual English-Spanish preschool and early elementary school children with language learning disorders. She has published in the areas of language impairment in Spanish-speaking children, with a special focus on children with specific language impairment (SLI). Her current research is in first language loss and grammatical skill in bilingual Spanish-English speaking children with SLI.

Loraine K. Obler, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor in the Programs in Speech and Hearing Sciences and Linguistics at the City University of New York Graduate Center. She began publishing on bilingualism and the brain in 1977. Her books include The Bilingual Brain: Neuropsychological and Neurolinguistic Aspects of Bilingualism (with Martin Albert), Language and the Brain (with Kris Gjerlow), Bilingualism Across the Lifespan: Acquisition, Maturity and Loss (with Kenneth Hyltenstam), and Agrammatic Aphasia: A Cross-language Narrative Sourcebook (with Lise Menn). Her current research interests include L2 performance under stress, L2 acquisition by talented/limited language learners, and aphasia therapy for bilinguals.

Table of Contents

Introduction Part I Preliminary Considerations 1. Contrastive Analysis between Spanish and English – R.T. Anderson and J. G. Centeno 2. English Language Learners: Literacy and Biliteracy Considerations – H. Kayser and J. G. Centeno 3. Bilingual Development and Communication – J. G. Centeno 4. Neurolinguistic Aspects of Bilingualism – M. R. Gitterman and H. Datta 5. Sociocultural, Societal, and Psychological Aspects of Bilingualism – A. Z. Brozgold and J. G. Centeno 6. Cross-linguistic Research: The Convergence of Monolingual and Bilingual Data – R. T. Anderson 7. The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Language Disorders among Spanish Speakers – B. Stuart Weekes 8. Ethical and Methodological Considerations in Clinical Communication Research with Hispanic Populations – J.G. Centeno and W. Gingerich Part II Research in Children: Conceptual, Methodological, Empirical, and Clinical Considerations 9. Exploring the Grammar of Spanish-speaking Children with Specific Language Impairment – R. T. Anderson 10. Language Elicitation and Analysis as a Research and Clinical Tool for Latino Children – M. Adelaida Restrepo and A. P. Castilla 11. Utterance Length Measures for Spanish-speaking Toddlers - D. Jackson-Maldonado and B.T. Conboy 12. Lexical Skills in Young Children Learning a Second Language - K. Kohnert and Pui Fong Kan 13. Measuring Phonological Skills in Bilingual Children – B. A. Goldstein Part III Research in Adults: Empirical Evidence and Clinical Implications 14. Prepositional Processing in Spanish Speakers with Aphasia – B. A. Reyes 15. Cohesion in the Conversational Samples of Broca’s Aphasic Individuals – L. G. Pietrosemoli 16. Language Switching in the Context of Spanish-English Bilingual Aphasia – A.I. Ansaldo and K. Marcotte 17. Description and Detection of Acquired Dyslexia and Dysgraphia in Spanish - I. Carolina Iribarren 18. Crosslinguistic Aspects of Dyslexia in Spanish-English Bilinguals – E. Ijalba and L. K. Obler 19. Neuropsychological Profile of Adult Illiterates and the Development and Application of a Neuropsychological Program for Learning to Read – F. Ostrosky-Solís, A. Lozano, M. J. Ramírez, and A. Ardila 20. Phonetic Descriptions of Speech Production in Bilingual Speakers – F. Bell-Berti Epilogue – L. K. Obler

Editorial Reviews

To say that this book is welcomed is without a doubt an understatement. Apparently, from the book's earliest beginnings, Drs. Centeno, Anderson and Obler chose to focus on the big picture, selecting their contributors to include impressive sampling of the best researchers and thinkers in the field. They have been successful in producing a true Sourcebook, which deserves the attention of anyone who is serious about understanding the special strengths and problems facing language and speech disordered Spanish speakers. This is monumental and desperately needed achievement.

Audrey Holland

Timely and important are apt descriptors for Studying Communication Disorder in Spanish Speakers: Theoretical, Research, and Clinical Aspects. The global presence of Spanish speakers, as well as their significant representation in the U.S. population, heralds the need for such an in depth treatment of these topics. With clear focus on clinical interventions for Spanish-speakers with communicative disorders, this volume broadens the dialogue to include life-span cognitive-linguistic and psychosocial perspectives. Readers from multiple disciplines, backgrounds, and interests have reason to look forward to this volume as an often-referred-to and highly valued resource.

Joyce L. Harris

This landmark volume celebrates the major achievements in research on communication disorders in Spanish speakers. The evidence-based approach to theoretical and clinical question will appeal to speech-language pathologists, cognitive neuropsychologists, applied linguists, educational psychologists and many others. It also sets the standard for future cross-disciplinary and cross-linguistic studies of communication disorders.

Professor Li Wei

Reviewer:Frida I Matute, BA(George Washington University)
Description:This book seamlessly intertwines a set of innovative research and clinical implications for the speech and hearing arena in an instructional fashion. Technical terms, diagnostic tools, and discussions on therapeutic resources are addressed thoroughly, providing readers with a clear idea of each.
Purpose:It aims to increase the amount of available information concerning communication disorders in the bilingual population by including research studies and publications. More specifically, it links this literature to evidence-based practices for the upcoming and working speech-language professional. These objectives are important because they function to expand the information currently available. Consequently this book is pertinent and necessary as another resource in the speech-language pathology field, particularly with the bilinguals in the profession. The book meets the author's objectives in an organized manner while using laymen's terms to extend its audience.
Audience:It is written for advanced speech and hearing science students as well as licensed professionals. With its tone, organization, and resourcefulness, the book is applicable to both. The author most likely intended the book to have an instructional tone so the audience could include students as well as professionals. Due to the scarcity of information widely available on the topic, this style is most appropriate.
Features:This book covers an array of issues pertinent to not only the neurogenic population but bilingual adults and children with literacy, dyslexia, and specific language impairments. It also includes information for educational settings. For instance, the controversy between using word versus morpheme is addressed in consideration of the normal language development of bilingual children. At first, the authors distinguish between fundamental differences in both languages while providing clear definitions of what constitutes a bilingual. More so, the methodology of acquiring bilingualism in both children and adults is addressed with specific terms that are important when considering the immigrant populations in the U.S. Terms such as assimilation and acculturation are defined as components that comprise the daily life of a bilingual. This is the best part of the book because of the importance of including another culture's perspectives and ideals when intervention is necessary. The book goes on to consider communication disorders such as aphasia in bilinguals. More specifically, elements that aphasics might have difficulties with such as prepositional processing and dyslexia or dysgraphia are considered. Although there is a section targeting the types of dyslexia, visual dyslexia is not included. Because diagnostic tools, such as the Western Aphasia Battery Revised, use visual dyslexia for testing, the book should have included this. Other components of interest include the use of comparing and contrasting monolingual data versus bilingual data on individuals with communication disorders. To provide this type of information, case studies, graphs, tables, and the limitations as well as the relevant conclusions of each research study are lucidly explained. Although most of the information is theory-driven, evidence is used to support these theories, which allows for discussions on clinical implications. Each chapter is introduced with a synopsis and concludes with a summary, which helps organize the reader.
Assessment:This book does a good job of covering a lot of areas in communication disorders in bilinguals, the bilingual population, and cultural implications with evidence from research studies and literature in a way that other books do not. Although the chapters could have been more detailed, the book's succinct qualities do grant the most important and relevant information merit. To that end, the book is useful and of high quality.