| Abstract: |
This longitudinal case study examined a child who was initially diagnosed with language delay at age 3 and subsequently diagnosed with autism at age 3 years 6 months. This case study is particularly interesting because it followed the child for 24 months and evaluated the efficacy of a unique Korean-English bilingual speech-language intervention. Speech-language intervention was provided twice weekly in his primary language, Korean, for the first 12 months by a Korean-English bilingual speech-language clinician. During the next 6 months, the intervention was gradually introduced in English; and by the final 6 months, the intervention was provided almost entirely in English. This study also incorporated information regarding parent interventions that was implemented by the parents at home. The child in this report made notable gains in expressive and receptive language development in both languages over the study period as well as decreases in aberrant behaviors. At the 24-month follow-up, he was able to respond to testing that was done completely in English. The results of this study sup-port the practice of providing services in the primary language when English is not the language used at home to establish linguistic foundation of the primary language. As the child makes gains in the primary language, a gradual transition can be made to intervention in English. Results of this study have important implications for future research and clinical decision making for assisting families of children from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. |
