SLPs have noted the diagnostic challenge of distinguishing between the clinical indicators of language disorder, language delay based on the impacts of being reared in poverty, and the linguistic variation of students who speak African American English (AAE). This session discusses evidence-based assessment and treatment practices that SLPs can utilize when working with speakers of AAE and other nonmainstream dialects to help them identify students with true language and literacy disorders and provide needed interventions in a timely manner.

This course is a recorded session from the 2021/2022 online conference “Reading, Writing, and the SLP: Preschool to High School.”

Learning Outcomes 
You will be able to:

• Discuss ways in which African American English is differentiated from Mainstream American English
• Describe the relationship between oral language skills and literacy outcomes in students who are African American
• Discuss non-biased assessment and treatment practices for students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds

Presenter Information

Lakeisha Johnson, PhD, CCC-SLP, is an assistant professor in the Communication Science and Disorders program at Florida State University and an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist. She is also affiliated faculty at the Florida Center for Reading Research. Her primary research interests include language, literacy, dialect, and executive function development in African American children. Dr. Johnson believes in building and leveraging research-practice partnerships to ensure children from vulnerable populations obtain strong language and literacy skills.

Disclosures:

• Assistant Professor at Florida State University 
• Author of DAWS program 
• Maya's Book Nook founder
• Financial compensation from ASHA for this presentation

Assessment Type

Self-assessment—Think about what you learned and report on the Completion Form how you will use your new knowledge.

To earn continuing education credit, you must complete the learning assessment by 11:59 p.m. ET on the end date below.

Program History and CE Information

Online conference dates: October 13–25, 2021; February 2–14, 2022
End date: October 13, 2026

This course is offered for 0.1 ASHA CEUs (Intermediate level, Professional area).
Subject code 7030 
Counts toward PD requirement for ASHA certification maintenance for Content Area 2. Read more about professional development requirements for certification maintenance.