One Size Does Not Fit All: Conceptualizing Alternative Data Approaches to Improve Single-Language Developmental Language Disorder Screening for Multilingual Public School Students.

purposeUniversal screening for developmental language disorder (DLD) is a promising preventative approach for decreasing negative educational outcomes associated with DLD. Unfortunately, schools with multilingual student populations often face barriers in following best-practice guidelines for language testing and screening students in all their languages. We explored the outcome of a school district administering a single-language DLD screener to a multilingual student body, as well as alternative approaches for using single-language screening data to identify DLD risk in multilingual students.

methodA school district engaged in a research-practice partnership administered an English-only DLD screener to 703 kindergartners with English language learner (ELL) status. We analyzed screener outcomes and the relationship of identified DLD risk status and English proficiency level for the ELLs. We explored alternative data analysis approaches of local norms, adjusted cut-points, change in screener score from fall to spring, and a hybrid of adjusted cut-points and change to determine which approaches identified DLD risk status for ELLs at a rate more aligned with DLD prevalence rates and the intended rates of a screener.

resultsThe English-only language screener overidentified multilingual students as at risk for DLD. There was a significant negative correlation between risk identification and student English proficiency level. All alternative methods for data analysis lowered the rate of identification of ELLs as at risk for DLD.

conclusionsSingle-language testing overidentifies multilingual students as at risk for DLD. We caution school districts against a monolingual screening approach to screen multilingual students and encourage them to consider alternative approaches to using English-only screening data for multilingual students.