Cultural Sensitivity
Each family system has its' own culture and values. Differences exist in how families express themselves, show emotion, dress, and solve problems. Diversity encompasses the cultural beliefs, the religious practices, and the ethnic backgrounds of families.
The evaluation and assessment team looks at the child in the context of the family and culture, interpreting information about the child in the child’s environment. Assessment tools and procedures must be nondiscriminatory not only on the basis of the child’s disability but also on the basis of the child and family race, culture, home language, and preferred mode of communication.
Cultural sensitivity is critical in the process of planning for and implementing evaluation and assessment. Sensitivity involves awareness of and responsiveness to the family’s culture in terms of their values and traditions as well as their language and communication mode and style.
Cultural mores about family life and raising children can influence a family’s decision to discuss their concerns, priorities, and resources. In addition, significant variability may exist in expectations for child participation in different activities according to cultural and family traditions.
Rather than making assumptions, practitioners ask how the child’s participation in activities compares to what the family wants and needs the child to be able to do. Practitioners also need to be sensitive to a family’s perspectives about the nature of developmental disability and their past experiences obtaining services interacting with personnel. Cultural competence, or the ability of early intervention and special education providers to build rapport with families from various cultural and socioeconomic groups, is essential to build an effective partnership for supporting their child’s development.
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Shelley grew up as the only girl in a family with four boys, and learned to stand up for herself. With their first two sons, Shelley and her husband continued her parents’ practice of letting the kids work things out for themselves. Their third son was an observant boy who loved to paint and had significant language delays. Shelley was uncomfortable with the speech language pathologist’s recommendations to structure his interactions and elicit speech from him, especially while playing with his brothers. She talked with the SLP about not wanting to over structure his play time at home, and together they identified other settings to encourage his language use. |
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Cheng Lee is 2 ½ years old and has been diagnosed with epilepsy. Due to having a condition that may result in a developmental delay, as well as some family concerns about his development, Cheng has been found eligible for early intervention services. Cheng and his parents, two sisters, and grandmother immigrated to Maryland from Cambodia 4 months ago. They speak Hmong. Cheng’s family is unsure of how early intervention services or medication will help their son. In this family’s culture, Cheng’s seizures are viewed as a symptom that an evil spirit has robbed him of his identity.The local Infants and Toddlers Program has provided an interpreter who speaks Hmong, and has introduced the Lee family to another Cambodian family receiving early intervention services who speaks Hmong. Practitioners are working with the family to build trust, and to help them understand both the role of medical services in addressing the epilepsy, and their role in supporting Cheng’s development. |
