Considerations in Speech Recognition Testing of Bilingual and Spanish-Speaking Patients, Part II: Young Children

The rapid growth of the Spanish-speaking population of the United States presents challenges for healthcare providers to develop linguisticallyand culturallyappropriate best practices. An essential need for all audiologists is language-appropriate stimuli for speech recognition testing. Unfortunately, few well-validated tests exist for this purpose. We review the timeline of development of Spanish-language speech recognition test materials and address challenges facing the audiologist in evaluating accurately the speech-recognition abilities of young children who use Spanish as their primary or only language of communication, with emphasis on picture-pointing tests. Cultural, dialectical, and educational concerns for this population are discussed.