Spanish Culture

•High Context Culture

•Communication is less direct

•Emphasis on human relationships and non-verbal communication. (Facial expressions, body-language, eye-contact, gestures).

English

•Low Context Culture

•Communication is specific and detailed

•Poorer at decoding unspoken messages and body language.

• Grammar: Spanish nouns are either masculine or feminine which greatly affect the choice of adjectives, articles, and verb conjugations (sentence structure). Whereas English nouns have both gendered and non-gendered alternatives.

• Word Order: Focuses on subject-verb-object order. Similar to English, but allows more flexibility in word order.

Pragmatics

• Rely on nonverbal cues and social context, rather than directly communication information.

• Facial expression, eye-contact, space, use of silence, and touch.

Luis

• Code-switch

• Language skills vs gaps

• SLP should use Spanish and English vocabulary for assessment/intervention.

• Some families may believe bilingualism causes stutter; however, that is false.

• Author Rosalee Shenker discussed the aspects of stuttering and stuttering in bilingual children.

• Clinicians must evaluate language proficiency across all languages.

• Cultural Diversity plays a significant role in assessment and treatment.

• Lack of research on bilingualism and stuttering illustrates the cap in clinical guidelines, practices, and myths.

• This article illustrates techniques used to treat bilingual stuttering, primarily in English/Spanish individuals. Given Luis is bilingual and stuttering, these techniques may help.

• Fluency Shaping – Replaces stuttered speech with fluent patterns by teaching them new speaking patterns. Preference of Clients.

• Stuttering Modification - Focuses on directly managing and modifying stuttered speech by increasing awareness.

• Focused Breathing

• Author emphasized the need for further research of bilingual stuttering.

There are various causes of stuttering, some of which include…

-Genetic

-Environment

-Language Skills

• Collect language samples from conversations and reading exercises.

• Calculate frequency and duration of disfluencies.

• Analysis if disfluency is atypical or typical.

• Detailed background history from family

• Language Proficiency in each language & stuttering

• Assessment  of all language skills (language, articulation, etc).

Atypical Disfluencies include…

• Blocks

• Prolongations

• Sound/Syllable Repetitions

• Broken Words

Given Luis's diverse background and him being a bilingual speaker, a clinician may use the following evidence-based practices to treat his stuttering.

• Fluency Shaping: Goal is to replace stuttered speech with fluent patterns.

  
  

• Stuttering Modification: Reduces severity and helps the child gain more control in stuttering situations.

• Desensitization: To improve child’s belief of stuttering and make them less afraid or frustrated.

  
  

• Acceptance of Stuttering: Support groups, reduce negative beliefs, etc.

• Developing language proficiency may present as stuttering, but it is not true stuttering.

• Given Luis’s siblings have had history of stuttering, it is likely they will be supportive of speech-therapy and additional intervention.

Shenker, C. R. (2013). Bilingual Myth-Busters Series When Young Children who Stutter are Also Bilingual: Some Thoughts About Assessment and Treatment. Cultural and Linguistic Diversity, 20(1), 15-23.

Bilinguistics. (n.d). Speech Development in Spanish and English: What the differences mean to SLPs. https://bilinguistics.com/speech-development-in-spanish-and-english-2/

Bilinguistics. (n.d). Cultural Differences in Speech Therapy. https://bilinguistics.com/home-language-use/#:~:text=The%20Spanish%2Dspeaking%20culture%20is,Tomoeda%20%26%20Bayles%2C%202002).