According to the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), bilingual students are underrepresented in special education in the primary grades, and over-represented in the higher grades. Inadequate or inappropriate psychoeducational assessments are one of the contributing factors. An accurate and meaningful assessment is necessary to determine eligibility, and in developing an effective educational plan based on the student’s neuropsychological processing strengths and weaknesses. Assessing in the language that best meets the student’s needs is crucial in supporting students with cultural and linguistic differences. As part of each bilingual English/Spanish evaluation, I assess the student’s English language skills in both basic interpersonal communication and academic language (BICS and CALP). I then determine the most appropriate testing tools to assess your child, which often requires testing in both English and Spanish. Using only nonverbal tools can be ineffective due to the limited processing areas they measure, and they are often culturally loaded as well.
