Amy is a 6-year-old girl whose family immigrated to Canada from China prior to her birth. Her teacher referred her because she has not spoken at school or at the child care center attached to the school since she enrolled 3 years earlier. Her parents speak Mandarin and a Chinese dialect fluently, and some conversational English. Boris is a 9-year-old boy in Grade 4 whose mother initiated an assessment due to Boris’s academic and social difficulties. Boris was born in Russia, and immigrated to Canada while in kindergarten. Russian is spoken at home, but both parents speak conversational English. Diego, who was referred due to severe academic challenges and attention difficulties, is an 11-year-old boy in Grade 6 from a Latin American country where there is considerable violence associated with the drug trade. His father is deceased. His family came to Canada as refugees when he was 8 years old. His mother speaks Spanish and is not literate. Khalil is a 14-year-old boy in Grade 9 who was born in Canada to parents who emigrated from Iran a year earlier. Since then he has lived for various periods of time in Canada and Iran. A counselor at his private boarding school in Toronto referred him due to problems with reading, writing, and completing work. She indicated that his father was deceased and his mother lives in Iran. Changgun, who prefers to be called Brandon, was referred by his mother when he was 15 years old due to poor and declining school performance and oppositional behavior at home. He was born in Canada shortly after his parents emigrated from Korea. His mother speaks fluent English. Aisha was referred by a support worker at a community agency due to severe problems with acquiring reading and language skills after she had been in Canada for 4 years. She attends an intensive program for English-language learners at a large vocational secondary school. Aisha was born in a refugee camp in Africa, and immigrated to Canada with her parents at the age of 13 years. Aisha’s parents speak French and Kirundi and are learning English.

Children like Amy, Boris, Diego, Khalil, Changgun, and Aisha are challenging for psychologists to assess because it is difficult to tease out the relative contributions of having to learn and function in a second language, poverty, the need to adapt to a new society and culture, and possible maltreatment and trauma in their countries of origin. Their parents may not speak the language of the immigrant-receiving country, and may be struggling to survive financially. Due to cultural differences, their perspectives on their children’s functioning may differ from parents born and educated in the immigrant-receiving country and from teachers and psychologists in their new country.

In this guidebook, we discuss the linguistic and cultural issues to consider when assessing children and adolescents from diverse backgrounds, with a major focus on immigrants and refugees. Notably, while the research population on which this book is based is mainly English-language learners who are, or whose parents are, immigrants or refugees, the principles extend to immigrants in countries where the official language is not English, indigenous peoples, marginalized cultural groups, and emerging bilingual learners. The assessment strategies we propose are informed by research on the following: typical developmental trajectories of children who are learning a second language; the relative contributions of second-language learning and learning disabilities to academic achievement; cultural differences in perspectives on academic achievement and mental health; the impact of culture and immigration-related experiences on cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional development; and culturally sensitive practice with children, adolescents, and families.

This guidebook is important for several reasons. Various recent reports from international and public interest bodies such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) indicate that the proportion of immigrants and refugees around the world whose children need to develop their language and literacy skills in the societal language of their country of residence is increasing. Some of these children and adolescents are successful in accommodating to the school environment and achieve academically; many of them, however, are struggling. Their struggles have been attributed to a dearth of policies and programs that support their educational and social needs in their adopted countries. Some of the culturally and linguistically diverse children and adolescents who struggle are those who, in addition to being second-language learners and culturally different, have significant learning, behavioral, social, and emotional difficulties and require the services of psychologists and other mental health professionals. Traditional psychological assessment methods may not be valid for many of these children. Finally, according to national policy papers (e.g., Guidelines for Providers of Psychological Services to Ethnic, Linguistic, and Culturally Diverse Populations [American Psychological Association, 1990]), international policy papers (e.g., UNICEF documents such as Promoting the Rights of Children With Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights of the Child), and laws pertaining to children, diversity, and special needs in many OECD countries (e.g., the Individuals With Disabilities Act and the Civil Rights Act in the United States; Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [Government of Canada, 1982]), culturally and linguistically diverse children and adolescents are entitled to the services they might access if their needs were appropriately identified by an assessment.

The 10 chapters of this book are intended to provide psychologists, and in some jurisdictions special educators and other mental health practitioners, with research-based strategies for assessing culturally and linguistically diverse children and adolescents. We begin with a discussion of demographic, socioeconomic, policy-related, and educational contexts of cultural and linguistic diversity that pertain to the academic achievement of children of immigrants and refugees and other marginalized groups in countries that have high levels of immigration, and a description of key issues involved in providing for children and adolescents with special educational needs (Chapter 2). We next address research on the typical developmental trajectory of language and literacy of children and adolescents who must learn in a language that is not the language of their home, and the implications of that research for distinguishing whether their learning difficulties are due to inadequate proficiency in the societal language or due to a learning disability (Chapter 3). Chapter 4 is devoted to the issues to consider and strategies to use for acquiring an understanding of families’ perspectives on their children’s development and difficulties. In Chapter 5, we describe methods for assessing children and adolescents’ oral language proficiency (OLP) in their first and second languages. We then discuss the issues involved and methods for assessing intelligence (Chapter 6); academic achievement (Chapter 7); and behavioral, social, and emotional functioning (Chapter 8). In Chapter 9, we describe strategies for communicating assessment results to culturally and linguistically diverse children and adolescents, as well as to their parents, teachers, physicians, and other professionals who work with them. We specifically address consultation, advocacy, and report writing. Chapter 10, the final chapter of the book, presents a developmental systems approach for diagnostic formulation and clinical decision making. We also discuss linking assessment with instructional and psychosocial intervention. The Appendix is devoted to the assessments of the six children and adolescents described briefly above. These case studies describe the methods we used for obtaining assessment data, the reasons we used these methods, our diagnostic formulations and the reasons for our clinical decision making, and recommendations for intervention. Throughout the book, we refer the reader to the specific case studies that illustrate the issues and methods discussed.

We use some terminology and acronyms in this guidebook that some psychologists may not be familiar with. Table 1.1 provides definitions of these terms.