BDA International Conference 2016

Abstract: With the high number of immigrants and refugees to Europe, North America and theAustralian continent, most of whom do not speak the societal language or adhere to the culturaltraditions of the receiving country, it is important to be skilled in assessment of culturally andlinguistically diverse children and adolescents who may have a learning disability (LD). Issuespertaining to the assessment of L2 children who may have a learning disability (LD) have beencontroversial and challenging due to factors related to over-identification of L2 as LD (Cummins,1984) and under-identification of L2 with LD (Limbos & Geva, 2001).This keynote will begin with a brief discussion of beliefs held by some professionals with regardto whether, when, and how to assess potential LD in L2. Some of these are supported by theresearch but others are not. I will then touch briefly on pertinent theoretical frameworks (whatis universal – what is language specific; L1-L2 transfer; the simple view or reading; development).The presentation will then shift to a description of outcomes of longitudinal studies conducted inmy lab in Toronto on the cognitive, language and literacy development of typically and atypicallyBDA 10th International ConferencePage 16 Introductiondeveloping English Language Learners (ELLs) and their monolingual peers. This research shedslight on these beliefs and informs the last part of the presentation – a brief discussion of “Do’sand Don’ts” in the assessment of LD who are ELLs.