Culturally Responsive PracticesCulturally Responsive Practices refer to the ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures. Because families of many different backgrounds, ethnicities, values, and beliefs receive early intervention supports and services in Virginia, practitioners must develop knowledge and skills to allow them to effectively collaborate with the families they meet.
You will find information and resources here to help you on your journey towards becoming more culturally competent.
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A Guide for Advancing Family-Centered and Culturally and Linguistically Competent Care (external website)
National Center for Cultural Competence
This guide reviews what is known about family-centered practices and cultural and linguistic competence. A framework and strategies are provided that service providers and organizations can use to integrate these concepts into their care.
Building Culturally and Linguistically Competence Services to Support Young Children, their Families, and School Readiness (external website)
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
The purpose of this tool kit is to provide guidance, tools, and resources that will assist communities in building culturally and linguistically competent services, supports, programs, and practices related to young children, their families.
DEC Position Statement: Responsiveness to ALL Children, Families, and Professionals: Integrating Cultural and Linguistic Diversity into Policy and Practice (external website)
Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children
This position statement addresses implications for culturally and linguistically responsive practices.
Multilingual Children: Beyond Myths and Toward Best Practices (external website)
Social Policy Report | Society for Research in Child Development
This report provides in depth information about promoting multilingualism, supporting children and families in multilingual homes, and the relationship between multilingualism and child development.
The Changing Face of the United States: The Influence of Culture on Early Child Development (external website)
Beth Maschinot, PhD | Zero to Three
This free booklet provides information about the impact of culture on early language, cognitive, and socioemotional development.
Resources for Interpreters Working in Early Intervention
Early Intervention Training Program
University of Illinois
Click below for resources that can be shared with language interpreters in preparation for working with EI practitioners and families.
Why Culture Matters
The Decision Tree | Infant & Toddler Connection of Virginia
These resources provide information for cultural considerations in early intervention.
California’s Best Practices for Young Dual Language Learners: Research Overview Papers (external website)
Governor’s State Advisory Council on Early Learning and Care
Written by experts in the field, this document includes 6 research overviews about early learning and young children who are dual language learners. Two papers that focus on topics of interest to early interventionists are:
Mothers and Infants Around the World: A Report of the Cross-Cultural Data Collection at Five Months (external website)
Child and Family Research | Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development
This research report describes the impact an infant has on a family, how culture contributes to infancy, parenting and parent-child interaction, and cultural similarities and variability in mother and infant behavior across nine countries.
Tips for Working with Interpreters (external website)
Early Intervention Training Program
University of Illinois
This post lists strategies that EI practitioners can use when partnering with interpreters and families.
Wieber, W. B., & Sumner, L. Q. (2016). Promoting Immigrant Parents’ Engagement in Early Intervention through Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Service Delivery. Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention, 1(1), 78-86.
This article focuses on the use of culture-based play, songs, and games in the early education of newcomers to the United States.
Cultural Humility Part One: Supporting Immigrant Families, A Culturally Humble Approach (external website)
Institute for the Advancement of Family Support Professionals
This module describes the concept of cultural humility, a lifelong process of reflection and learning from every person, family and situation one encounters, as an alternative to trying to become "culturally competent." The culturally humble approach is then applied to the family support professional scope of practice supporting immigrant families in acculturating to the United States and in preserving and maintaining their home culture. The module includes information about the impact of immigration laws on undocumented immigrants and their families.
Cultural Humility Part Two: Supporting Dual Language Learners (external website)
Institute for the Advancement of Family Support Professionals
This module applies the concept of cultural humility, a lifelong process of self-reflection and learning, to home visiting work with culturally and linguistically diverse families. Participants will learn strategies for helping linguistically diverse families overcome language barriers and receive linguistically and culturally appropriate communications, materials and access to resources. The module describes key practices for supporting children who are learning two languages and ways to support the preservation of home languages and dialects of children and families.
Beyond Cultural Competence: How to Effectively Work with ALL Families Part 1, Part 2
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Presented by Barbara Grant, MA
As early interventionists, we work with many diverse families and caregivers. Cultural competence - what does that really mean, and where does coaching fit? In Part 1 of this series, we discussed what cultural humility is, how to define a person's culture, and gave you ideas on how to reflect in order to best serve all families. In Part 2, we dig deeper into dimensions of cultural humility, implicit biases, and strategies you can use immediately. Click the link above to visit the 2017 Talks on Tuesdays Archive and scroll down until you find the webinars.
Cultural Goggles: “Everybody’s Got ‘Em”
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Presented by Cecily Rodriguez
This webinar provided an overview of cultural competence and information and statistics about cultural groups in VA. Effective communication was discussed as well as how to apply the knowledge learned in everyday practice. Click the link above to visit the 2014 Talks on Tuesdays Archive and scroll down until you find the webinar.
Evaluation & Assessment for Children in Bilingual Environments (external website)
Texas Early Childhood Intervention
This free 3-part webinar series features 1-hour recordings on assessment of bilingual children and addresses cultural considerations and differences vs. disorders in speech and language development.
Increasing SLPs' Cultural Competence
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Presented by Lisa Santra MA CCC-SLP
In an ever expanding culturally diverse world, increasing our cultural competence is even more important now. Learn the evidence behind the why, what and how we can reduce our biases and strengthen cultural competence through interactive learning by listening to a podcast together, sharing experiences, and reviewing ASHA articles. Although this talk is geared towards SLPs, all are WELCOME as we serve as primary service providers in Early Intervention! Click the link above to visit the 2020 Talks on Tuesdays Archive and scroll down until you find the webinars.
What Early Interventionists Need to Know about Bilingual Language Development in Toddlers Part 1, Part 2
VA’s Integrated Training Collaborative | Partnership for People with Disabilities
Presented by Cynthia Core, PhD, CCC-SLP
Ever wondered: How do I know if a bilingual child actually has a language delay? Watch this series of two Talks on Tuesdays webinars to help answer this question. In Part 1, we review research findings related to typical bilingual language development in toddlers. We also discuss how to identify language-related impairments in bilingual children and strategies you can share with parents about how to support their children's language development. Part 2 goes deeper into issues faced by bilingual families and early interventionists working with bilingual families. We discuss current research on bilingual children with developmental disabilities such as hearing loss, autism, and Down syndrome, and how they can successfully learn two languages. We talk about how to identify atypical development in bilingual children, when bilingual children "catch up," and how to support parents in using language strategies with their children. Click the link above to visit the 2018 Talks on Tuesdays Archive and scroll down until you find the webinars.
Cultural Competence Checklist: Personal Reflection (external website)
American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA)
This tool was developed to heighten service providers’ awareness of how they view clients/patients from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) populations.
Interpreter Evaluation Form
VA Dept. of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services
This evaluation can be used by service providers working with language interpreters to determine the quality of interpretation services. It is best used by an interpreter peer or bilingual colleague who has been tested for proficiency in the target language.
Learning Bytes about Cultural Issues
Learning bytes are brief learning activities that supervisors, faculty, or other leaders can use to facilitate professional development with staff and students. These activities are designed to be of short duration and include instructions, handouts, links, worksheets and answer keys (as needed) to help you facilitate the activity with small or large groups. The learning bytes below focus on topics related to assessment. Visit the Learning Bytes page to review or download the learning bytes or look for additional activities.
Promoting Cultural Competence and Cultural Diversity: Self-Assessment Checklist for Personnel Providing Services and Supports to Children with Disabilities & Special Health Care Needs and their Families (external website)
National Center for Cultural Competence
Service providers can use this self-assessment to examine their beliefs about the physical environment, communication, values and attitudes related to cultural competence and diversity. This checklist is intended to heighten the awareness and sensitivity of personnel to the importance of cultural diversity and cultural competence in human service settings. It provides concrete examples of the kinds of values and practices that foster such an environment.
Self-Assessment Checklist for Personnel Providing Services and Supports in Early Intervention and Early Childhood Settings (external website)
National Center for Cultural Competence
This self-assessment allows providers to reflect on their cultural and linguistic competence related to their physical environment, materials and resources; communication styles; and values and attitudes.
Collaborating with Language Interpreters: Information for Home Visitors (YouTube video)
Integrated Training Collaborative
This video highlights tips home visitors and language interpreters can use when preparing for a visit and collaborating to communicate with a family during a visit.
Working with Interpreters (YouTube video)
LegalServicesNJ
In this video, you will learn some basic tips that will allow you to communicate effectively and easily through an interpreter with a person who does not speak your language. Examples are provided of best practices.
Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) (external website)
In collaboration with many colleagues representing diverse cultural and linguistic roots the CLAS Early Childhood Research Institute collects and describes early childhood/early intervention resources that have been developed across the U.S. for children with disabilities and their families and the service providers who work with them. Search the CLAS database for a rich variety of resources.
National Center for Cultural Competence (external website)
Visit this site for resources, publications, self-assessments, distance learning, family and youth perspectives, promising practices, and much more.
