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Response to classmate:

A person’s cultural background has a significant influence on language development. Traditional assessments may not measure an individual’s true abilities if cultural factors are not considered, as mentioned by Masek et al. (2021). Language acquisition should not be evaluated by the quantity of words a child hears or produces. We should not assume our norms are the standard. When you meet a person from one culture, you just meet a person from that culture; as an Applied Behavioral professional, we must approach others with open-mindedness.

As BCBAs, we should understand that not all families put the same emphasis on communication. Let’s say a girl only speaks when an adult allows her. If we run an assessment, maybe we can conclude that she has problems initiating conversation with peers, but what we are facing is a client just following communication practice instead.

Another thing we need to bear in consideration is that sometimes clients come from diverse families with different languages. Example: I’m a Cuban American, and as a bilingual person, I sometimes have problems enunciating words from Spanish to English while in conversation with others. If an assessment is conducted, let’s say, in English, my performance could be underestimated.

As a BCBA, cultural humility is going to be in my practice without doubt, before any service is given. I think it is important to ask the families and caregivers about communication expectations and pay attention to language preferences. I may also be very careful with an appropriate approach to behaviors like ways to eat, greetings, or social interaction, depending on the cultural history of the client.

This is nothing new for us; the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts emphasizes the importance of cultural awareness in our practice, especially Code 1.07, Cultural Responsiveness and Diversity, which makes us recognize our biases and respect cultural differences mentioned by Wright (2019).

References

Masek, L. R., Ramirez, A. G., McMillan, B. T. M., Hirsh-Pasek, K., & Golinkoff, R. M. (2021).  Beyond counting words: A paradigm shift for the study of language acquisition. Child Development Perspectives, 15(4), 274–280.  https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12425

Wright, P. I. (2019).  Cultural humility in the practice of applied behavior analysis. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 12(4), 805–809.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-019-00343-8