What challenges might an SLP encounter when using the ICF or LPAA framework to provide services to adults from CLD backgrounds?

In this activity, you will consider how a holistic model for assessment/intervention such as the International Classification of Functioning (ICF) or Life Participation Approach for Aphasia (LPAA) may be used with adults from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds who have acquired communication disorders.

Directions
1. Read the case study below.

2. Answer the following prompts:

A.What value can a holistic assessment/intervention model like the ICF or LPAA provide to adults from CLD backgrounds? Use examples from the case study to illustrate your point. (Approx 3-5 sentences)

B.What challenges might an SLP encounter when using the ICF or LPAA framework to provide services to adults from CLD backgrounds?
(Approx 3-5 sentences)

C.Consider these areas (Body Functions and Structures, Activities and Participation, Environmental and Personal Factors). For each of these areas, list 1 specific assessment considerations for Mrs. Fuentes based on what you know about her case.
3. Upload your submission to Canvas. Your submission should be about 1 page (1.5 pages max) 12 point font, double spaced.

Case Study:

Pilar Fuentes is a 30-year-old woman who lives in the United States with her husband and 4-year-old daughter. She was born in Guatemala, where she attended and graduated high school, and immigrated to a northern U.S. city at age 21. One month ago, a pickup truck slid through an icy intersection and broadsided the car she was driving. Her daughter, who was buckled in her car seat, was unharmed. Mrs. Fuentes was transported via ambulance to the closest trauma center. She received immediate attention for internal injuries, followed by orthopedic surgeries to repair damage to her left leg and arm. Her medical condition has improved considerably and she is being discharged to an intensive inpatient rehabilitation setting for TBI. Available information at the time of her transfer indicates that “Mrs. Fuentes is alert, interactive, eating a full diet, and ambulating with a quad cane. She has limited mobility in her left arm. Her speech is mildly dysarthric and she has a suspected cognitive-communication impairment characterized by disorganized discourse, limitations in judgment and problem solving, and difficulty understanding abstract information.” Prior to the brain injury, Mrs. Fuentes spoke primarily Spanish at home, with extended family members, in her church, and with many friends. She worked as a teaching assistant in a local bilingual (Spanish-English) preschool program where she spoke Spanish with the children and English and Spanish with coworkers. She spoke English with her neighbors, although she did not feel confident in lengthy conversations in English. Her literacy was primarily in Spanish; she listened to the radio in Spanish but watched television programs with her daughter in English. Consider that you are the speech-language pathologist in charge of developing an appropriate comprehensive action plan that addresses Mrs. Fuentes’ language, communication, cognitive, and environmental needs.

What challenges might an SLP encounter when using the ICF or LPAA framework to provide services to adults from CLD backgrounds?
Scroll to top