Within predominantly English-speaking countries such as the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, there are a significant number of people who speak languages other than English. This study aimed to examine Australian speech-language pathologists' (SLPs) perspectives and experiences of multilingualism, including their assessment and intervention practices, and service delivery methods when working with children who speak languages other than English. A questionnaire was completed by 128 SLPs who attended an SLP seminar about cultural and linguistic diversity. Approximately one half of the SLPs (48.4%) reported that they had at least minimal competence in a language(s) other than English; but only 12 (9.4%) reported that they were proficient in another language. The SLPs spoke a total of 28 languages other than English, the most common being French, Italian, German, Spanish, Mandarin, and Auslan (Australian sign language). Participants reported that they had, in the past 12 months, worked with a mean of 59.2 (range 1-100) children from multilingual backgrounds. These children were reported to speak between two and five languages each; the most common being: Vietnamese, Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Australian Indigenous languages, Tagalog, Greek, and other Chinese languages. There was limited overlap between the languages spoken by the SLPs and the children on the SLPs' caseloads. Many of the SLPs assessed children's speech (50.5%) and/or language (34.2%) without assistance from others (including interpreters). English was the primary language used during assessments and intervention. The majority of SLPs always used informal speech (76.7%) and language (78.2%) assessments and, if standardized tests were used, typically they were in English. The SLPs sought additional information about the children's languages and cultural backgrounds, but indicated that they had limited resources to discriminate between speech and language difference vs disorder.

Otitis media is a common disease in childhood that can adversely affect cognitive and educational outcomes. The literature in this area is equivocal, and findings may be influenced by research design. The impact of otitis media on individual children's development appears to depend on the inter‐relationship between several factors. Children who have early‐onset otitis media (under 12 months) are at high risk of developing long‐term speech and language problems. Otitis media has been found to interact negatively with pre‐existing cognitive or language problems. For biological or environmental reasons, some populations have a pattern of early onset, higher prevalence and episodes of longer duration; this pattern leads to a higher risk of long‐term speech and language problems. These factors suggest that Indigenous children may be at higher risk of cognitive and educational sequelae than non‐Indigenous children.

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Language impairments are often associated with problems in educational attainments and in acquiring literacy, but speech therapy services to school-aged children are not universally available. If teachers are able to reliably identify those children whose language skills place them at risk, then the specialist services offered by speech and language therapists (pathologists) may be used in more productive ways. The current study compared teacher judgements with formal testing of general language ability and phonological awareness. Results indicate that teacher identification compared more favourably with formal test outcomes for pre-primary and Year 1 children than was the case when their judgements of kindergarten children were included.

Objective: To describe diagnoses and correlates of middle ear disease in Aboriginal primary school children in a targeted school‐testing program in Perth, Western Australia. Design and setting: Analysis of records of ear testing carried out over a 6‐year period in three primary schools in Perth. Participants: Aboriginal children of primary school age (4–12 years) who attended the schools on the day of testing. Data on middle ear disease and hearing impairment were available for 119 and 94 children, respectively, from their first test. Main outcome measures: Proportions of children with middle ear disease and hearing loss. Results: Middle ear disease was diagnosed in 50 children (42.0%; 95% CI, 33.0%–51.4%). Rates were lower in older children (P = 0.002) but did not differ according to season of testing. Hearing loss (mild or moderate) was detected in 18 children (19.1%; 95% CI, 11.8%–28.6%). Hearing impairment was also less prevalent in older children (P = 0.007) and had no association with season of testing. Conclusions: Middle ear disease is a significant problem for Aboriginal children in Perth, and is associated with mild–moderate hearing loss. Health authorities must continue to focus on appropriate identification and management of the disease in this population.