Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Assessment

In the audio portion of this course, Dr. Jeremy Sharp speaks with Dr. Byn Harris about:

  • What is culturally and linguistically responsive assessment?
  • What are some common cultural or linguistic ethical dilemmas that psychologists might stumble into when conducting assessment?
  • Why using a nonverbal intelligence measure isn’t always the answer
  • When to use an interpreter vs. conducting a bilingual assessment?
  • Considerations of writing culturally responsive reports
  • Resources for early career and more advanced clinicians

The text-only portion of this course includes SAMHSA's TIP 59, Improving Cultural Competence. The quick guide provided will assist professional care providers and administrators in understanding the role of culture in the delivery of mental and substance use disorder services.

TIP 59:
• Defines cultural competence, presents a rationale for pursuing it, and describes the process of becoming
culturally competent and responsive to client needs.
• Addresses the development of cultural awareness.
• Describes core competencies for counselors and other clinical staff.
• Provides guidelines for culturally responsive clinical services.
• Provides organizational strategies to promote the development and implementation of culturally
responsive practices.
• Provides a general introduction to each major racial and ethnic group, providing specific cultural
knowledge related to substance use and treatment.
• Explores the concept of “drug culture” and its role in substance use disorder treatment.

Interview conducted: Early 2019

CE Content Category: Cultural Competence; Assessment and Testing

Format: Asynchronous, distance learning. Non-interactive. Recorded audio with transcript.

Target audience: Psychologists, mental health counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, addiction counselors, nurses, case managers.

This CE course is designated as beginner.

There is no known conflict of interest or commercial support.

Cultural Identity and the Testing Process

Dr. Bridget Rivera has had cultural identity on her radar since she was a child and saw her father deported from the US. In this interview, she talks with Dr. Jeremy Sharp about cultural identity, for both the clinician and the client, and how it shows up throughout the testing process. Here are just a few of the many things that they discuss:

  • Defining cultural identity and cultural humility for people of color and phenotypically white individuals
  • Ways to set up your office to be culturally considerate
  • Questions to ask in the intake to take culture into account
  • Examples of considering culture while interpreting test data
  • Tailoring recommendations through a lens of culture

Target audience:  Psychologists, mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists, social workers, addiction counselors, nurses

This CE program is designated as beginner.

Content Category: Culture Competence

There is no known conflict of interest or commercial support.

Format: Asynchronous, distance learning. Non-interactive. Recorded audio/video with transcript.

This interview was published in July of 2020

Cultural Competence in Assessment

In this timely interview, Dr. Sharp talks with Dr. Linda McGhee about cultural competence and assessment. Please note that this episode was recorded just after George Floyd’s murder, before the video was widely available and the protests began. As such, they do not discuss the events explicitly, though they do speak about a variety of related topics. Although they only just scratch the surface of a multi-layered, nuanced area of assessment, Dr. McGhee did a great job laying out a number of points to consider when working with clients of diverse backgrounds. She also shares some of her own stories and experiences, as well as resources for clinicians looking to build culturally responsive assessment skills.

Target audience:  Psychologists, mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists, social workers, addiction counselors, nurses

Format: Asynchronous, distance learning. Non-interactive. Recorded audio with transcript.

Content Category: Culture Competence; Testing/Assessment

This CE program is designated as intermediate.

There are no conflicts of interest or commercial support to disclose

This interview was published in June 2020.

Cultural and Testing Implications for Deaf and Autistic Children

Dr. Sharp was sitting in on an ADOS-2 a few months ago with a nonverbal little guy. The young boy used a fair amount of sign language, which got Dr. Sharp thinking: do the pragmatic communication problems associated with autism happen in nonverbal or deaf children? After a little Google searching, Dr. Sharp found Dr. Aaron Shield, a linguist out of Miami University, who has specialized in this very niche for much of his academic career. In this interview, they explore the fascinating intersection of deafness and autism. Here are a few topics that they touch on:

  • The neuroanatomical similarities and differences between sign and spoken language
  • The biggest myths associated with American Sign Language
  • Similarities and differences in language acquisition in deaf kids on the spectrum
  • Use of the ADOS-2 (and other common assessment tools) with deaf kids.

Note: Aaron did not mention this on the podcast, but he let me know after our interview that it is still clinically appropriate to use the ADI-R in assessing deaf kids with autism.

Target audience:  Psychologists, mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists, social workers, addiction counselors, nurses

There are no known conflicts of interest or commercial support to disclose.

Format: Asynchronous, distance learning. Non-interactive. Recorded audio with transcript.

Content Category: Clinical/Testing/Assessment/Culture Competence

This CE program is designated as beginner.

This interview was published in February of 2020.