Q3: What is the best use of a multi or bilingual therapist/team member in the service provision of multi-cultural families?

<Susan Hodges>
  
Depending on the needs and priorities of the family and the structure of the early intervention team, bilingual team members may serve as either the family’s team lead or as a support to the English-speaking primary service provider. 
When there is a bilingual team lead, it is beneficial that they have opportunities for coaching by the other team members during team-based early intervention meetings, so additional input can be brought back to the family as needed.  Additionally, the bilingual primary service provider should provide updates to the team about the family’s progress and the strategies used toward advancement of the prioritized outcomes of the family.  In this way, the family, the bilingual team lead, and the rest of the early intervention team have capacity building opportunities that will improve their knowledge base and/or support.
In some cases, the team may determine that joint visits with the English-speaking and the bilingual team member are needed to best support the family. The team may find it helpful to use strategies like those employed when using an interpreter. Sometimes, the bilingual therapist also uses English as their second language; in these instances, it’s important that there is an understanding of what is being said by the English-speaking native, and that summarizing or paraphrasing by the bilingual team member to the family be limited.   If the bilingual therapist doesn’t fully understand what the English-speaking team member is saying, they should feel free to ask questions for clarification before sharing the information with the family. Taking opportunities to build the capacity of teammates, especially about unfamiliar frames of references, such as sensory integration, is strongly recommended during team-based early intervention meetings so that joint visits can run as smoothly as possible.