MCGHealth bilingual speech pathologist trying to bridge communication gap

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Imagine trying to tutor a child without understanding a word they say. Specialists say many children with developmental delays and speech problems go undiagnosed because the patient and specialist don't speak the same language. NBC Augusta 26 News spoke with one woman who's working to bridge the communication gap. MCGHealth Behavioral Speech Pathologist Olivia Dennison says, right now, she's the only bilingual speech therapist in the Augusta area, and that needs to change. "There's a lot of research that shows we need bilingual therapists in the community," said Dennison. Dennison says many non-English speaking children who have developmental delays or speech problems are being overlooked. "A lot of children are denied service because the therapist doesn't speak the primary language," said Dennison. In 5-year-old Urit's case, her primary language is Spanish. Dennison says Urit has a problem expressing herself in conversation. "We're working on understanding emotions and explaining how people feel. We're working on location words, prepositions,” said Dennison. Dennison says because she's able to speak Urit's language, she's able to speed up the learning process. Her parents, who only speak Spanish, can also help tutor Urit outside her study session. “I see such a huge difference because the parents can work on the goals at home whereas if I'm working on these goals in English, they can't carry over anything that I'm doing," said Dennison. By teaching Urit in her primary language now, Dennison says when she learns English in the classroom, her current problems won't follow her. "We know now through research if we target the home home primary language, it will carry over into English," said Dennison. Dennison has been working with MCGHealth Children's Medical Center since August and already has seven children that she works with.

 

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