| The purpose of this study is to examine the influences of extraneous variables on the classification of Hispanic children as having linguistic disorders. Specifically, acculturation and IQ test data for Hispanic students referred for special education assessment were collected and analyzed to explore similarities and differences between students who were and were not recommended for speech and language intervention. Data gathered through a 1992 federally funded large scale study focusing on special education decisions was used because it contained a large random sample of Hispanic students in a large urban school system. This study was delimited to Hispanic students residing in the Bronx who were referred for special education assessment during the 1991–1992 school year. The study was also delimited to students who had IQ scores of 50 or higher. The following hypothesis was tested in this study: English proficiency, birth in the United States, years in United States, attendance at kindergarten, age at assessment, language use at home, and WISC-III verbal and performance scores will significantly discriminate between Hispanic students recommended for speech and language interventions from those who were not recommended. The hypothesis was tested using discriminant analysis on the predictor variables of English proficiency, birth in United States, years in United States, age at assessment, attendance at kindergarten, language use at home, WISC-III verbal and performance scores. The results showed that the only discriminating variable was the WISC-III verbal IQ. The predictor set accounted for 15% of the variance in discriminating between the two groups. This was significant (p < .05) and increased the ability to predict group assignments by 18.6% over random assignment (p < .01). The lack of significant findings suggests two alternatives: first, that the assessment of second language learners for language disorders is culture free, or second, that the variables used to assess acculturation were insufficient indicators. It is conceptually difficult to distinguish between acculturation and language learning because the learning of a second language is part of the acculturation process. |
