One Size Does Not Fit All: Conceptualizing Alternative Data Approaches to Improve Single-Language Developmental Language Disorder Screening for Multilingual Public School Students

Purpose: Universal screening for developmental language disorder (DLD) is a promising preventative approach for decreasing negative educational outcomes associated with DLD. Unfortunately, schools with multilingual student popula-tions often face barriers in following best-practice guidelines for language test-ing and screening students in all their languages. We explored the outcome of a school district administering a single-language DLD screener to a multilingual stu-dent body, as well as alternative approaches for using single-language screening data to identify DLD risk in multilingual students. Method: A school district engaged in a research–practice partnership adminis-tered an English-only DLD screener to 703 kindergartners with English language learner (ELL) status. We analyzed screener outcomes and the relationship of identi-fied DLD risk status and English proficiency level for the ELLs. We explored alterna-tive data analysis approaches of local norms, adjusted cut-points, change in screener score from fall to spring, and a hybrid of adjusted cut-points and change to determine which approaches identified DLD risk status for ELLs at a rate more aligned with DLD prevalence rates and the intended rates of a screener. Results: The English-only language screener overidentified multilingual students as at risk for DLD. There was a significant negative correlation between risk identification and student English proficiency level. All alternative methods for data analysis lowered the rate of identification of ELLs as at risk for DLD. Conclusions: Single-language testing overidentifies multilingual students as at risk for DLD. We caution school districts against a monolingual screening approach to screen multilingual students and encourage them to consider alternative approaches to using English-only screening data for multilingual students.