Assessment in the mother tongue
The clinic conducts assessments and therapy in both Hebrew and Arabic. For Arabic-speaking children and adults, an assessment conducted in their mother tongue is not just a matter of convenience — it is a condition for obtaining an accurate picture of their true abilities.
When assessing in the mother tongue is especially important
In situations like these, an assessment in a language other than the mother tongue may skew the result.
- Children who grow up in an Arabic-speaking home and study in Hebrew
- Pupils who have moved from an educational setting in one language to another
- Immigrant children or members of bilingual families
- Suspected learning disability in a bilingual pupil
- A gap between the impression at home and the report from school
- People assessed in the past whose results don’t match the impression
- A detailed review of the dominant language in each area
- Adapting the assessment tools and administration instructions to the person’s language
- Distinguishing a language difficulty from a cognitive or learning difficulty
- Taking cultural context into account in interpreting the findings
- The option of holding the interview and feedback in Arabic
- A report in Hebrew alongside a full explanation in the family’s language
How is a bilingual assessment carried out?
The process includes explicit attention to language and cultural background:
Many assessment tools measure ability through language. When a person faces a task in a language that isn’t their mother tongue, part of the effort goes into translating and understanding rather than into the task itself. The result may look like a cognitive difficulty or a learning disability, when in fact it is a language gap.
- A parent interview in the language they are most comfortable with
- Choosing tools suited to the linguistic and cultural background
- A cognitive assessment that takes the language factor into account
- Didactic testing in the language of instruction and the mother tongue as needed
- Questionnaires for parents and educational staff
- A summary report in Hebrew that explicitly addresses the bilingual background
- A feedback meeting in the language the family is comfortable with
Beyond language, cultural context also has an effect: some of the questions and examples in standard tools rely on cultural knowledge that isn’t shared by everyone. An assessment that takes cultural and linguistic background into account reduces bias and makes it possible to distinguish a real difficulty from an environmental gap — a distinction that is critical for the right recommendations.
Cultural fairness in assessment
Why it matters so much
The report is written in Hebrew, as required by the education system and official bodies in Israel, and at the same time parents and the person assessed receive a full explanation in the language they are comfortable with. This way the family understands the findings and recommendations in depth, and can put them into practice.