“¿Me entiendes?” - The Complexity of Assessing Bilingual Youth with Trauma (1.25 CEs)

Abstract

Our symposium demonstrates the importance of language when assessing bilingual latinx youth’s social-emotional functioning. We discuss two clinical cases of youth of differing ages and clinical presentations. In one case, a first generation immigrant youth demonstrates how she uses language to adapt to a new country by adopted English as her preferred language. She also uses language to distance herself from past traumas that are held in Spanish, and by doing so, is able to create a new narrative for herself. The second presentation demonstrates the power of the therapeutic collaborative assessment model in helping a client use language to strengthen communication of her emotional experience to her mother, regulate her body, and feel understood. This symposium, discussed by Dr. Emmanuel Zamora, will be an opportunity to emphasize the many complex and nuanced facets of language to consider when conducting assessments with bilingual children and families.

Chair

Emmanuel Zamora | University of California, Davis 

Discussant

Catherine Anicama | West Coast Children's Clinic

Goals & Objectives

1. Describe common challenges in psychological assessment of bilingual youth with a history of trauma. 
2. Identify appropriate interventions in address challenges in assessing bilingual youth. 
3. Apply the collaborative therapeutic assessment in evaluating traumatized bilingual youth.