David Lacy

SPED 854
December 14, 2015
Case Study Reflection
Case Study #1:
The case study presents a number of challenges. To begin with, the father wants to act as
interpreter for his wife. He is either determined to practice his burgeoning English skills or
believes he is more fluent than he actually is. While it is certainly admirable for the father to
practice his language skills, in this instance it has led to potentially serious misunderstandings
and important information lost in translation. Furthermore, since this is the first meeting between
the family and the teacher, care must be taken to ensure an open and genuine collaborative effort
moving forward, and criticism, no matter how justified or well-intended, can have detrimental
effects on said relationship moving forward. A potential solution presents itself almost
immediately; the teacher, using the data presented in the familys file, had the forethought to
arrange for a Spanish-language interpreter to sit in on the meeting. Given this forethought, it can
be reasonably assumed that any and all pertinent paperwork can be provided in Spanish, so that
any misunderstandings that take place in the meeting. The translator provided by the school can
also offer a clearer translation, if it is handled with tact and a genuine desire to ensure the most
succinct and clear cut translation of those terms that the father is having trouble with. In this
particular scenario, I would be most amenable to providing the copious amount of documentation
in Spanish and English. I would then address the fathers desire to translate in a later meeting, by
determining where his language deficits lie and providing appropriate Spanish terminology.

Case Study #2:

This scenario provides for numerous opportunities to address the potential pitfalls of
working with families that have limited fluency in English. In this particular case, the family
speaks Russian, which, unlike Spanish, presents its own set of challenges. Those challenges are a
general lack of translators when compared to Spanish and difficulty in translating in Cyrillic.
Therefore, when planning the meeting, care must be taken to ensure clear communication. Prior
to the meeting, a good first step is to ascertain an approximate level of English fluency. Once this
is determined, adequate translation should be arranged, either in the form of a Russian translator
at the meeting, documentation provided in Cyrillic, or a combination of both. To make sure this
meeting goes as smoothly as possible, care must also be taken to recognize and validate any
cultural issues that may arise.
A surefire way to distance oneself from the family is to ignore the cultural and linguistic
differences present. While providing for translation services and documents written in their
native language can be seen as a courtesy and will hopefully keep the doors of communication
open, it can, in some instances, be seen as a slight to the family, who may be working diligently
to learn the language and seek the opportunity to use that newfound knowledge. Every care must
be taken to provide opportunity for this practice, but remain on task and make sure the most
important information is imparted and understood.