Understanding the Training of Bilingual Providers: The Spanish and English Speech Therapy Education, Practicum, and Services

PURPOSE: The Speech Therapy Education, Practicum, and Services (STEPS) program was established to improve the training for bilingual providers and the services for bilingual individuals with and without speech-language disorders from a Latino background. This article describes the program and its components, presents preliminary data on its impact, and discusses future directions, highlighting how STEPS contributes to training bilingual providers and promotes patient-centered, linguistically and culturally responsive practices. METHOD: Participants were 37 STEPS alumni who completed the Multilingual Service Providers Survey. Statistical analyses included a theme-by-theme internal consistency analysis to examine the measurement model and descriptive statistics of the participants' survey responses. Additionally, a qualitative theme analysis examined responses to open-ended questions. RESULTS: The findings suggested that the STEPS program may equip speech-language pathologists with linguistic and cultural competencies necessary to serve multilingual populations. Despite strengths, the evidence to elucidate its specific impact in terms of components and academic structure remains limited. Future research should use experimental designs to evaluate training impact, address systemic barriers to clinical competence and patient-centered care, and incorporate bilingual communities' perspectives to facilitate meaningful change. CONCLUSIONS: The STEPS program offers a promising model for training bilingual speech-language pathologists and meeting community needs. This study contributes to documenting the impact of the STEPS program and thus increases the understanding of bilingual clinicians' education and professional practice in the field.