If your child regularly uses two languages at home or is enrolled in a bilingual program at school, any evaluation should allow for the use of both languages. When assessing for a learning or developmental disability, it is very important that the characteristics of that disability be present in both languages.

Bilingual evaluations are completed using tests that have been developed specifically to assess the cognitive and academic functioning of bilingual children. Most of these tests are designed for use in Spanish and English.  There are fewer choices for the assessment of children who speak other languages; however, a psychologist with training in bilingual assessment can structure the evaluation to get the most accurate information possible about the child and avoid confusing the normal process of second language acquisition with a learning or developmental disability.