Conducting assessments designed to investigate an Indigenous child’s communicative competence requires the speech pathologist to employ an assessment methodology which thoroughly engages with that child’s particular cultural and linguistic identity. Speech pathologists typically utilise  Standard (Australian/American/British) English standardised tests in order to determine a child’s speech and language capabilities. When using these tests with Indigenous children, as commonly occurs when schools are interested in applying for funding within the various state and territory disability programs, the Aboriginal language/s the Indigenous children speak are not given due consideration and, hence, they are at risk of being wrongly labelled as having communication impairments.

Due to a number of factors, non-Indigenous educators will typically report only on an Indigenous child’s English skills, and not their competency in their home languages; they then refer these children to speech pathology services, who by using Standard English methods of assessment also fail to adequately consider the linguistic capacity of the children. This paper will discuss how non-Indigenous speech pathologists have been able to collaborate with linguists and work alongside community members to conduct valid communication development assessments with 8-9 year old Kriol speaking children living in the Fitzroy Valley region of Western Australia.