Abstract
Explore the multicultural section of the Marion Downs Center-Research website (https://mdcresearch. net/index.php/multicultural-resources/). This website is being developed by Dr. Yoshinaga-Itano to disseminate information on a variety of languages and cultures. Dr. Yoshinaga-Itano is a noted pediatric audiologist who is a research professor at the Institute of Cognitive Science in the Department of Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences at the University of Colorado. She has lectured and consulted on childhood hearing loss around the world. This website provides links to a wide range of websites that provide information on languages and cultures. The website is still under development, so materials will continue to be added. The information on the website is organized into four categories:
General multicultural resources for families and parents:
Information about general health in multiple languages
Information about developmental milestones in multiple languages
Information about intervention tips for play; language development; use of music, drama, and art; and reading in multiple languages
General multicultural resources for providers:
Information about the history and culture of diverse groups of people
Information about different languages: countries in which they are spoken; characteristics of languages
Information about deafness and hearing loss in multiple languages
Information about developmental milestones in multiple languages
Information about intervention tips for play; language development; use of music, drama and art; and reading in multiple languages
Multicultural resources by languages
Information for cultural competence
Each of these topics links tomultiple other websites
The link to the Cleveland Clinic Website (https://my.clevelandclinic.org/-/scassets/files/org/about/diversity/2016-diversity-toolkit.ashx) provides a Diversity Toolkit that offers brief descriptions of persons from many different cultures and religions regarding: considerations in providing care, attire, communication styles/expectations, rituals, and end of life care.
The link to the World Culture Encyclopedia (https://www.everyculture.com/) provides more detailed information about the cultures/countries of the world: history, architecture/use of space, food and economy, social stratification, political life, social welfare, family life/socialization, etiquette, religion, health care, arts/ humanities. In addition, a section of the encyclopedia describes the different ethnic groups in the United States (e.g., Russian-American, Cuban-American, Bolivian-American, Vietnamese-American), history of immigration, assimilation/acculturation, cuisine, family/community dynamics, customs/rituals, holidays, and religion. This section can be particularly useful by distinguishing the variability among Spanish-speakers from diverse countries.
A number of linked websites have tip sheets for parents in a number of languages on a variety of topics, including reading tips, developing language, playing with your child, creating activities, providing emotional support, getting your child ready for school, and using drama, music, and books for children in many languages (Color’in Colorado: https://www.colorincolorado.org/reading-tip-sheets-parents; Reading Rockets: https://www.readingrockets.org/guides; Literacy Trust in the United Kingdom: https://literacytrust.org.uk/resources/time-together-multilingual-families/, and Words for Life: https://wordsforlife.org.uk/activities/). Information on tip sheets is developed according to the research and the cultural norms of the countries in which the information was prepared.
The Weebly website (http://languagemanuals.weebly.com/language-manuals-list.html) has 31 manuals. These manuals include cultural information while also providing some detail on the characteristics of the languages (e.g., consonant and vowel phonemic inventories, English correlates, morphosyntax, semantics, pragmatics).