HyeKyeung Seung, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, professor in communication sciences and disorders at Cal State Fullerton, researches autism screening and early identification of children at risk of autism. Dr. Seung conducted an autism screening study in 2012, screening more than 2,000 children across South Korea. This study resulted in “Examination of the Korean Modified Checklist of Autism in Toddlers: Item Response Theory” published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
In 2017, Dr. Seung conducted an autism screening study of Vietnamese children with Vietnamese American students in Fullerton’s communication sciences and disorders department. She used the same autism screening test—Modified Autism Checklist in Toddlers-Revision—used in the Korean autism screening study. (The test is available in many languages, including Vietnamese.) In this study, they experienced challenges in recruiting participants, which led to follow-up research that examined Vietnamese families’ cultural attitudes toward autism in general and seeking services for children. The findings were presented in 2018 at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association annual convention in Boston, Massachusetts, and the RiteCare national conference in Los Angeles.
Dr. Seung and colleagues executed another study with speech-language pathologists who work with children with autism. In this survey study, they found challenges working with Vietnamese families related to language barriers and parents’ perspectives about having their child diagnosed with autism, handling the diagnosis and providing necessary interventions for their child. This study resulted in the following presentations:
- “A Cross-Cultural Examination of SLPs’ Perspectives on Working With the Vietnamese ASD Population” at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association annual convention in Orlando, Florida.
- “Autism: A Look Into Vietnamese Culture” at the California Speech-Language-Hearing Association annual convention in Pasadena, California.