If you work with Spanish/English bilingual students, you’ve probably heard of the Bilingual English Spanish Assessment (BESA). In fact, it’s one of the assessments that bilingual speech-language pathologists talk about the most.
I recently spent some time reviewing the BESA and wanted to share my thoughts. In this post, I’ll walk through what the BESA measures by taking you through the Spanish protocol. There is also an English protocol too. In the video I also talk about what I like about the BESA and parts of it (scoring) that make it a little confusing when you first start working with it. Hopefully my video will help you decide if it belongs in your assessment toolkit.
What is the BESA?
The BESA was designed specifically for Spanish/English bilingual children. Unlike many speech and language assessments that were originally developed for monolingual English speakers, the BESA was created with bilingual language development in mind.
Language Difference vs Disorder
The assessment can help clinicians differentiate between a language difference and a language disorder. What that refers to is if the student’s English skills are below expected norms because they are learning English and student’s language skills are typically developing in Spanish (Difference) or if the student is below age-expected norms in English and Spanish (Disorder). Basically, if a student has access to communication skills in any language, it’s not pathological. Hence why native language evaluation is valuable.
Watch My Video Review
What I Like About the BESA
One of the biggest strengths of the BESA is that it looks at common errors seen in the Spanish spoken by bilingual students with communication disorders. I really like that it looks at things I work on in sessions with students. Comparing that to the CELF in Spanish, I feel like it tests things that I’ll never work on in a session (e.g. sentence repetition).
What I Don’t Like
No assessment is perfect, and the BESA is no exception. Scoring the protocol feels overwhelming at first. The protocol has a lot going on visually so confusing to figure out and it’s also really thick. I love that it’s low ink in black and white only, but that also works to its disadvantage because it’s hard to visually scan it to find salient information. Now if you use the BESA a lot, you’ll get used to it and not be bothered
Another complaint is that the sample size is only for a small age group. Don’t quote me but I think it’s ages 4 to 7. But I heard in a Facebook group that there are expanded norms available online for ages 3 to 8, but again don’t quote me because I haven’t laid eyes on them myself. I’ve also heard that researchers are working on a second edition that will cover more ages.
It feels weird to criticize the BESA for having a small age group that can be tested when it’s seen with other tests that do that too. I see you TOLD P5 and your ages 4 to 8 age group!
My Clinical Perspective
As a bilingual speech-language pathologist, one of the things I appreciate most about the BESA is that it acknowledges the reality of what bilingual speech paths actually work on in treatment. Of course like any standardized assessment, the BESA as one piece of a comprehensive evaluation. There are additional data points that you can combine to make a clinical judgment about eligibility.
Overall, the BESA is one of the more thoughtful assessment tools available for Spanish-English bilingual students. While it is not perfect, it addresses many of the concerns clinicians have about using assessments developed primarily for monolingual English speakers. If you work with bilingual students, it is definitely worth learning more about.
Final Thoughts
The BESA fills an important need in our field. If you’re considering adding it to your assessment toolkit, I hope this review helps you better understand its strengths and limitations. Be sure to watch my full video review for a closer look at the assessment materials and administration process.
Leave a Reply