Open AccessImmigrant Health and the Children and Youth of Canada: Are We Doing Enough?
Author(s) -
Tony Barozzino
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
healthcare quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1929-6347
DOI - 10.12927/hcq.2010.21983
Subject(s) - interpreter , immigration , psychology , limited english proficiency , language barrier , medical education , nursing , public relations , developmental psychology , health care , family medicine , medicine , political science , law , computer science , programming language
Sitting across from me in the crowded examining room of an inner-city Toronto pediatric clinic is a mother, a child and their family friend. The mother and her three-year-old have been in Canada for almost a year, having emigrated from Vietnam (insert virtually any country of origin here) and are currently living in a multi-family dwelling in a well-known area of lower socio-economic status. The mother speaks very little English, and the family friend is attempting to act as interpreter and support person. No official interpreter services are available today, and after completing my consultation (to the best of my abilities) regarding the presenting problem of "language delay," I am faced with having to try to discuss the possibility of this child having a much broader communication disorder, autism.