California is the home of one third of the nation’s 5 million English-language learners (ELL). The position paper was written to offer practicing speech-language pathologists and audiologists guidelines when needing to collaborate with an interpreter/translator (I/T). This process is necessary when the clinician and client do not share the same language and is mandated by IDEA (2004) (20 U.S.C. §1412 (6)(B).
In 1986, the enactment of legislation to require early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and at-risk conditions from birth up until age 3 years of age ushered in a new paradigm of services and supports for families and very young children which has been compared to the Copernican Revolution (Turnbull & Summers, 1987).
