Discussion of issues related to assessing the signed and spoken language skills of bi/multilingual children

While there is a growing body of evidence describing best practice in the assessment of bilingual children who use spoken languages there is currently scant evidence or recommendations available regarding the assessment of bilingual children who use signed languages. In this discussion we therefore outline how knowledge from the assessment of spoken languages can be used to inform practice in assessing signed languages for bilingual d/Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) children. Recommendations will be made for applying knowledge about assessment in hearing bilingual children to assessment of bilingual DHH children, particularly those who use more than one signed language. Consideration will also be given to emerging assessment methods for signed languages that could inform assessment practices with bilingual hearing children.