Census data from the United States of America and Canada have shown significant increases (25-50% over 5-year periods) in individuals who are Farsi speakers, who are often immigrants from Iran and Afghanistan. Farsi is an Indo-European language which is written with the Arabic script, and from left to right. There has been an increase in published normative data for individuals who are Farsi-speaking from Iran, and also for Iranians living in the United States. This symposium will provide a historical context on immigration trends for Farsi-speaking individuals in North America, a review of available Farsi neuropsychological norms, and lastly, a clinical case study highlighting the challenges of culturally competent care.

A historical context will be provided on immigration of Farsi-speaking individuals originating from Iran, referencing the ECLECTIC framework (Fujii et al., 2018). Author will also share the results from her review of the literature of English-published Farsi-norms for neuropsychological tests. A de-identified case study of a neuropsychological assessment of a bilingual Farsi-English speaking individual will be discussed.

To inform case conceptualization and test selection, clinicians should consider acculturation metrics, including the context and timeframe of Iranian Farsi-speaking individuals’ immigration to North America. A review of the existing literature on Farsi norms by neuropsychological test will be provided, with a repository attendees can later access. Overall, norms are lacking for individuals who are bilingual Farsi-English speakers, however, there are some Farsi-norms available. Discussion will then shift to a case study highlighting the challenges of culturally competent neuropsychological assessment in a clinical setting. The case study will focus on a Farsi-speaking older adult with a history of stroke who was referred for re-assessment and was previously tested in English. Clinical decision making on whether to test this bilingual individual in English and/or Farsi, and with or without an interpreter, will be shared as well as the process of test selection, with a focus on language measures. The positive impact of a culturally competent approach on interpretation of results will be shared. Lastly, the speaker will share her perspective on the benefits and challenges of interviewing and testing in her second language of Farsi and as a trainee with non-Farsi speaking supervisors.

This symposium will provide clinicians with historical information on an underrepresented minority group, a review of available neuropsychological norms for Farsi speaking individuals, and a case example demonstrating an approach for clinical-decision making with bilingual clients.