Award-winning researcher tackles inequality in language assessment for Canadian children

The challenge: Bias in language disorder assessment

Developmental Language Disorder affects approximately one in 14 children. But identifying which children genuinely have the disorder versus those simply learning a new language or speaking with an accent has been nearly impossible with existing tools. As a result, some children struggle for years without the necessary support while others are wrongly diagnosed, causing undue stress on families and strain on speech-pathology resources.

The solution: From research assistant to inclusive innovator

Education expert Anne Laurie was a young research assistant when she first discovered this critical inequality. Working with First Nations students and later witnessing teachers struggle to assess Syrian refugee students in New Brunswick’s public schools in 2016, she saw the problem firsthand.

“When standardized language assessments were applied in First Nations communities, schools were identifying as much as 75 to 80 percent of their entire student body as having Developmental Language Disorder, which isn’t realistic,” said Laurie, noting the actual rate is closer to 7.5 percent.

The problem stems from how traditional assessments are designed. They’re typically validated on white, middle-class populations and measure language abilities against a ‘norming group’ of English speakers. When used with children from Indigenous or immigrant communities, these tools often fail due to inherent bias.

“Current language assessments are wonderful for English-speaking, western background children, but there are entire populations for which they are ineffective” explained Laurie.

Now a postdoctoral researcher at Concordia University working under Professor Diane Pesco’s supervision, and founder of Fredericton-based startup TRICOAST Education, Laurie is on a mission to change this.

The outcome: A culturally sensitive assessment tool

Laurie developed a novel Curriculum-Based Dynamic Assessment (CBDA) tool – the first of its kind to provide a culturally sensitive way to distinguish between language difference and Developmental Language Disorder.

“What people don’t realize is that when you have Developmental Language Disorder, you’re going to have it in all of your languages, not just in the one you are learning,” said Laurie. “Right now, we don’t have an effective way to accurately identify students who are struggling to speak English or French not because it’s a language difference, but because it’s a language disorder.”

Unlike traditional assessments, the CBDA looks at a child’s potential to learn rather than measuring fluency at a specific point in time. Using storytelling – something innate across all cultures – children are shown a picture and asked to tell a story. The examiner observes how they organize their narrative, then guides them through a teaching phase to see how they respond to feedback.

“One of the reasons I picked storytelling as a task is because it’s so rich in language and there’s culture wrapped around it,” said Laurie. “You have to be taught how to read, but storytelling is innate in all of us.”
The online platform automatically calculates whether a child is at risk and provides an easy-to-digest report for educators and parents, with steps toward targeted intervention when needed.

The CBDA tool is currently being piloted in francophone schools in Ontario and by speech-language pathologists in Quebec, France, and Belgium. TRICOAST Education provides training on the dynamic assessment through video or in-person sessions, with additional training modules in development.

“I’d love to see this assessment used in every school in Canada,” said Laurie, who credits Mitacs for enabling rapid scaling. “Mitacs’s support allows me to have one foot in research and one foot in practice simultaneously. If I didn’t have Mitacs, it would have taken me a lot longer than six years to get here.”

Recognition and impact

Laurie’s innovative work earned her a Mitacs Innovation Award for Inclusive Innovator of the Year, celebrating research that promotes social inclusion and prioritizes accessibility. She is one of only 11 Mitacs award winners nationally, chosen from thousands of researchers who participate in Mitacs programs each year. The award was presented at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on November 17, 2025.

“At a time when we need to build a stronger and more resilient economy, these eleven innovators and organizations demonstrate what’s possible when we invest in ideas, talent, and innovation,” said Mitacs CEO Dr. Stephen Lucas.

Laurie’s journey from research assistant to award-winning innovator demonstrates how Mitacs support enables researchers to bridge academia and industry, creating solutions that ensure every Canadian child – regardless of background – receives the accurate assessment and support they deserve.