Discriminating children with language impairment among English-language learners from diverse first-language backgrounds

The Use of Language Sample Analysis to Differentiate Developmental Language Disorder From Typical Language in Bilingual Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

PURPOSE

Language sample analysis (LSA) is a commonly recommended method of assessment for bilingual children. This systematic review and meta-analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the literature on the use of LSA to differentiate between developmental language disorder (DLD) and typical language (TL) in bilingual children.

METHOD

We conducted a search of several large electronic databases along with forward and backward searches and applied abstract and full-text screening procedures to identify all relevant studies. We then estimated standardized mean differences, representing the ability of LSA to differentiate between DLD and TL, using multilevel model and subgroup and moderator analyses to identify characteristics of LSA that may be associated with differences in effect size magnitude. We conducted assessments of publication bias and risk of bias by examining quality indicators for each study.

RESULTS

The search yielded 35 articles that met the inclusion criteria. Participants ranged in age from 2;0 (years;months) to 11;9, with over 40 languages represented. Across studies, the pooled standardized mean difference indicated that children with DLD performed 0.78 SD lower on LSA measures than those with TL. Measures of morphosyntactic accuracy exhibited the largest pooled effect size. Elicitation method, language of task, and age were not associated with differences in effect size.

DISCUSSION

Results of this study provide evidence of the clinical utility of LSA in differentiating between DLD and TL in bilingual children. Further research is needed to examine classification accuracy as well as task characteristics that may improve its diagnostic utility.

Which Factors Predict L2 Receptive Vocabulary and Expressive Syntax in Bilingual Children from Low-SES Families?

INTRODUCTION

The objective of the current study was two-fold. First, it aimed to estimate receptive vocabulary and expressive syntax skills in L2 Italian among early sequential/simultaneous bilingual children of migrant single-mother families with very low socioeconomic status (SES). This objective was achieved by matching the participants' performance with normative data. Secondly, this study aimed to identify which individual and language exposure factors contributed to learning L2 vocabulary and syntax.

METHODS

Twenty-four early sequential/simultaneous bilingual children (age range = 5.10-12.4 years) and their mothers were enrolled. Mothers answered questions about linguistic biography and demographic information. Children completed Lexical Comprehension, Sentence Repetition, and Non-Word Repetition tasks from the Language Assessment Battery for 4-12-year-olds to, respectively, assess receptive vocabulary, expressive syntax, and phonological processing. Moreover, non-verbal intellectual functioning was evaluated by the Raven's Test.

RESULTS/DISCUSSION

Compared to normative data, 20 children showed lower receptive vocabulary abilities (<-1.5 SD), 24 lower expressive syntax skills (-2DS), and 7 children lower phonological processing (<-1.5 DS). Moreover, L2 phonological processing and the length of L2 exposure in an educational context positively predicted L2 receptive vocabulary as well as L2 expressive syntax skills. To date, performance in L2 among early sequential/simultaneous bilingual children from migrant households and very low SES remains underexplored. Future efforts need to be directed towards the understanding of factors that impact oral competence in L2, considering that these children will also be exposed to written L2 in the school context.

Morphological and Inhibitory Skills in Monolingual and Bilingual Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder

PURPOSE

This study examined the language and nonverbal inhibitory control skills of Italian monolingual and bilingual typically developing (TD) preschoolers with Italian as their second language and of age-matched monolingual and bilingual peers with developmental language disorder (DLD).

METHOD

Four groups of preschoolers were enrolled: 30 TD Italian monolinguals, 24 TD bilinguals, 19 Italian monolinguals with DLD, and 19 bilinguals with DLD. All children were assessed in Italian on vocabulary, receptive morphosyntax, and morphological markers for DLD in the Italian language (i.e., third-person verb inflections, definite articles, third-person direct-object clitic pronouns, simple prepositions) and nonverbal inhibitory control skills. Group performance was compared using a series of one-way analyses of variance.

RESULTS

Monolingual and bilingual children with DLD achieved significantly lower performance in all language measures compared to both TD monolingual and bilingual children. However, TD bilinguals, although comprehensively showing better language skills than monolinguals with DLD, achieved a performance closer to that of monolinguals with DLD but significantly higher than that of bilinguals with DLD. Both TD monolinguals and bilinguals showed better results than both DLD groups in inhibitory control tasks, particularly in the interference suppression task.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides a picture of language and inhibitory control characteristics of children with various language profiles and adds to the literature on potential markers of DLD among bilingual children. These results suggest that the assessment of nonlinguistic markers, which are associated with language impairment, could be a useful approach to better specify the diagnosis of DLD and reduce cases of misdiagnosis in the context of bilingualism.

Beyond Language Scores: How Language Exposure Informs Assessment of Nonword Repetition, Vocabulary and Narrative Macrostructure in Bilingual Turkish/Swedish Children with and without Developmental Language Disorder

As in many other countries, baseline data concerning the linguistic development of bilingual children in Sweden are lacking, and suitable methods for identifying developmental language disorder (DLD) in bilinguals are lacking as well. This study presents reference data from 108 typically developing (TD) Turkish/Swedish-speaking children aged 4;0-8;1, for a range of language tasks developed specifically for the assessment of bilinguals (LITMUS test battery, COST Action IS0804). We report on different types of nonword repetition (NWR) tasks (language-specific and language-independent), receptive and expressive vocabulary (Cross-Linguistic Lexical Tasks, CLTs), and narrative macrostructure comprehension and production (Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives, MAIN) in Turkish, the children's home language, and in Swedish, the language of schooling and society. Performance was investigated in relation to age, language exposure, type of task, and (for NWR and narratives) vocabulary size. There was a positive development with age for all tasks, but effects of language exposure and vocabulary size differed between tasks. Six bilingual Turkish/Swedish children with DLD were individually compared to the TD children. TD/DLD performance overlapped substantially, particularly for NWR, and more so for the production than the comprehension tasks. Surprisingly, the discriminatory potential was poor for both language-specific and language-independent NWR. DLD case studies underscored the importance of interpreting language scores in relation to exposure history, and the need for an increased emphasis on functional language skills as reported by parents and teachers when assessing and diagnosing DLD in bilinguals.

Heritage language learners of English: Linguistic gaps and cognitive strengths

PURPOSE

This study examined whether Heritage Language Learners (HLLs) of English display profile effects in their performance on knowledge- and processing-dependent measures relative to the standardised mean scores of monolingual speakers. The study also investigated the influence of several experiential factors on HLL performance.

METHOD

Participants were 59 Arabic-speaking HLLs from six to nine years old. The children completed a battery of linguistic tests in their L1 and L2, as well as cognitive measures of short-term and working memory and non-verbal intelligence.

RESULT

Significantly lower standardised scores were observed for HLLs as compared to the standardised mean scores on all Arabic/English language tasks except L2 word reading. HLLs scored at or above age-level expectations on cognitive measures except the Arabic nonword repetition task. Stepwise regression analyses examining variance in HLLs' performance, age and richness of environment consistently explained HLLs' performance in L1 Arabic, but different factors accounted for HLLs' performance in English depending on the task. Age was the only variable that consistently explained variance in performance on the cognitive measures.

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that processing-dependent measures may be less sensitive to difference in language experience than traditional knowledge-based measures such as standardised measures of language and vocabulary.

Developmental language disorder in sequential bilinguals: Characterising word properties in spontaneous speech

The current study sought to investigate whether word properties can facilitate the identification of developmental language disorder (DLD) in sequential bilinguals by analyzing properties in nouns and verbs in L2 spontaneous speech as potential DLD markers. Measures of semantic (imageability, concreteness), lexical (frequency, age of acquisition) and phonological (phonological neighbourhood, word length) properties were computed for nouns and verbs produced by 15 sequential bilinguals (5;7) with DLD and 15 age-matched controls with diverse L1 backgrounds. Linear mixed modelling revealed a significant interaction of group and word category on phonological neighbourhood values but no differences across imageability, concreteness, frequency, age of acquisition, and word length measures in spontaneous speech. Outcomes suggest that group-level differences may not be apparent at the word-level, due to the heterogeneous nature of DLD and potential similarities in production during early L2 acquisition.

Relations between oral language skills and English reading achievement among Spanish-English bilingual children: a quantile regression analysis

Understanding factors that influence reading achievement among bilingual children is considerably more complex than it is for monolingual children. Research on dual language development indicates that bilingual children's oral language abilities are often distributed across languages in varied ways, due to heterogeneity of dual language exposure and input. Consequently, there may be greater variability in the associations between oral language proficiency and reading achievement among bilingual children than there is for monolingual children. This study evaluated how vocabulary knowledge and morphosyntactic ability in Spanish and English were associated with English reading achievement among 117 bilingual kindergarten and first grade children in the USA using both OLS and quantile regression. Results indicated that although English vocabulary and morphosyntax were both significantly associated with reading achievement, English vocabulary knowledge was most strongly associated with reading at higher quantiles of reading achievement. Cross-language analyses indicated that both Spanish vocabulary and morphosyntax made significant contributions to predicting English reading achievement beyond the effects of English oral language. Spanish vocabulary was uniquely predictive of reading at high and low quantiles of English reading, whereas relations between Spanish morphosyntax and English reading did not differ across quantiles. These results were consistent with predictions derived from theoretical models such as the simple view of reading and suggest that Spanish vocabulary knowledge may provide more unique information about children's underlying capacity for acquiring language and literacy skill than does morphosyntax.

Curriculum-Based Dynamic Assessment of Narratives for Bilingual Filipino Children

PURPOSE

Speech-language pathologists need tools that can accurately estimate bilingual children's language abilities and thus help avoid misdiagnoses. This study addresses this need by investigating the accuracy of a novel curriculum-based dynamic assessment of narratives in distinguishing bilingual children with language difficulties (LDs) from children with typically developing (TD) language.

METHOD

Participants comprised 34 Filipino-English bilingual children attending elementary school in English: seven with LDs and 27 with TD language. All children were assessed on narrative skills relevant to their school curriculum during a dynamic assessment involving a test-teach-test sequence. We then examined how accurately the children's scores on narrative tasks completed during the test phases, and on a modifiability rating scale completed during the teaching phase, discriminated the LD and TD groups.

RESULTS

According to discriminant analyses, logistic regressions, and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses, the modifiability rating classified the children with 97.1% accuracy. Children's scores on the narrative measures following the teaching phase were also better at predicting language group than their initial scores, with the Test of Narrative Language-Second Edition (TNL-2) Narrative Language Ability Index score reaching 100% accuracy at posttest.

CONCLUSIONS

The curriculum-based dynamic assessment of narratives shows promise at distinguishing TD language from LD in a group of understudied bilingual children that is rapidly growing in both Canada and the United States. The findings compare favorably to past studies of dynamic assessment and extend this work by integrating curricular goals to the narrative assessment process.

Macroestructura y microestructura narrativa en población infantil bilingüe con TDL: una revisión sistemática

La identificación de niños bilingües con Trastorno del Desarrollo del Lenguaje (TDL) es compleja, y la evaluación de la narración puede ser particularmente valiosa en este contexto. Por ello, el objetivo de este estudio es contribuir a sistematizar y difundir el creciente cuerpo de literatura que investiga las habilidades narrativas de población infantil bilingüe con TDL, a través de una revisión sistemática guiada por las siguientes preguntas: ¿Qué elementos a nivel de macroestructura y microestructura narrativa se han estudiado en la población infantil bilingüe con TDL? ¿Qué aspectos de la macroestructura y microestructura narrativa diferencian a los niños bilingües con TDL de los bilingües con desarrollo típico? ¿Qué aspectos de la macroestructura y microestructura narrativa diferencian a los bilingües con TDL de los monolingües con TDL? Se seleccionaron 25 artículos desde las bases de datos WoS y Scopus. En general, los resultados apuntan a un menor desempeño en la población tanto bilingüe como monolingüe con TDL en varias medidas de ambos niveles, aunque se considera que el núcleo del problema es la microestructura. Sin embargo, existen algunos resultados contradictorios, por lo que se incentiva continuar la investigación de características narrativas específicas en ambas lenguas con el propósito de encontrar marcadores clínicos que contribuyan a una mayor eficiencia en la evaluación de niños bilingües. Además, se sugiere que la evaluación narrativa se combine con otras medidas para aumentar la precisión diagnóstica de TDL.

Sentence Repetition Performance Differences in Bilingual and Monolingual Children

PURPOSE

This study examined language group differences in English syntactic knowledge based on performance on a sentence repetition task.

METHOD

Fourth and sixth grade students who were monolinguals (n = 30), early bilinguals (i.e., simultaneous; n = 27), or late bilinguals (i.e., sequential; n = 29) completed an English sentence repetition task. Their responses were analyzed as a function of sentence length (short vs. long), sentence type (active vs. passive), phrase type (noun, verb, and prepositional), and word type (content vs. function).

RESULTS

Overall, early bilinguals' performance did not differ significantly from that of the monolinguals. However, these bilinguals recalled significantly more content words than function words on the long sentences. At each level of analysis, the late bilinguals' performance was less accurate than the other groups. The magnitude of these group differences was larger for passive sentences and prepositional phrases.

CONCLUSION

Findings highlight areas of syntactic development that differ among groups and should be targeted for additional instruction with English language learners in elementary school.

Using Nonword Repetition to Identify Language Impairment in Bilingual Children: A Meta-Analysis of Diagnostic Accuracy

Purpose Nonword repetition has been endorsed as a less biased method of assessment for children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, but there are currently no systematic reviews or meta-analyses on its use with bilingual children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate diagnostic accuracy of nonword repetition in the identification of language impairment (LI) in bilingual children. Method Using a key word search of peer-reviewed literature from several large electronic databases, as well as ancestral and forward searches, 13 studies were identified that met the eligibility criteria. Studies were evaluated on the basis of quality of evidence, design characteristics, and reported diagnostic accuracy. A meta-regression analysis, based on study results, was conducted to identify task characteristics that may be associated with better classification accuracy. Results Diagnostic accuracy across studies ranged from poor to good. Bilingual children with LI performed with more difficulty on nonword repetition tasks than those with typical language. Quasi-universal tasks, which account for the phonotactic constraints of multiple languages, exhibited better diagnostic accuracy and resulted in less misidentification of children with typical language than language-specific tasks. Conclusions Evidence suggests that nonword repetition may be a useful tool in the assessment and screening of LI in bilingual children, though it should be used in conjunction with other measures. Quasi-universal tasks demonstrate the potential to further reduce assessment bias, but extant research is limited.

Using Nonword Repetition to Identify Developmental Language Disorder in Monolingual and Bilingual Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Purpose A wealth of studies has assessed the diagnostic value of the nonword repetition task (NWRT) for the detection of developmental language disorder (DLD) in the clinical context of speech and language therapy, first in monolingual children and, more recently, in bilingual children. This review article reviews this literature systematically and conducts a meta-analysis on the discriminative power of this type of task in both populations. Method Three databases were used to select articles based on keyword combinations, which were then reviewed for relevance and methodological rigor based on internationally recognized checklists. From an initial pool of 488 studies, 46 studies were selected for inclusion in the systematic review, and 35 of these studies could be included in a meta-analysis. Results Most of the articles report significant discrimination between children with and without DLD in both monolingual and bilingual contexts, and the meta-analysis shows a large mean effect size. Three factors (age of the child, linguistic status, and language specificity of the task) yielded enough quantitative data for further exploration. Subgroups analysis shows variance in effect sizes, but none of the three factors, neither their interactions, were significant in a metaregression. We discuss how other, less explored factors (e.g., nature of the stimuli, scoring methods) could also contribute to differences in results. Sensitivity and specificity analyses reported in 33 studies confirmed that, despite possible effect size differences, the diagnostic accuracy of the NWRT is generally near thresholds considered to be discriminatory. It generally increases when it is combined with other tasks (e.g., parental questionnaire). Conclusions This review indicates that the NWRT is a promising diagnostic tool to identify children with DLD in monolingual and bilingual contexts with a large mean effect size. However, it seems necessary to choose the precise NWRT materials based on the children's language background and to complement the assessment sessions with other tools in order to ensure diagnosis and to obtain complete language profile of the child. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.15152370.

L2 vocabulary acquisition of early sequentially bilingual children with TD and DLD affected differently by exposure and age of onset

BACKGROUND

Language exposure is known to be a key factor influencing bilingual vocabulary development in typically developing (TD) children. There is, however, a lack of knowledge in terms of exposure effects in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and, especially, in interaction with age of onset (AoO) of second language acquisition.

AIMS

In the Helsinki longitudinal SLI study (HelSLI), we investigated the receptive and expressive second language (L2) vocabulary performance and cross-sectional vocabulary development of sequentially bilingual children with TD and DLD in order to resolve whether the groups could be differentiated based on their vocabulary performance. More importantly, we examined the effects of AoO and exposure in the vocabulary performance of these two bilingual groups.

METHODS & PROCEDURES

A total of 70 children with DLD from a hospital clinic and 82 with TD from kindergartens were recruited. Children were 3-7 years old with different AoOs for the L2 and varying degrees of language exposure. Multiple regression analysis was used to compare the groups in two receptive and three expressive vocabulary tests while considering the effects of AoO and language exposure.

OUTCOMES & RESULTS

Children with TD outperformed children with DLD in both receptive and expressive vocabulary measures. Exposure predicted vocabulary but AoO did not. The effect of exposure was different in TD and DLD groups in receptive but not in expressive vocabulary. Additionally, the interaction of exposure and AoO was found for receptive vocabulary, but similarly in both groups. With increasing exposure, a difference in performance between the groups became more notable in receptive vocabulary compared with the expressive vocabulary.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

Bilingual children with TD and DLD can be differentiated by using L2 vocabulary tests when exposure is taken into consideration. Non-significant AoO effects in 3-7 year olds suggest flexibility in terms of when to start L2 immersion. However, exposure is important, and especially children with DLD would need a substantial amount of it relative to their TD peers, so that they would not fall even further behind over time. Differences in benefiting from exposure in receptive mode might offer clinicians and kindergarten personnel an insight for evaluating challenges in bilingual development. Severe challenges in vocabulary development in the DLD group also call for both individually targeted small-group activities for learning words as well as strategies for strengthening vocabulary in various environments and everyday life situations. What this paper adds What is already known on the subject Language exposure is often found to explain more of the variation compared with AoO in early L2 vocabulary. On the other hand, it has been suggested by some researchers, but not all, that AoO effects would be found. Exposure and AoO might also interact differently depending on the task and whether the development is typical or disordered. Contrary to the clinical observation, diagnostic value of receptive vocabulary has often been questioned. What this paper adds to existing knowledge This study indicates that receptive vocabulary might be useful in differentiating bilingual TD and DLD. Language exposure effects differ between TD and DLD groups, but depending on task. Lower performance, but also slower cross-sectional development, is found in receptive vocabulary for children with DLD. Interaction between language exposure and AoO stresses the importance of taking both into consideration when studying bilingual development. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? L2 vocabulary tests can be used in differentiating bilingual children with TD and DLD when exposure is taken into consideration. Difficulties using exposure and, hence, slower development in children with DLD suggest that especially receptive vocabulary might be diagnostic by the accumulating exposure. Investing in ways of supporting vocabulary development through small-group activities and in everyday situations of bilingual children at risk of DLD is highly recommended. This is important to prevent them from incrementally falling further behind their TD peers over time. A limited AoO effect suggests that families have more flexibility in terms of when to place their child in L2 immersion in their early years.

Home language environment and children's second language acquisition: the special status of input from older siblings

Previous research suggests that increased second language (L2) input at home may not support L2 acquisition in children from migrant backgrounds. In drawing this conclusion, existing work has largely aggregated across family members. This study contrasts the effect of L2 input from older siblings with that from mothers. Participants were 113 child L2 learners of English (mean age = 5;10 [range 4;10-7;2]; mean exposure to L2 in school = 16.7 months [range 2-48 months]). All children had at least one older sibling. Using hierarchical linear regression modelling with controls for age, non-verbal reasoning and phonological short-term memory, we found that greater L2 input from siblings - but not mothers - was associated with stronger L2 abilities in narrative macrostructure, inflectional morphology, and vocabulary. Increased cumulative exposure to the L2 at school and greater maternal L2 fluency were also positively related to children's L2 inflectional morphology and vocabulary scores.

Which Measures Better Discriminate Language Minority Bilingual Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder? A Study Testing a Combined Protocol of First and Second Language Assessment

Purpose This study aimed to assess a protocol for the evaluation of developmental language disorder (DLD) in language minority bilingual children (LMBC). The specific aims were (a) to test group differences, (b) to evaluate the discriminant validity of single measures included in the protocol, and (c) to define which model of combined variables had the best results in terms of efficacy and efficiency. Method Two groups of LMBC were involved, one with typical development (n = 35) selected from mainstream schools and one with DLD (n = 20). The study protocol included the collection of demographic information and linguistic history; a battery of standardized tests in their second language (Italian), including nonword repetition, morphosyntactic comprehension and production, and vocabulary and narrative skills; and direct (children's evaluation) and indirect (parents' questionnaire) assessment of linguistic skills in their first language. Results Results showed that the two groups differed in almost all linguistic measures. None of the single measures reached good specificity/sensitivity scores. A combined model that included direct and indirect assessment of first language skills, morphosyntactic comprehension and production, and nonword repetition reached good discriminant validity, with 94.5% of cases correctly classified. Discussion The study defines a complex picture of the linguistic profile in bilingual children with DLD, compared to typically developing bilingual peers. The results reinforce the idea that no single measure can be considered optimal in distinguishing children with DLD from typical peers. The study offers a concrete example of an effective and efficient protocol with which to discriminate LMBC with and without DLD.

The Utility of an English Semantics Measure for Identifying Developmental Language Disorder in Spanish-English Bilinguals

Purpose We examined the English semantic performance of three hundred twenty-seven 7- to 10-year-old Spanish-English bilinguals with (n = 66) and without (n = 261) developmental language disorder (DLD) with varying levels of English experience to classify groups. Method English semantic performance on the Bilingual English-Spanish Assessment-Middle Extension Experimental Test Version (Peña et al., 2008) was evaluated by language experience, language ability, and task type. Items that best identified DLD for children with balanced and high English experience were selected. Separately, items that best identified children with high Spanish experience were selected. Results Typically developing bilingual children performed significantly higher than their peers with DLD across semantic tasks, with differences associated with task type. Classification accuracy was fair when item selection corresponded to balanced or high level of experience in English, but poor for children with high Spanish experience. Selecting items specifically for children with high Spanish experience improved classification accuracy. Conclusions Tailoring semantic items based on children's experience is a promising direction toward organizing items on a continuum of exposure. Here, classification effectively ruled in impairment. Future work to refine semantic items that more accurately represent the continuum of exposure may help rule out language impairment.

Einbezug von Alter und Sprachkontaktdauer in die Wortschatzdiagnostik bei Mehrsprachigkeit

Zusammenfassung. Für die expressive Wortschatzdiagnostik mehrsprachiger Kinder im Grundschulalter fehlen Auswertungsansätze, die die heterogenen Bedingungen des Mehrspracherwerbs berücksichtigen. Solche Auswertungsansätze werden im Bildungs- und Gesundheitswesen gebraucht, um eine bessere Orientierung zu erhalten, welche mehrsprachigen Kinder sprachlich besonders auffällig sind. Die vorliegende Studie prüft, ob das Alter der Kinder und deren Kontaktdauer zur Umgebungssprache als Bestandteile mehrspracherwerbssensibler Normen für Wortschatzleistungen in der Umgebungssprache in Betracht kommen. Bei einer Stichprobe von 451 mehrsprachigen Grundschulkindern hatten das Alter und die Kontaktdauer einen bedeutsamen Einfluss auf den Wortschatz in der Umgebungssprache. Darüber hinaus zeigten sich differentielle Zusammenhänge. Kinder mit kürzerer Kontaktdauer unterschieden sich im Wortschatz stärker von Kindern, die z. B. ein Jahr älter und ein Kontaktjahr weiter fortgeschritten waren, als Kindern mit längerer Kontaktdauer. Insgesamt weisen die Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass die Entwicklung von mehrspracherwerbssensiblen Normen die Identifikation von sprachlich besonders auffälligen Kindern verbessern könnte.

Identifying developmental language disorder in bilingual children from diverse linguistic backgrounds

Purpose: To investigate an assessment approach that incorporates a parent questionnaire (ALDeQ) and two language processing tasks (nonword repetition [NWR] and recalling sentences [RS]) administered in English to differentiate bilingual children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) from typically developing (TD) bilingual children.Method: Participants were 42 typically developing bilingual children (biTD) and 19 bilingual children with DLD (biDLD). Groups were matched for age (M = 5;10) socioeconomic status (M = 1,023 SEIFA) and length of exposure to English (M = 33.4 months). Children were given a NWR and RS task. Parents completed the ALDeQ.Result: BiDLD had significantly (p < 0.005) lower average scores than biTD on all three assessment tools. The ALDeQ provided the highest diagnostic accuracy (100% sensitivity, 95.2% specificity, area under the curve [AUC] = 0.991). Two other combinations also provided good diagnostic accuracy (above 80% sensitivity and 80% specificity): combination of ALDeQ and NWR; scores below the cut-offline on any combination of assessment tools.Conclusion: Correct identification of DLD among bilingual children using an all English approach is possible. This approach has the potential to provide a practical and evidence-based solution for English speaking speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working with bilingual children.

Speaking and Reading in Two Languages: On the Identification of Reading and Language Disabilities in Spanish-Speaking English Learners

Articles in this issue examine (1) the primary sources of variability in reading and language achievement among Spanish-speaking English learners (ELs) in the United States, (2) the extent to which poor performance at the end of grade 2 is identifiable in developmental trajectories beginning in kindergarten, (3) the relations among core reading constructs of phonological awareness and decoding in both English and Spanish and the factors that affect their relationship, (4) the performance of different approaches to identification and the factors that influence how well they work, as well as (5) the growing literature focused on intervention for reading problems in this population. This article examines the literature on language minority students and disability identification and analyzes a large-scale longitudinal dataset (>4,000 ELs; >15,000 observations) to systematically characterize and describe the oral language and reading development of Spanish-speaking children designated as ELs from kindergarten to second grade, considering a range of factors that may potentially contribute to that characterization and its relation to academic performance. This systematic characterization should facilitate the development of an empirical basis for a theoretically grounded framework of typical development in ELs in order to more precisely identify those children with language and learning disabilities.

Identifying risk for language impairment in children from linguistically diverse low-income schools

PURPOSE

To improve screening procedures for children in a linguistically diverse context, we combined tasks known to reveal grammatical deficits in children with language impairment (LI) with training to facilitate performance on a verb elicitation task.

METHOD

Sixty-four first grade children participated. The objective grammatical measures included elicitation of 12 past tense regular verbs preceded by a teaching phase (teach-test), the sentence recall (SR) subtest of the Clinical evaluation of language fundamentals (CELF-4), and a tally of all conjugated verbs from a narrative retell task. Given the widespread reliance on teacher observation for the referral of children suspected of having LI, we compared our results to the spoken language portion of the CELF-4 teacher observational rating scale (ORS).

RESULT

Using teacher observation as a reference for comparison, the past tense elicitation task and the SR task yielded strong discriminating power, but the verb tally was relatively weak. However, combining the three tasks yielded the highest levels of sensitivity (75%) and specificity (92%) than any single measure on its own.

CONCLUSION

This study contributes to alternative assessment practices by highlighting the potential utility of adding a teaching component prior to administering informal grammatical probes.

Referential Cohesion in the Narratives of Bilingual and Monolingual Children With Typically Developing Language and With Specific Language Impairment

Purpose The study explores referential cohesion in the narratives of bilingual preschool children with typical language development (TLD) and with specific language impairment (SLI). Referential cohesion requires integration of multiple discourse factors and is expected to pose a challenge for children with bilingual SLI due to weak proficiency in both languages. Method Narratives were elicited from 45 bilinguals speaking Russian as the home language (L1) and Hebrew as the societal language (L2; 15 with SLI), 20 Hebrew-speaking monolinguals (10 with SLI), and 20 Russian-speaking monolinguals (10 with SLI) using a story retelling procedure. Bilinguals were tested in both languages. Analyses examined the effect of impairment (SLI vs. TLD) in bilinguals and monolinguals. Language effects were examined in cross-language comparisons of bilinguals (L1 vs. L2) and in differences between monolingual groups (Russian vs. Hebrew speakers) for the use of referential expressions. Results Bilingual children with SLI used a higher proportion of pronouns for character introduction and had fewer pronouns, which have been described as "adequate" ( Colozzo & Whitely, 2014 ) than bilingual children with TLD. No language effect emerged for bilinguals, who performed similarly in their L1 and L2, but a significant cross-linguistic difference emerged in the monolingual data: Russian-speaking children mainly used nouns to introduce and maintain characters, whereas Hebrew-speaking children mainly used pronouns for introduction and maintenance of characters. Conclusion The difficulty of children with SLI in creating a referential connection between a pronoun and a noun phrase is discussed in light of the interaction of local and global processes in narratives, which is shown to be weaker in children with SLI.

Narrative abilities of bilingual children with and without Developmental Language Disorder (SLI): Differentiation and the role of age and input factors

PURPOSE

The narrative abilities of bilinguals with TD and with DLD/SLI in their English L2 were examined in order to 1) identify the narrative components that differentiate these two groups and 2) determine the role of age and input factors in predicting L2 narrative abilities in each group.

METHOD

Participants were 24 English L2 children with DLD and 63 English L2 children with TD, matched on age (mean = 5; 8) and length of exposure to the L2 (mean = 24 months). Narrative samples were elicited using a story generation task and a parent questionnaire provided age and input variables.

RESULTS

Bilinguals with DLD had significantly lower scores for story grammar than their TD peers, but showed similar scores for narrative microstructure components. Length of L2 exposure in school and richness of the L2 environment predicted better narrative abilities for the group with TD but not with DLD. Older age predicted better narrative abilities for the group with DLD but not with TD. Quantity of L2 input/output at home did not predict story grammar or microstructure abilities in either group.

CONCLUSION

Story grammar might differentiate between children with TD and DLD better than microstructure among bilinguals with less exposure to the L2 and when a story generation task is used. Bilinguals with TD make more efficient use of L2 input than bilinguals with DLD.

Language diversity, language disorder, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder among youth sentenced to detention in Western Australia

BACKGROUND

While studies confirm high prevalence of language disorder among justice-involved young people, little is known about the impact of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) on language among this population. It is also not clear how language skills vary according to language diversity in Australian youth justice settings, where a disproportionate number of justice-involved youth are Aboriginal and may not speak Standard Australian English (SAE) as their first language. Language skills are important to understand, as language disorder and language difference can lead to a mismatch between the communication skills of a young person and the communication skills of the justice workforce with whom they are communicating. In the highly verbal environments that are common to justice systems, language disorder and language difference may result in a young person misunderstanding legal information and expectations placed on them and not being adequately understood by the justice workforce.

METHODS

This study examined the language skills of 98 young people sentenced to detention in Western Australia (WA), who participated in a cross-sectional study examining the prevalence of FASD. Language skills assessed using standardised and non-standardised tasks were analysed by the three major language groups identified: speakers of SAE, Aboriginal English and English as an additional language.

RESULTS

We identified rich diversity of languages, and multilingualism was common. Most young people for whom English was not their first language demonstrated difficulties in SAE competence. Further, nearly one in two young people were identified with language disorder - over half of whom had language disorder associated with FASD.

CONCLUSIONS

This study has documented language diversity and the prevalence of language disorder associated with FASD among a representative sample of youth sentenced to detention in WA. Results underscore the need for the justice workforce to consider language difference when working with justice-involved youth, as well as language disorder and FASD. The findings also demonstrate the need for speech pathology to be embedded as core service in youth justice systems, working in collaboration with local cultural and language advisors and accredited interpreters. This can better enable appropriate identification of and response to communication and associated rehabilitation needs of young people navigating youth justice systems.

Changes in English Past Tense Use by Bilingual School-Age Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study is to examine changes in English past tense accuracy and errors among Spanish-English bilingual children with typical development (TD) and developmental language disorder (DLD).

METHOD

Thirty-three children were tested before and after 1 year to examine changes in clinically relevant English past tense errors using an elicited production task. A mixed-model linear regression using age as a continuous variable revealed a robust effect for age. A 4-way repeated-measures analysis of variance was conducted with age (young, old) and language ability group (TD, DLD) as between-subjects variables, time (Time 1, Time 2) and verb type (regular, irregular, and novel verbs) as within-subject variables, and percent accuracy as the dependent variable. Subsequently, a 4-way repeated-measures analysis of variance was conducted to measure the overall distribution of verb errors across 2 time points.

RESULTS

Overall, children produced regular and novel verb past tense forms with higher accuracy than irregular past tense verbs in an elicitation task. Children with TD were more accurate than children with DLD. Younger children made more improvement than older children from Time 1 to Time 2, especially in the regular and novel verb conditions. Bare stem and overregularization were the most common errors across all groups. Errors consisting of stem + ing were more common in children with DLD than those with TD in the novel verb condition.

DISCUSSION

Contrary to an earlier report (Jacobson & Schwartz, 2005), the relative greater difficulty with regular and novel verbs was replaced by greater difficulty for irregular past tense, a pattern consistent with monolingual impairment. Age was a contributing factor, particularly for younger children with DLD who produced more stem + ing errors in the novel verb condition. For all children, and particularly for those with DLD, an extended period for irregular past tense learning was evident. The results support a usage-based theory of language acquisition and impairment.

Expressive Morphological Skills of Dual Language Learning and Monolingual German Children: Exploring Links to Duration of Preschool Attendance, Classroom Quality, and Classroom Composition

A growing body of research has been documenting environmental factors that support preschoolers' vocabulary skills. However, less is known about how environmental factors are related to morphological skills of dual language learners (DLLs) and single language learners (SLLs). We examined connections with preschool experiences by investigating the effects of duration of preschool attendance, classroom quality, and classroom composition variables (percentage of DLLs and percentage of children from families with a low socio-economic status) on preschoolers' expressive morphological skills. Several multilevel regression models were estimated using cross-sectional data from 835 children (n = 255 DLLs) aged 30-47 months. These children were nested in 169 preschool classrooms in Germany. As a control task, we also investigated children's phonological processing abilities, for which we found, as expected, no differences between DLLs and SLLs. Our main finding was that DLL children scored lower in expressive morphological skills than their German monolingual peers, but this difference was considerably smaller in classrooms that scored high in instructive teacher-child interactions (measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System for pre-kindergarten children; CLASS Pre-K). Taken together, these results support the notion that supportive teacher-child instructive interactions have a positive impact on the development of DLLs' morphological skills.

In few words: linguistic gap but adequate narrative structure in preschool bilingual children

The aim of this study was to compare linguistic and narrative skills of monolingual and bilingual preschoolers and to estimate linguistic predictors of the macro-structural level of narratives. A battery of linguistic measures in Italian was administered to sixty-four Monolinguals and sixty-four Early Bilinguals; it included Vocabulary, Phonological Awareness, Morphosyntactic Comprehension, Phonological Memory, Letter Knowledge, and Story Sequencing tasks. The narratives produced in the Story Sequencing task were coded. Bilinguals underachieved, compared to monolinguals, in vocabulary, phonological awareness and morphosyntactic comprehension; they also differed in Type and Token indexes and in free morphology, but not in the level of macro-structural complexity. Macro-structural parameters were predicted by Mean Length of Utterances in monolinguals, but not in bilinguals. Bilingual children are able to structure stories in their L2 with monolingual-like cohesive complexity, although 'in few words', that is, with weak L2 linguistic skills.

Story grammar elements and causal relations in the narratives of Russian-Hebrew bilingual children with SLI and typical language development

BACKGROUND

While there is general agreement regarding poor performance of children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) on microstructure measures of narrative production, findings on macrostructure are inconsistent.

PURPOSE

The present study analyzed narrative abilities of Russian-Hebrew bilingual preschool children with and without SLI, with a particular focus on story grammar (SG) elements and causal relations, in order to identify macrostructure features which distinguish bilingual children with SLI from those with typical development.

METHOD

Narratives were collected from 35 typically developing bilinguals (BiTD) and 14 bilinguals with SLI (BiSLI) in both Russian/L1 and Hebrew/L2 using a retelling procedure (LITMUS-Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives) (Gagarina, Klop, Kunnari, Tantele, Välimaa, Balčiūnienė, Bohnacker, & Walters, 2012). Each story contained three episodes, and each episode introduced a different protagonist with explicitly stated Goals (G), Attempts (A) and Outcomes (O). Causal relations assessed included Enabling, Physical, Motivational, and Psychological relations, following Trabasso & Nickels (1992). Each Goal-Attempt-Outcome (GAO) episode was examined for the use of SG elements and causal relations.

RESULTS

Group differences emerged for both aspects of macrostructure. For causal relations, narratives of BiSLI children contained fewer Enabling and Physical relations, and differed qualitatively from those of BiTD children. For SG elements, BiSLI children referred to fewer SG elements than BiTD children in the first episode, but performed like BiTD children in the second and the third episodes.

CONCLUSIONS

Story grammar elements in specific episodes along with Enabling and Physical causal relations distinguish the narratives of children with BiSLI from those with BiTD, which stresses the importance of examining wider array of macrostructure features in narratives.

English Verb Accuracy of Bilingual Cantonese-English Preschoolers

Purpose

Knowledge of verb development in typically developing bilingual preschoolers may inform clinicians about verb accuracy rates during the 1st 2 years of English instruction. This study aimed to investigate tensed verb accuracy in 2 assessment contexts in 4- and 5-year-old Cantonese-English bilingual preschoolers.

Method

The sample included 47 Cantonese-English bilinguals enrolled in English preschools. Half of the children were in their 1st 4 months of English language exposure, and half had completed 1 year and 4 months of exposure to English. Data were obtained from the Test of Early Grammatical Impairment (Rice & Wexler, 2001) and from a narrative generated in English.

Results

By the 2nd year of formal exposure to English, children in the present study approximated 33% accuracy of tensed verbs in a formal testing context versus 61% in a narrative context. The use of the English verb BE approximated mastery. Predictors of English third-person singular verb accuracy were task, grade, English expressive vocabulary, and lemma frequency.

Conclusions

Verb tense accuracy was low across both groups, but a precocious mastery of BE was observed. The results of the present study suggest that speech-language pathologists may consider, in addition to an elicitation task, evaluating the use of verbs during narratives in bilingual Cantonese-English bilingual children.

Tense Marking in the English Narrative Retells of Dual Language Preschoolers

Purpose

This longitudinal study investigated the emergence of English tense marking in young (Spanish–English) dual language learners (DLLs) over 4 consecutive academic semesters, addressing the need for longitudinal data on typical acquisition trajectories of English in DLL preschoolers.

Method

Language sample analysis was conducted on 139 English narrative retells elicited from 39 preschool-age (Spanish–English) DLLs (range = 39–65 months). Growth curve models captured within- and between-individual change in tense-marking accuracy over time. Tense-marking accuracy was indexed by the finite verb morphology composite and by 2 specifically developed adaptations. Individual tense markers were systematically described in terms of overall accuracy and specific error patterns.

Results

Tense-marking accuracy exhibited significant growth over time for each composite. Initially, irregular past-tense accuracy was higher than regular past-tense accuracy; over time, however, regular past-tense marking outpaced accuracy on irregular verbs.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that young DLLs can achieve high tense-marking accuracy assuming 2 years of immersive exposure to English. Monitoring the growth in tense-marking accuracy over time and considering productive tense-marking errors as partially correct more precisely captured the emergence of English tense marking in this population with highly variable expressive language skills.

Supplemental Materials

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.5176942

The Persistence and Functional Impact of English Language Difficulties Experienced by Children Learning English as an Additional Language and Monolingual Peers

Purpose

This study explored whether a monolingual-normed English language battery could identify children with English as an additional language (EAL) who have persistent English language learning difficulties that affect functional academic attainment.

Method

Children with EAL (n = 43) and monolingual English-speaking children (n = 46) completed a comprehensive monolingual-normed English language battery in Year 1 (ages 5-6 years) and Year 3 (ages 7-8 years). Children with EAL and monolingual peers, who either met monolingual criteria for language impairment or typical development on the language battery in Year 1, were compared on language growth between Year 1 and Year 3 and on attainment in national curriculum assessments in Year 2 (ages 6-7 years).

Results

Children with EAL and monolingual peers who met monolingual criteria for language impairment in Year 1 continued to display comparably impaired overall language ability 2 years later in Year 3. Moreover, these groups displayed comparably low levels of academic attainment in Year 2, demonstrating comparable functional impact of their language difficulties.

Conclusion

Monolingual-normed language batteries in the majority language may have some practical value for identifying bilingual children who need support with language learning, regardless of the origin of their language difficulties.

Cross-linguistic transfer effects after phonologically based cognate therapy in a case of multilingual specific language impairment (SLI)

BACKGROUND

Clinicians globally recognize as exceptionally challenging the development of effective intervention practices for bi- or multilingual children with specific language impairment (SLI). Therapy in both or all of an impaired child's languages is rarely possible. An alternative is to develop treatment protocols that facilitate the transfer of therapy effects from a treated language to an untreated language.

AIMS

To explore whether cognates, words that share meaning and phonological features across languages, could be used to boost lexical retrieval in the context of multilingual SLI. This is dependent on exploiting the phonological information in the one, trained language as a mechanism for (phonological) language transfer to the other, untrained languages.

METHODS & PROCEDURES

The participant is an 8.5-year-old girl diagnosed with SLI who showed a severe naming deficit in her three spoken languages (Bulgarian, English and Greek). She received training on cognates (n = 20) using a picture-based naming task in English only, three times a week, over a 4-week period for 20 min each time. Phonological-based naming therapy was carried out using form-based strategies.

OUTCOMES & RESULTS

There was a significant improvement during therapy and immediately after intervention on cognate performance in English which was maintained 1 month after intervention. Cognate production in Bulgarian and Greek also improved during all stages of the intervention. Improvement in the non-treated languages was slightly more than half of the improvement recorded in English. The findings reflected some degree of cross-linguistic transfer effects.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

Cross-linguistic transfer effects were evident during therapy and after therapy had finished and the effects were maintained 1 month post-treatment. Both the native language (Bulgarian) and the dominant language (Greek) benefitted equally from the treatment of cognates in English. Generalization to non-treatment words was evident, predominantly for English. The results suggest that cognates can indeed be used successfully as a WFD intervention strategy for multilingual children with SLI with lasting effects.

Screening Bilingual Preschoolers for Language Difficulties: Utility of Teacher and Parent Reports

PURPOSE

The utility of parent and teacher reports for screening 3 types of bilingual preschoolers (English-first language [L1]/Mandarin-second language[L2], Mandarin-L1/English-L2, or Malay-L1/English-L2) for language difficulty was investigated in Singapore with reference to measures of reliability, validity, sensitivity, and specificity in an English-medium kindergarten setting.

METHOD

The index tests were teachers' ratings of the English language ability of 5-year-olds (N = 85) on the Bilingual Language Assessment Battery (BLAB): Preschool Teacher Report (Pua, Lee, & Rickard Liow, 2013) and parents' ratings of their child's home language ability (N = 78 English-L1, Mandarin-L1, or Malay-L1) on the BLAB: Preschool Parent Report (Pua, Lee, & Rickard Liow, 2013). The reference standards were objective measures of single-word receptive vocabulary (80 items) and expressive vocabulary (140 items) in the child's L1 and L2, as proxies for language ability.

RESULTS

BLAB Teacher Reports for the English receptive and expressive subscales showed concurrent validity for all 3 bilingual groups, as well as generally high sensitivity and specificity. In contrast, BLAB Parent Reports for L1 receptive ability failed to show significant correlations with the objective measures of receptive vocabulary.

CONCLUSION

Subjective teacher ratings may be an effective method of screening bilingual preschoolers for language difficulty, thereby prompting referral to clinicians.

Assessment of bilingual children: What if testing both languages is not possible?

Language delays of bilingual children can arise from language impairment (LI) but also from insufficient exposure to the target language. A reliable diagnosis of LI in bilingual children is therefore ideally based on the evaluation of both languages, as LI affects each language that is learned. However, due to the multitude of language combinations that are encountered in clinical practice, this is often not feasible. Bilingual norm-referencing may offer a solution, but the heterogeneity within the bilingual population makes it difficult to determine appropriate standards for every child. The present study examined an alternative approach to assessing both languages or using bilingual norm-referencing, aiming to assemble instruments that reduce bias against bilingual children. We used a four-group design, including monolingual and bilingual children with and without LI (N=132), to first investigate the effects of LI and bilingualism on risks associated with a child's early language development and the prevalence of language problems in the family, as reported by parents. Second, we evaluated the diagnostic validity of these two indices, and, in addition, combined these with two unbiased language measures which we previously examined in isolation: a quasi-universal nonword repetition task and a narrative task. Results showed that the index of Early Language Development was a strong predictor of LI. In combination with the two direct language measures, it excellently identified the presence or absence of LI in and across monolingual and bilingual learning contexts.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

As a result of this study, the reader will learn about an alternative approach to testing a bilingual child in both languages. The reader will recognize the importance of using unbiased measures for the identification of LI in a bilingual context, and, in addition, will appreciate the value of combining parental report with direct language measures.

Narrative abilities of monolingual and bilingual children with and without language impairment: implications for clinical practice

BACKGROUND

Understanding and expressing a narrative's macro-structure is relatively independent of experience in a specific language. A narrative task is therefore assumed to be a less biased method of language assessment for bilingual children than many other norm-referenced tests and may thus be particularly valuable to identify language impairment (LI) in a bilingual context.

AIMS

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of LI and bilingualism on macrostructural narrative skills. Moreover, it evaluated the diagnostic validity of a narrative task within a monolingual and bilingual sample.

METHODS & PROCEDURES

Five- and 6-year-old mono- and bilingual children with and without LI (N = 33 per group) were tested on production and comprehension measures of narrative macro-structure. A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was used to investigate the effects of LI and bilingualism on their narrative abilities. Binary logistic regressions were conducted to evaluate the instrument's diagnostic value.

OUTCOMES & RESULTS

Negative effects of LI were found on all narrative measures, whereas no effects of bilingualism emerged. The narrative task adequately differentiated between both mono- and bilingual children with and without LI, with story elements related to internal states being more effective than elements related to the basic episode structure.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

This study confirms the hypothesis that measures of narrative macro-structure are not biased against children who have less experience with a particular language, like bilinguals. In addition, it indicates that using narratives to assess children's language abilities can support the identification of LI in both a monolingual and a bilingual context.

English Language Proficiency and Early School Attainment Among Children Learning English as an Additional Language

Children learning English as an additional language (EAL) often experience lower academic attainment than monolingual peers. In this study, teachers provided ratings of English language proficiency and social, emotional, and behavioral functioning for 782 children with EAL and 6,485 monolingual children in reception year (ages 4–5). Academic attainment was assessed in reception and Year 2 (ages 6–7). Relative to monolingual peers with comparable English language proficiency, children with EAL displayed fewer social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties in reception, were equally likely to meet curriculum targets in reception, and were more likely to meet targets in Year 2. Academic attainment and social, emotional, and behavioral functioning in children with EAL are associated with English language proficiency at school entry.

Professional practices and opinions about services available to bilingual children with developmental disabilities: An international study

This study aimed to gather information from school- and clinic-based professionals about their practices and opinions pertaining to the provision of bilingual supports to students with developmental disabilities. Using an online survey, data were collected in six socio-culturally and linguistically diverse locations across four countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. In total, 361 surveys were included in the analysis from respondents who were primarily teachers and speech-language pathologists working in schools, daycares/preschools, or community-based clinics. The overall picture that emerged from the data reflected a disconnection between practice and opinion. In general, respondents believed that children with both mild and severe disabilities are capable of learning a second language, although their opinions were more neutral for the latter group. However, children with both mild and severe disabilities who spoke only a minority language at home had less access to services for second language learners than did their typically developing peers, although respondents agreed that such services should be more available. Regardless of clinical group, children who lived in homes where a minority language was spoken were often exposed to, assessed in, and treated in the majority language only; again, respondents generally disagreed with these practices. Finally, second language classes were less available to children in the two disability groups compared to typically developing bilingual children, with general agreement that the opportunity to acquire a second language should be more available, especially to those with mild disabilities. Although the results indicate that there is a considerable gap between current practices and professional opinions, professionals appear to be more supportive of bilingual educational opportunities for these populations than was suggested by previous research.

Supporting the home language of bilingual children with developmental disabilities: From knowing to doing

There is a growing awareness of bilingualism and the needs of children with developmental disabilities who are exposed to more than one language. This growing awareness is paralleled by a growing research base in the area of bilingualism and emerging research in bilingual children with developmental disabilities. In this set of articles we see that there is general agreement that bilingualism does not increase risk for language impairment nor does intervention in the home language interfere with second language learning. Yet there continues to be challenges in putting this knowledge into practice. By better understanding the challenges to implementation in context we can better address the needs of children, families, and practitioners.

A multi-site review of policies affecting opportunities for children with developmental disabilities to become bilingual

This review of special education and language-in-education policies at six sites in four countries (Canada, United States, United Kingdom, and Netherlands) aimed to determine the opportunities for bilingualism provided at school for children with developmental disabilities (DD). While research has demonstrated that children with DD are capable of learning more than one language (see Kay Raining Bird, Genesee, & Verhoeven, this issue), it was not clear whether recent policies reflect these findings. The review, conducted using the same protocol across sites, showed that special education policies rarely addressed second language learning explicitly. However, at all sites, the policies favoured inclusion and educational planning based on individual needs, and thus implied that students with DD would have opportunities for second language learning. The language-in-education policies occasionally specified the support individuals with special needs would receive. At some sites, policies and educational options provided little support for minority languages, a factor that could contribute to subtractive bilingualism. At others, we found stronger support for minority languages and optional majority languages: conditions that could be more conducive to additive bilingualism.

Bilingualism in children with developmental disorders: A narrative review

Children with developmental disabilities (DD) often need and sometimes opt to become bilingual. The context for bilingual acquisition varies considerably and can impact outcomes. In this first article of the special issue, we review research on the timing and amount of bilingual exposure and outcomes of either direct language intervention or educational placements in three groups of children with DD: Specific Language Impairment (SLI), Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), and Down syndrome (DS). Children with SLI have been studied more than the other two groups. Findings showed that, on the one hand, the communication skills of simultaneous bilinguals and matched monolinguals with DD were similar for all groups when the stronger language or both languages of the bilingual children were considered. On the other hand, similar to typically developing children, sequential bilinguals and matched monolinguals with SLI (other groups not studied) differed on some but not all second language (L2) measures; even after an extended period of exposure, differences in L2 outcomes were not completely resolved. There is emerging evidence that the typological similarity of the languages being learned influences L2 development in sequential bilinguals, at least in children with SLI. Increasing the frequency of exposure seems to be more related to development of the weaker language in bilinguals with DD than their stronger language. Language intervention studies show the efficacy of interventions but provide little evidence for transfer across languages. In addition, only one (unpublished) study has compared the language and academic outcomes of children with DD in different language education programs. Research on bilingual children with DD in different educational settings/programs is limited, probably as a result of restricted inclusion of these children in some educational settings. We argue for the implementation of full inclusion policies that provide increased access to dual language programs for children with DD and access to a complete range of support services.

Narratives in Two Languages: Storytelling of Bilingual Cantonese-English Preschoolers

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to compare narratives generated by 4-year-old and 5-year-old children who were bilingual in English and Cantonese.

METHOD

The sample included 47 children (23 who were 4 years old and 24 who were 5 years old) living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who spoke both Cantonese and English. The participants spoke and heard predominantly Cantonese in the home. Participants generated a story in English and Cantonese by using a wordless picture book; language order was counterbalanced. Data were transcribed and coded for story grammar, morphosyntactic quality, mean length of utterance in words, and the number of different words.

RESULTS

Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed higher story grammar scores in English than in Cantonese, but no other significant main effects of language were observed. Analyses also revealed that older children had higher story grammar, mean length of utterance in words, and morphosyntactic quality scores than younger children in both languages. Hierarchical regressions indicated that Cantonese story grammar predicted English story grammar and Cantonese microstructure predicted English microstructure. However, no correlation was observed between Cantonese and English morphosyntactic quality.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study have implications for speech-language pathologists who collect narratives in Cantonese and English from bilingual preschoolers. The results suggest that there is a possible transfer in narrative abilities between the two languages.

A descriptive study of lexical organisation in bilingual children with language impairment: Developmental changes

PURPOSE

This study aimed to describe the development of Arabic and Swedish lexical organisation in bilingual children with language impairment (BLI).

METHOD

Lexical organisation was assessed through word associations in 10 BLI and 10 bilingual children with typical development (BTD), aged 6;2-8;0 years, matched for age and gender. The participants were assessed twice, with a 1-year interval. Word associations were coded as paradigmatic, syntagmatic, phonological, other and no answer. This study reports analyses of the semantically-related syntagmatic and paradigmatic associations. Using repeated measures ANOVA, main and interaction effects of Group, Time and Language were examined for paradigmatic and syntagmatic associations separately.

RESULT

The interaction between Group and Time was significant for both associations. The BLI group increased syntagmatic associations from time 1 to time 2, while the BTD group increased paradigmatic associations. Results showed a significant main effect of Language for both types of associations, with better performance in Swedish. Significant Group by Language interactions resulted from lower Arabic than Swedish syntagmatic and paradigmatic scores for the BLI and BTD groups, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Differing developmental trajectories indicate that bilingual children with LI develop lexical organisation at a slower pace than bilingual peers with typical language development.

Where Spanish and English Come Together: A Two Dimensional Bilingual Approach to Clinical Decision Making

An increasing number of United States school children are from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds and speak multiple languages. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are often challenged with differentiating the performance of bilingual children with language impairment from those who may display a language difference. While there is consensus that we should consider both languages of a bilingual child in formal and informal assessments, there is no agreed way to interpret results of testing in both languages. The aim of this article is to propose a framework for conducting and interpreting the results from comprehensive and unbiased evaluations that incorporate language samples, parent and teacher reports, and standardized testing. We will illustrate the use of this bilingual coordinate approach via a pair of case studies.

English Language Learners' Nonword Repetition Performance: The Influence of Age, L2 Vocabulary Size, Length of L2 Exposure, and L1 Phonology

PURPOSE

This study examined individual differences in English language learners' (ELLs) nonword repetition (NWR) accuracy, focusing on the effects of age, English vocabulary size, length of exposure to English, and first-language (L1) phonology.

METHOD

Participants were 75 typically developing ELLs (mean age 5;8 [years;months]) whose exposure to English began on average at age 4;4. Children spoke either a Chinese language or South Asian language as an L1 and were given English standardized tests for NWR and receptive vocabulary.

RESULTS

Although the majority of ELLs scored within or above the monolingual normal range (71%), 29% scored below. Mixed logistic regression modeling revealed that a larger English vocabulary, longer English exposure, South Asian L1, and older age all had significant and positive effects on ELLs' NWR accuracy. Error analyses revealed the following L1 effect: onset consonants were produced more accurately than codas overall, but this effect was stronger for the Chinese group whose L1s have a more limited coda inventory compared with English.

CONCLUSION

ELLs' NWR performance is influenced by a number of factors. Consideration of these factors is important in deciding whether monolingual norm referencing is appropriate for ELL children.

The Development of English as a Second Language With and Without Specific Language Impairment: Clinical Implications

PURPOSE

The purpose of this research forum article is to provide an overview of typical and atypical development of English as a second language (L2) and to present strategies for clinical assessment with English language learners (ELLs).

METHOD

A review of studies examining the lexical, morphological, narrative, and verbal memory abilities of ELLs is organized around 3 topics: timeframe and characteristics of typical English L2 development, comparison of the English L2 development of children with and without specific language impairment (SLI), and strategies for more effective assessment with ELLs.

RESULTS

ELLs take longer than 3 years to converge on monolingual norms and approach monolingual norms asynchronously across linguistic subdomains. Individual variation is predicted by age, first language, language learning aptitude, length of exposure to English in school, maternal education, and richness of the English environment outside school. ELLs with SLI acquire English more slowly than ELLs with typical development; their morphological and nonword repetition abilities differentiate them the most. Use of strategies such as parent questionnaires on first language development and ELL norm referencing can result in accurate discrimination of ELLs with SLI.

CONCLUSIONS

Variability in the language abilities of ELLs presents challenges for clinical practice. Increased knowledge of English language learning development with and without SLI together with evidence-based alternative assessment strategies can assist in overcoming these challenges.

Using Technology to Facilitate Authentic Assessment of Bilingual Preschool Children

An increasing number of children in preschools and schools around the country are from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and speak multiple languages. However, clinicians are often challenged in conducting least-biased assessments of bilingual children, which often results in over-referral or under- referral of these children to special education and related services. Utilizing naturalistic and authentic assessment of child language such as language sampling is a recommended approach to augment traditional assessments in clinical settings. The Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) technology offers clinicians a time-and cost effective means to gathering representative language samples across home and school environments to help determine the presence of speech-language impairment in young bilingual children. We describe an exploratory study using the LENA with five Spanish-English bilingual children to identify the accuracy of traditionally transcribed child word counts as compared to the automated child vocalization analyses obtained through the LENA. Results indicate the need for more research to fully explore the clinical utility of this technology for assessment of bilingual children.

Dynamic assessment of narrative ability in English accurately identifies language impairment in English language learners

PURPOSE

To assess the identification accuracy of dynamic assessment (DA) of narrative ability in English for children learning English as a 2nd language.

METHOD

A DA task was administered to 54 children: 18 Spanish-English-speaking children with language impairment (LI); 18 age-, sex-, IQ- and language experience-matched typical control children; and an additional 18 age- and language experience-matched comparison children. A variety of quantitative and qualitative measures were collected in the pretest phase, the mediation phase, and the posttest phase of the study. Exploratory discriminant analysis was used to determine the set of measures that best differentiated among this group of children with and without LI.

RESULTS

A combination of examiner ratings of modifiability (compliance, metacognition, and task orientation), DA story scores (setting, dialogue, and complexity of vocabulary), and ungrammaticality (derived from the posttest narrative sample) classified children with 80.6% to 97.2% accuracy.

CONCLUSION

DA conducted in English provides a systematic means for measuring learning processes and learning outcomes, resulting in a clinically useful procedure for identifying LIs in bilingual children who are in the process of learning English as a second language.

English second-language learners in preschool

The objectives of this study were twofold: (1) Determine the English proficiency of English second-language learners (ELLs) at the end of preschool as referenced to monolingual norms, and in particular, to determine if they showed an asynchronous profile, that is, approached monolingual norms more closely for some linguistic sub-skills than others; (2) Investigate the role of home language environment in predicting individual differences in children’s English proficiency. Twenty-one ELL children (mean age = 58 months) from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds with diverse first-language backgrounds participated in the study. Children’s English proficiency was measured using a standardized story-telling instrument that yielded separate scores for their narrative, grammatical and vocabulary skills. A parent questionnaire was used to gather information about children’s home language environments. The ELL children displayed an asynchronous profile in their English development, as their standard scores varied in terms of proximity to monolingual norms; narrative story grammar was close to the standard mean, but mean length of utterance was below 1 standard deviation from the standard mean. No differences were found between the story-telling scores of the Canadian-born and foreign-born children, even though Canadian-born children were exposed to more English at home. Implications of the findings for clinicians and educators working with young ELLs are discussed.

Identification of specific language impairment in bilingual children: I. Assessment in English

PURPOSE

This study was designed to derive cut scores for English testing for use in identifying specific language impairment (SLI) in bilingual children who were learning English as a second language.

METHOD

In a 1-gate design, 167 children received comprehensive language assessments in English and Spanish during their first-grade year. The reference standard was identification by a team of expert bilingual speech-language pathologists. Receiver operating curve (ROC) analyses were used to identify the optimal prediction model for SLI.

RESULTS

The original, English EpiSLI criteria (Tomblin, Records, & Zhang, 1996) yielded a sensitivity of .95 and a specificity of .45 (LR+ = 1.73, LR- = 0.11, and AUC = .79) for our bilinguals. Revised cutoff scores yielded a sensitivity of .86 and a specificity of .68 (LR+ = 2.67, LR- = 0.21, and AUC = .77). An optimal prediction model yielded a sensitivity of .81 and a specificity of .81 (LR+ = 4.37, LR- = 0.23 and AUC = .85).

CONCLUSION

The results of English testing could be used to make a reasonably accurate diagnostic decision for bilingual children who had attended public school for at least 1 year and were using English at least 30% of the time.