Language acquisition of early sequentially bilingual children is moderated by short-term memory for order in developmental language disorder: Findings from the HelSLI study

Sign language delays in deaf 3- to 5-year-olds with hearing parents

Deaf children of hearing parents (DOH) are at risk for early language delays (ELD) due to environmental and etiological factors, compounding the previously reported higher incidence of ELD in deaf children of deaf parents (DOD) compared to the general population. Archival data from the online database of the Visual Communication and Sign Language Checklist yielded 147 ratings of DOH 3- to 5-year-old children whose parents reported American sign language (ASL) being used in the home at least equally to spoken language. Research goals included (1) examining the incidence of ELD in this cohort, (2) investigating differences in outcomes based on the scaling method used, (3) exploring patterns among the ratings of DOH children identified with ELD, (4) comparing the DOH outcomes to published DOD data, and (5) investigating differences between ratings and individual children. The DOH outcomes suggested an incidence of ELD twice that of the previous DOD sample, with a higher percentage of more severe delays. Even DOH children not identified with ELD demonstrated less well-developed ASL skills than their DOD peers. This emphasizes the need for ongoing monitoring of early ASL skills to allow for early identification of needs and adjustment of interventions to address ASL development.

Sign language delays in deaf 3- to 5-year-olds with deaf parents

Research has demonstrated that deaf children of deaf signing parents (DOD) are afforded developmental advantages. This can be misconstrued as indicating that no DOD children exhibit early language delays (ELDs) because of their early access to a visual language. Little research has studied this presumption. In this study, we examine 174 ratings of DOD 3- to 5-year-old children, for whom signing in the home was indicated, using archival data from the online database of the Visual Communication and Sign Language Checklist. Our goals were to (1) examine the incidence of ELDs in a cohort of DOD children; (2) compare alternative scaling strategies for identifying ELD children; (3) explore patterns among behavioral ratings with a view toward developing a greater understanding of the types of language behaviors that may lie at the root of language delays; and (4) suggest recommendations for parents and professionals working with language-delayed DOD children. The results indicated that a significant number of ratings suggested ELDs, with a subset significantly delayed. These children likely require further evaluation. Among the less delayed group, ASL skills, rather than communication or cognition, were seen as the major concern, suggesting that even DOD children may require support developing linguistically accurate ASL. Overall, these findings support the need for early and ongoing evaluation of visual language skills in young DOD children.

Predictors of Reading Development Among School-Age Bilingual Children With Developmental Language Disorder: A Scoping Review

PURPOSE

Systematic reviews of bilingual children's reading development are very limited, and none of which solely focus on predictors of reading difficulties among those with developmental language disorder (DLD). The present scoping review fills an important need by analyzing the recent research literature on the reading outcomes of bilingual children with DLD. Specifically, this study aims to identify predictors of reading difficulties among bilingual children with DLD to improve early identification.

METHOD

The search parameters used in this scoping review included peer-reviewed journal articles written in English from 2000 to 2022 in order to synthesize the most recent empirical work, a focus on early childhood through early adolescent (pre-K to eighth grade) bilinguals with DLD, and research designs that included case study, descriptive, cross-sectional, quasi-experimental, longitudinal, and qualitative methods.

RESULTS

The present review yielded nine articles, which all examined the predictive validity of either a measure or task with the ultimate goal of improving early identification of reading difficulties. Significant predictors of reading difficulties, such as rapid naming and blending in first language (L1), were found to aid in identifying bilingual children who have DLD.

CONCLUSIONS

To conclude, this review demonstrates that this is a highly under-researched topic. To have ended up including only nine articles that fit the criteria of our search reveals a large gap in the research and a limitation of this review.

Short-Term Memory for Auditory Temporal Patterns and Meaningless Sentences Predicts Learning of Foreign Word Forms

The ability to accurately repeat meaningless nonwords or lists of spoken digits in correct order have been associated with vocabulary acquisition in both first and second language. Individual differences in these tasks are thought to depend on the phonological loop component of working memory. However, phonological working memory may itself depend on more elementary processes. We asked whether auditory non-verbal short-term memory (STM) for patterns in time supports immediate recall of speech-based sequences. Participants tapped temporal sequences consisting of short and long beeps and repeated nonsense sentences sounding like their native language or an unfamiliar language. As a language learning task, they also memorized familiar-word–foreign-word pairs. Word learning was directly predicted by nonsense sentence repetition accuracy. It was also predicted by temporal pattern STM. However, this association was mediated by performance on the repetition measure. We propose that STM for temporal patterns may reflect a component skill that provides the context signal necessary to encode order in phonological STM. It would be needed to support representation of the prosodic profile of language material, which allows syllables in words and words in sentences to be ordered and temporally grouped for short-term representation and long-term learning.