Kathryn Kohnert

Bilingual children with primary language impairment: Issues, evidence and implications for clinical actions

UNLABELLED A clear understanding of how to best provide clinical serves to bilingual children with suspected or confirmed primary language impairment (PLI) is predicated on understanding typical development in dual-language learners as well as the PLI profile. This article reviews general characteristics of children learning two languages, including three that challenge the diagnosis and treatment of PLI; uneven distribution of abilities in the childs two languages, cross-linguistic associations within bilingual learners, and individual variation in response to similar social circumstances. The diagnostic category of PLI (also referred to in the literature as specific language impairment or SLI) is described with attention to how language impairment, in the face of otherwise typical development, manifests in children learning two languages. Empirical evidence related to differential diagnosis of PLI in bilingual children is then reviewed and issues related to the generalization of treatment gains in dual-language learners with PLI are introduced. LEARNING OUTCOMES As a result of this activity, the careful reader will be able to (1) describe general characteristics of typically developing dual-language learners, (2) explain how primary language impairment (PLI) manifests in bilingual children, and (3) identify key clinical issues and approaches to assessment and treatment on bilingual PLI.

Cognitive and Cognate-Based Treatments for Bilingual Aphasia: A Case Study.

Two consecutive treatments were conducted to investigate skill learning and generalization within and across cognitive-linguistic domains in a 62-year-old Spanish-English bilingual man with severe non-fluent aphasia. Treatment 1 was a cognitive-based treatment that emphasized non-linguistic skills, such as visual scanning, categorization, and simple arithmetic. Treatment 2 was a lexically based treatment that trained cognates (cross-linguistic word pairs that are similar in meaning and form, such as rosa/rose) and non-cognates (cross-linguistic word pairs with shared meaning but different forms, such as mesa/table). Treatment 1 resulted in modest gains in both Spanish and English. Treatment 2 resulted in improved naming for non-cognates as well as cognates within each language. However, the generalization of gains from Spanish to English was apparent only for cognate stimuli.

Bilingual children and communication disorders: A 30-year research retrospective.

We present a review of the empirical literature at the intersection of bilingualism and pediatric communication disorders. A computer search of six electronic databases was done to identify studies published in English since 1950 that directly investigated some aspect of speech, language, or cognitive performance in developing bilinguals and children with communication impairments. The computer search yielded 116 non-duplicated articles, the first published in 1978. An article review by the authors further reduced the number of studies meeting search criteria to 64. A majority of studies focused on primary developmental language impairment (LI) and children learning two languages sequentially. Spanish and English were the most frequent combination of languages for bilingual participants. Collective study findings are presented with respect to trends, clinical implications, and areas for future research.

Spanish Nonword Repetition: Stimuli Development and Preliminary Results.

Purpose: The current study presents preliminary nonword repetition data from Spanish-speaking preschool children using a new set of stimuli. Method: Twenty nonwords were constructed to be phonotactically possible in Spanish and to conform to published guidelines for nonword repetition stimuli. Fourteen Spanish-speaking typically developing preschool children repeated the nonwords. Results: Both age and word length affected repetition accuracy, and there was an age-by-length interaction. Younger children were less accurate overall and showed steeper decreases in accuracy as length increased. Conclusions: The results provide promising evidence that the stimuli may be developed into a Spanish nonword repetition task for both research and clinical purposes.

Performance on Nonlinguistic Visual Tasks by Children with Language Impairment.

The performance of 8- to 13-year-old monolingual English-speaking children with language impairment (LI) on seven nonlinguistic tasks was compared with two groups of typically developing children, monolingual English-speaking children, and proficient Spanish–English sequential bilingual children. Group differences were apparent, with a key finding that the LI group was observably slower than both typical groups in mental rotation and arithmetic, and also slower than the typical monolingual group in odd man out, pattern matching, and form completion. Overall, the response time (RT) increased equivalently across groups as task difficulty increased. Chronological age and perceptual–motor speed contributed to task performance, especially for the shorter tasks. RT trajectories across the 6-year age span showed that task RT decreased with age, but with greater variability for longer tasks that may also be more vulnerable to the effect of experience.

Crossing borders: Recognition of Spanish words by English-speaking children with and without language impairment

We introduce an objective method for classifying phonological overlap between Spanish and English translation equivalents. This method then is exploited to examine spoken word recognition using stimuli with graded levels of phonological overlap. Performance by typical English-only speaking (EO) children and English-only children with primary language impairment (LI) is compared to a control group of bilingual Spanish–English peers (BI). Response time and accuracy separated groups, with the BI group outperforming the EO group, who in turn outperformed the LI group. Children with more severe LI are slower than those with mild LI, and LI severity is significantly correlated with speed. The two groups of monolingual children and the LI subgroups respond in a qualitatively similar way to decreasing phonological overlap.

Cross-language generalization following treatment in bilingual speakers with aphasia: a review.

The focus of this article is on the potential transfer or generalization of positive effects from a treated to an untreated language in bilingual or multilingual individuals with primary acquired aphasia. Twelve studies are reviewed: All were previously published in English in peer-reviewed journals. Half of these studies failed to account for spontaneous recovery. Results from the remaining case reports and single-subject studies are mixed, with four finding evidence for cross-language generalization under some conditions and two finding that improved language performance was restricted to the treated language. Collective findings are discussed within the broader literature in terms of factors to consider when planning for effective, efficient intervention with bilinguals with aphasia.

Non‐linguistic cognitive treatment for primary language impairment

Children with primary or ‘specific’ language impairment (PLI) demonstrate subtle deficits in non‐linguistic cognitive processing skills that may play a causal or contributing role in PLI. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility that short‐term treatment of non‐linguistic cognitive processing skills improves language abilities in school‐aged children with PLI. Two children with severe PLI participated in a treatment study following a single‐subject multiple‐baseline design across participants and skill areas. Treatment activities targeted auditory memory and speed of processing for visual information. Results of both repeated dependent measures and pre‐ and post‐ standardized language testing indicated that participants made gains in expressive language skills, particularly naming. This preliminary evidence suggests that treatment of non‐linguistic cognitive processing skills may facilitate change in some areas of language skill. Treatment of non‐linguistic processing skills should be further explored as a complement to more traditional language interventions.

A Growth Curve Analysis of Novel Word Learning by Sequential Bilingual Preschool Children.

Longitudinal word learning studies which control for experience can advance understanding of language learning and potential intra- and inter-language relationships in developing bilinguals. We examined novel word learning in both the first (L1) and the second (L2) languages of bilingual children. The rate and shape of change as well as the role of existing vocabulary in new word learning were of primary interest. Participants were 32 three-to-five-year old children. All participants had Hmong as their L1 and English as their L2. A novel word learning paradigm was used to measure childrens acquisition of new form–meaning associations in L1 and L2 over eight weekly training sessions (four in each language). Two-level hierarchical linear models were used to analyze change in the comprehension and production of new words in Hmong and English over time. Results showed that there were comparable linear gains in novel word comprehension and production in both the L1 and the L2, despite different starting points. Success in novel word learning was predicted to some extent by existing vocabulary knowledge within each language. Between-language relationships were both positive and negative. These findings are consistent with highly interactive dynamic theories of sequential bilingual language learning.

A Longitudinal Study of Lexical Development in Children Learning Vietnamese and English

This longitudinal study modeled lexical development among children who spoke Vietnamese as a first language (L1) and English as a second language (L2). Participants (n = 33, initial mean age of 7.3 years) completed a total of eight tasks (four in each language) that measured vocabulary knowledge and lexical processing at four yearly time points. Multivariate hierarchical linear modeling was used to calculate L1 and L2 trajectories within the same model for each task. Main findings included (a) positive growth in each language, (b) greater gains in English resulting in shifts toward L2 dominance, and (c) different patterns for receptive and expressive domains. Timing of shifts to L2 dominance underscored L1 skills that are resilient and vulnerable to increases in L2 proficiency.