Bilingualism – The Speech Meadow

Considerations for Assessing Bilingual Children or English Language Learners

Collette — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 17:12:00 +0000

So you have identified a child you are going to assesses as either bilingual or does not speak English at home. Now what do you do? If you’re like me, you don’t speak Korean, Urdu, Russian or the other dozens of languages the children you work with speak. Also, I don’t speak French or Spanish well enough to critically analyze their language skills (I wish I did). Well if you do speak Spanish or French, you’re in luck. Some of the language assessments have been translated and normed. But that is not the whole story. Here are some important factors to consider.

1. Assessment norms are based on monolingual English (or Spanish or French) speakers. They are not normed with children who are bilingual or are learning English. Scoring them can be misleading.

2. Bilingual children will have a language more dominant than another. It is the language (s)he is more exposed to at home and in the community. Their milestones (e.g. started combining words) should be very similar in that language to that of a monolingual speaker.

3. While doing an assessment, language specific questions (e.g. grammar development) are not appropriate (their language development profile is different), but assessing more general language can be appropriate (e.g. how do they use language).

4. For me, these assessments tend to be more of an interview with the parents (I work with preschoolers). I try to get as much information as possible. Often I will use some (or all) of the parent questionnaires such as the REEL-3 or Rossetti. I also ask the parents to tell me if a question does not apply to their language or is culturally inappropriate. I do not score these questionnaires but they do give lots of useful information. I will also spend time with the child playing to see how they interact with me.

For me, determining if a child who either doesn’t speak English or is bilingual is more complicated than that of a monolingual English speaker. Having said that, I found some wonderful resources that have helped me over the years. My favourite one (and the one that I used to double check my information) is Dual Language Development Disorders 2: A Handbook on Bilingualism and Second Language Learning Edited by Johanne Paradis, Fred Genesee and Martha B. Crago (Paul Brookes Publishing Company, 2011). I don’t have any financial stake in saying this is a great book and have gone back to it many times.

We Want to Speak Two Languages in the Home. What Do We Do?

Collette — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 10:00:00 +0000

This is another in a series on language delays and bilingualism/English Language Learners. Last week, I talked about my thoughts on recommendations for speaking only English in the home when another language is spoken or introducing English into a non-English speaking home. Often parents choice to have a bilingual home. This week I’m going to talk about the different ways to speak two languages in the home (another popular question at the beginning of the school year for me). There are two general ways this happens:

1. One Parent-One Language Approach

Like the name suggests, one parent speaks one language and the other parent speaks the other language. When talking together, the parents will pick a common language. This is usually the language both parents feel comfortable speaking. In this approach, the parents are very strict about which language they are speaking and only speak that language with the children. The only exception is when they are have a family conversation then they may revert to the “common language.”

2. Set Aside Times of the Day Approach

Again like the name suggests you pick a time(s) of the day to speak one language and other times you speak the other language. I have even had parents pick days where they only spoke one of the languages. During these designated times all communication in the home is in one or the other languages. This approach is usually successful when both parents are comfortable speaking both languages.

CAUTION: Do not mix up the two languages! When talking do not add grammar or words from the other language. This can be confusing for children and can harm language development. REMEMBER: children, especially with delays, need good strong language models. Also, it is normal and developmentally appropriate for children to mix up the two languages as they grow. Rephrasing the sentences with the correct words or grammar is helpful.

Many parents ask which one is better than the other. My answer is which ever one fits their family’s life the best is the one to do. For example, where I live, it is common for one of the parents to work away from the home up to weeks at a time. When this is the case then setting asides times would be more beneficial than the one parent-one language approach. Families may also try one approach and find that it does not fit and later try the other approach. I found some wonderful resources that have helped me over the years. My favourite one (and the one that I used to double check my information) is Dual Language Development Disorders 2: A Handbook on Bilingualism and Second Language Learning Edited by Johanne Paradis, Fred Genesee and Martha B. Crago (Paul Brookes Publishing Company, 2011). I don’t have any financial stake in saying this is a great book and have gone back to it many times.

Language Delays and Speaking a Second Language

Collette — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000

At the beginning of the school year, one of the most frequent question parents ask me is “We don’t speak English at home, what language should we use?” or “We speak both English and (insert language here). Should we stop and only speak English?” This is a big concern for parents and often a topic we address and often re-address during therapy. I find that this is a topic where I have to have my “counselling hat” on, have a heart to heart conversation and listen to their fears and concerns for the future.

What should SLPs recommend to families where either they speak two languages in the home or they don’t speak English (or the primary language of the region)? This is not a small issue, some years my caseload has upwards of 60% of the children who are either bilingual or English is not spoken in the home.

I should let you know, I typically do not recommend that a family only speak English or that they should drop their first language and switch to English. I have a few reasons for this:

Language is strongly tied to culture. These children will be immersed in Canadian English culture but also the culture of their parents. These children need to know how to move in both cultures.
Children need to communicate with more than just their immediate family. It is not uncommon for grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins to speak a language other than English. These are important people, that children need to or will want to talk.
I prefer that children are around strong language models regardless of the language. Parents are the best language models in the language they are most comfortable.
There is a small but growing body of evidence that says there is no significant differences between children who speak one language with language delays and bilingual children with language delays.

In my experience, families in bilingual homes tend to stay bilingual. Most families where English is not spoken in the home, will continue to speak their language. A small number of families choose to make their homes English only. Another group of families will move between only speaking English and being bilingual or speaking their first language. There is no easy answer for the parents and, at times, for the SLP. I found some wonderful resources that have helped me over the years. My favourite one (and the one that I used to double check my information) is Dual Language Development Disorders 2: A Handbook on Bilingualism and Second Language Learning Edited by Johanne Paradis, Fred Genesee and Martha B. Crago (Paul Brookes Publishing Company, 2011). I don’t have any financial stake in saying this is a great book and have gone back to it many times. What do you recommend in these situation?