In the U.S. one in five children has exposure to another language in their home or community. As such, patterns of language acquisition can be highly variable. An educational challenge in this population how to distinguish between typical and atypical performance in L1 and L2 use. Comparison to of bilingual children’s language to monolinguals may contribute to high rates of misidentification of developmental language delay. On the other hand, assumptions of a “normal” bilingual delay may contribute to documented delays in identification and intervention.
ASHA: 0.2
Intermediate, Live
CA SLPAHB: 2.0 Live
CMH: 2.0 Live
Elizabeth Peña is Associate Dean of Faculty Development & Diversity and Professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Education. She is a certified Speech-Language Pathologist and is a Fellow of the American Speech Language Hearing Association. Her research focuses differentiating language impairment from language difference in bilingual children. This work examines children’s lexical-semantic, morphosyntactic, and narrative performance across both their language. She is a co-author on the Bilingual English Spanish Assessment (BESA) designed to identify speech and language impairments in children who have exposure to Spanish and English.
- Discuss whether bilingual children are at elevated risk for developmental language disorder (DLD)
- Describe how L1 and L2 performance can be combined to increase diagnostic accuracy for determining DLD in bilinguals; and
- Analyze the nature of the “bilingual delay” using a person-based vs. a variable-based approach.
This course must be watched in its entirety. In order to receive the CMH or the CEU certificate, a quiz is required to be completed with 80% success.
Financial— Dr. Pena receives a speaking honorarium from the Lavi Institute/Power Up Conference. She is a co-author on the Bilingual English Spanish Assessment (BESA) designed to identify speech and language impairments in children who have exposure to Spanish and English.
Nonfinancial— No relevant nonfinancial
5 mins – Disclosures, Introduction
50 mins – Literature Review and Methodology
55 mins – Results and Recommendations
10 mins – Q&A
