Bilingual Children Demonstrate Variation Within Shared Narrative Macrostructure.

Aims: We investigate the relationship between narrative macrostructure, current language exposure, and microstructure in second-grade Spanish-English bilingual children in the United States. Macrostructure knowledge has been claimed to be shared across languages in multilingual individuals. We examine the role of current language exposure and microstructure on macrostructure and how individual children organize their stories in English and Spanish.

Developmental changes in the word co-occurrences of Spanish-English bilingual children with and without developmental language disorder.

Purpose: The study aimed to understand how bilingual children with typical language development (TLD) and those with developmental language disorder (DLD) use frequent word co-occurrences in their narratives.

Method: We studied the change over time in the word co-occurrences used by 30 Spanish-English bilingual children with and without DLD (experimental group). An additional normative group consisted of 98 TLD Spanish-English bilingual first graders.

Grammatical gender in spoken word recognition in school-age Spanish monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual children.

This study examined grammatical gender processing in school-aged children with varying levels of cumulative English exposure. Children participated in a visual world paradigm with a four-picture display where they heard a gendered article followed by a target noun and were in the context where all images were the same gender (same gender), where all of the distractor images were the opposite gender than the target noun (different gender), and where all of the distractor images were the opposite gender, but there was a mismatch in the gendered article and target noun pair. We investigated 51 children (aged 5;0-10;0) who were exposed to Spanish since infancy but varied in their amount of cumulative English exposure.

Modeling Dimensionality of Bilingual Kindergarteners' Language Knowledge in Spanish and English.

Purpose: This study used structural equation modeling to investigate the dimensionality of language in Spanish-English bilingual kindergartners. Five theoretical models were compared, including (a) a unidimensional model; (b) a two-dimensional model by language (Spanish, English); (c) a three-dimensional model by domain of language (phonology, semantics, morphosyntax); (d) a second-order model organized first by language (Spanish, English), with each language dimension comprising three domain-specific dimensions (phonology, semantics, morphosyntax); and (e) a six-dimensional model with freely covarying language-specific domains.

Method: Participants included 238 Spanish-English bilingual kindergartens, as identified by parent report of current language exposure and direct language measures.

Validation of the Mediated Learning Observation Instrument Among Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder in Dynamic Assessment.

Purpose: In this validation study, we examined the factor structure of the mediated learning observation (MLO) used during the teaching phase of dynamic assessment. As an indicator of validity, we evaluated whether the MLO factor structure was consistent across children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD).

Method: Two hundred twenty-four children (188 typically developing and 36 DLD) from kindergarten to second grade completed a 30-min individual mediated learning session on narrative production.

Neural specificity for semantic and syntactic processing in Spanish-English bilingual children.

Brain development for language processing is associated with neural specialization of left perisylvian pathways, but this has not been investigated in young bilinguals. We examined specificity for syntax and semantics in early exposed Spanish-English speaking children (N = 65, ages 7-11) using an auditory sentence judgement task in English, their dominant language of use. During functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), the morphosyntax task elicited activation in left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and the semantic task elicited activation in left posterior middle temporal gyrus (MTG).

An Exploration of the Nature of Vocabulary Change Following Language and Literacy Together Intervention.

Purpose: This exploratory study evaluates how bilingual first graders' vocabulary use in narrative changed after a Spanish-language intervention that focuses on connection between language and literacy.

Method: Ten Spanish-English bilingual first graders produced three English and three Spanish narratives based on the Test of Narrative Language protocol pre- and postintervention. All samples were transcribed.

Exploring Assumptions of the Bilingual Delay in Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder.

Purpose: Bilingual children are both over- and under-identified with developmental language disorder (DLD). We propose that this may be a function of monolingual approaches that fail to consider the dynamic nature of bilingualism as well as assumptions of bilingual delay. We explored the extent to which bilingual children with and without DLD demonstrated mixed dominance as a function of exposure to English.

A cross-linguistic approach to treating speech sound disorders in bilingual children.

The present study explores generalisation of production skills across languages when treating speech sound disorders in bilingual children. Early work suggests that treating shared sounds across languages may facilitate cross-linguistic generalisation. Thus, selecting shared sounds across languages as targets may have clinical advantages.

Semantic Difficulty for Bilingual Children: Effects of Age, Language Exposure, and Language Ability.

Purpose: Semantic tasks evaluate dimensions of children's lexical-semantic knowledge. However, the relative ease of semantic task completion depends on individual differences in developmental and language experience factors. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how language experience and language ability impact semantic task difficulty in English for school-age Spanish-English bilingual children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD).

A Longitudinal Investigation of the Semantic Receptive-Expressive Gap in Spanish-English Bilingual Children.

Purpose: Although a appears to be a universal feature of early bilingualism, little is known about its development. We sought to determine if the magnitude of the discrepancy between receptive and expressive standard scores changed over time in bilingual children's two languages.

Method: In this longitudinal study, standardized receptive and expressive semantics tests of 106 Spanish-English bilingual children with TD were taken at kindergarten and first grade in both English and Spanish.

Contributions of bilingual home environment and language proficiency on children's Spanish-English reading outcomes.

This study examines the influence of language environment on language and reading skills and the cross-linguistic contributions to reading outcomes in 132 Spanish-English bilingual children ages 7-12 (52% female; 98% Hispanic). We present three major findings: children's language knowledge is separable into general (e.g.

From a Distance: Comparison of In-Person and Virtual Assessments With Adult-Child Dyads From Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds.

Purpose: Our proof-of-concept study tested the feasibility of virtual testing using child assessments that were originally validated for in-person testing only.

Method: Ten adult-child dyads were assigned to complete both in-person and virtual tests of language, cognition, and narratives. Child participants fell between the ages of 4 and 8 years; adult participants were speech-language clinicians or researchers with experience in administering child assessments.

Contributions of Oral Narrative Skills to English Reading in Spanish-English Latino/a Dual Language Learners.

Purpose: The study examined the contributions of Spanish and English oral narrative skills to English reading among 95 early elementary dual language learners (DLLs) from Spanish-speaking homes in the United States. This sample of first- and third-grade DLL children attended Spanish-English dual language immersion programs and received language and literacy instruction in both English and Spanish.

Method: All participants completed a storytelling task in both languages and two English reading tests in decoding and reading comprehension.

Phonological predictors of nonword repetition performance in bilingual children.

Introduction: Previous research (Gibson et al., 2015; Summers, Bohman, Gillam, Peña & Bedore, 2010) has suggested an advantage in Spanish over English on nonword repetition tasks with Spanish-English bilingual children. However, comparing nonwords of equal syllable lengths across languages may not sufficiently account for phonological differences across languages.

English BESA Morphosyntax Performance Among Spanish-English Bilinguals Who Use African American English.

Purpose This study examined the use of African American English (AAE) among a group of young Latinx bilingual children and the accuracy of the English Morphosyntax subtest of the Bilingual English-Spanish Assessment (BESA) in classifying these children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD). Method Children ( = 81) between the ages of 4;0 and 7;1 (years;months) completed a narrative task and the BESA Morphosyntax subtest. We identified DLD based on four reference measures.

Insights Into Category Sorting Flexibility in Bilingual Children: Results of a Cognitive Lab Study.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore how bilingual children shift sets to gain flexibility when forming categories. Using a cognitive lab approach focused on understanding how learners approach problems, we asked children to sort 10 sets of pictures representing common objects in two different ways and to explain their rationale for the sort. We explored the relationship between age and language use on their performance.

Beyond Scores: Using Converging Evidence to Determine Speech and Language Services Eligibility for Dual Language Learners.

Purpose Speech-language pathologists have both a professional and ethical responsibility to provide culturally competent services to dual language learners (DLLs). In this tutorial, we recommend that clinicians use a comprehensive assessment of converging evidence to make diagnostic decisions in DLLs in accordance with the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's Code of Ethics. The content of this tutorial is most appropriate for Spanish-English DLLs between the ages of 4 and 8 years.

Longitudinal evidence for simultaneous bilingual language development with shifting language dominance, and how to explain it.

Theories of how language works have shifted from rule-like competence accounts to more skill-like incremental learning accounts. Under these, people acquire language incrementally, through practice, and may even lose it incrementally as they acquire competing mappings. Incremental learning implies that (1) a bilingual's abilities in their languages should depend on how much they practice each (not merely age of acquisition), and (2) using an L2 more could cause a bilingual to gradually 'unlearn' their L1.

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 ( = 66) and without ( = 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.

Language and Literacy Together: Supporting Grammatical Development in Dual Language Learners With Risk for Language and Learning Difficulties.

Purpose Early Interventions in Reading (Vaughn et al., 2006), the only literacy intervention with demonstrated effectiveness for U.S.

"Did I Say ?" Error Patterns on a Blocked Cyclic Naming Task for Bilingual Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder.

Purpose Using a blocked cyclic picture-naming task, we compared accuracy and error patterns across languages for Spanish-English bilingual children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD). Method Pictured stimuli were manipulated for semantic similarity across two (Same and Mixed) category contexts. Children's productions were scored off-line for accuracy, error frequency, and error type.

Identifying Developmental Language Disorder in School age Bilinguals: Semantics, Grammar, and Narratives.

Children with Developmental language disorder (DLD) have particular difficulty learning language despite otherwise general normal development. When school age bilingual children struggle with language, a common question is if the difficulties they present reflect lack of ability or lack of language experience. To address the question of identification of DLD in the context of bilingualism, we explore the diagnostic accuracy of measures administered in two languages.

Not All Nonverbal Tasks Are Equally Nonverbal: Comparing Two Tasks in Bilingual Kindergartners With and Without Developmental Language Disorder.

Purpose This study investigates the interaction of language ability status, cultural experience, and nonverbal cognitive skill performance in Spanish-English bilinguals with typical development (TD) and developmental language disorder (DLD). Method One hundred sixty-nine Spanish-English bilingual kindergartener's scores on the Symbolic Memory and Cube Design subtests from the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (Bracken & McCallum, 1998) were analyzed by language ability (TD vs. DLD).