Comments on: My Girl Needs Speech Therapy. No, It Has Nothing to do With Her Being Bilingual!

By: Ana Flores

Ana Flores — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 06:19:27 +0000

Thanks so much for sharing these insights, Candace! They help a lot.

I should actually write a follow up post to this one because I never took her to the speech therapist. I decided we could wait it out another year and see if her clarity improved. It definitely has, but her clarity is better in English than it is in Spanish. I think this is because she´s enrolled in an all-English preschool and is “learning” more there. Now I’m waiting to see what will happen once she starts Kindergarten this fall in a Spanish dual immersion program. I’m hoping that her clarity will go to nearly 100% and she won’t need the therapy.

By: Candace Medina

Candace Medina — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 18:58:26 +0000

Hi Ana -
I realize this post is old now, but I just saw it on my iGoogle feed today and wanted to respond. I am a gringa mama with a Honduran husband. I am also a Spanish teacher — for over twenty years at the university level, and now 2 years in my kids’ elementary school. I have three children ages 9, 8 and 6. Our kids hear a mix in our house. I speak to them in English (though I teach them in Spanish at school!), my husband and I speak 95% Spanish in front of them, and he speaks to them mostly in English.
I have seen a mix of speech variations in my kids. I truly think that the biggest variable is the child him/herself. Some kids thrive in a bilingual environment, some kids have problems because of it.
My oldest, a daughter, had problems with the English R sound. Her kindergarten teacher wanted her in speech therapy and assumed that our home language environment was the issue; I thought she was nuts, because I knew that the English R is a late-developing sound. I had my daughter evaluated by a speech therapist friend who speaks Spanish and does a lot of work with kids from Spanish-speaking households. She confirmed my thinking and said that some kids don’t develop the ability to pronounce an English R until they are almost 8. Sure enough, within the first two months of kindergarten, my daughter’s R had “come in” and was no longer an issue.
My third child, also a girl, is a pronunciation marvel. Her English speech is precise and amazing; her Spanish speech is precise and amazing. She has a great ear and sounds like a native in both languages. She could roll her Spanish RR two years before her Honduran-American cousins who hear only Spanish at home.
My son, though, has been a different story. He has always been a careful listener and a good natural (unconscious) imitator, and being raised in a bilingual household has influenced his speech in both good and bad ways. He copied some of daddy’s Spanish and English pronunciation and incorporated it into his English speech; people would ask me if he had an accent, because he ended up sounding neither gringo nor latino. I had to work with him to correct his English long i sound (and thankfully I knew how to do that based on knowing Spanish diphthongs). His English R never came in, and during this past year of 2nd grade, we worked with my speech therapist friend and worked diligently at home to correct this sound. He has been a trooper, and I am so proud of the progress he has made. And he is happy that people no longer look at him strangely or have trouble understanding him. He is also happy to be one of the best pronouncers in his school Spanish class.
For what it’s worth, those have been our speech experiences in our bilingual household. As varied as the kids themselves!!

By: Bilingual Brains Are More Flexible. I've Got My Own Proof. | SpanglishBaby™

Bilingual Brains Are More Flexible. I've Got My Own Proof. | SpanglishBaby™ — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 07:03:06 +0000

[...] a couple of weeks ago I told you that my daughter needs to be evaluated by a speech therapist because her clarity is below average for her age? I’m still waiting to get the appointment [...]

By: Ana Lilian

Ana Lilian — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 08:02:15 +0000

Thanks so much for the reassurance, Vanessa. I´m grateful that you are defending bilingualism as a speech therapist! You have no idea how many people I know that have been completely discouraged by monolingual therapists, pediatricians and teachers. They can never take that back

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 22:12:36 +0000

Thank you, thank you, thank you! As a bilingual speech therapist, you have no idea how many times a day I have to defend bilingualism! Thanks for sharing your story! You baby will do fine, you’ll see!

By: Keen

Keen — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:54:46 +0000

Ana Lilian, how wonderful that Camila will be getting speech therapy! Early intervention has worked such wonders in my kids’ lives that I sing its praises to anyone who will listen. I am looking forward to hearing more about what the experience is like for you and Camila.

One of my boys was evaluated by a bilingual therapist, the other was not. In both cases, I think the therapists made the right call, but having a bilingual therapist for one evaluation definitely made for a more complete evaluation.

Secondo’s speech therapist doesn’t speak Spanish, but it’s amazing to see how the work he does with her in English just spills over in to his Spanish language skills. It blows me away.

And even though Secondo’s delays were much more serious–speech delays were only a small part of it–it drove me crazy to hear everyone tell me it was just because he was learning two languages. And also that Einstein didn’t speak until he was four. Sigh. Fortunately, the experts did not agree, and speech therapy (and special education) has been such a positive experience!

By: Marcela

Marcela — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:53:46 +0000

Admire you for sharing your story.
And send positive thoughts to you and Camila. She will be excellent…not only that she will know both english and spanish!!

By: Lisa Renata

Lisa Renata — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 04:44:06 +0000

Amy I hear ya!! I also, prior to being a stay at home mami,, use to work as an ELD teacher and interpreter and would encounter this a lot! I would get really frustrated when they did not want to test a child, because they assumed that the problem was the language and not speech!!!

By: Lisa Renata

Lisa Renata — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 04:37:22 +0000

My sister’s eldest also went through speech therapy when he was three and all the way up to Kinder. As far as I know, she really liked the program. In her home they also use the ML@H method, and decided to have his speech therapy in Spanish. He then transitioned to an all English school when he started kinder. He is now in first grade and doing great!

Now you got me thinking though…lately some people have been asking about my son and not being able to completely understand what he is saying….I wonder….he’ll be tested for kinder next month, so I guess we will find out then.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 01:04:39 +0000

I too am interested in the follow up. As a bilingual teacher, I also encounter these situations yearly and want to help specialists distinguish speech needs from language ability as an advocate and helper to any families in similar situations. Buena suerte.