The following question was sent by Susana Fernandez. You can also send your question to the Experts by clicking here.
“I have been reading many interesting posts here and have found relief in knowing that no one way is the best to raise bilingual kids. I was also happy to see the evidence that supports that bilingualism does not cause confusion. My questions is, can bilingualism cause a delay in speech, though?
I am an elementary teacher and a mom to a 22 month old girl. We live in California and my daughter is exposed daily to both English and Spanish: English mostly (but not exclusively) by dad, since it is his native language, and Spanish by me and her baby sitter. At this point she says about 10 words and then other sounds that stand for words but these are not real words, rather vowel sounds. Speaking of vowel sounds, she does not articulate the “o” or the “u” vowel sounds in Spanish. I am just wondering if there is cause for concern and if I should address this with a speech specialist.
The hard part is that we are moving to Spain in a couple of weeks, and because she is exposed to English, maybe that would not give the specialist the right information to work with (I don’t think many of them in Spain have experience with bilingual kids).”
Dear Susana,
Research in our field indicates that bilingualism does not cause confusion or delays in speech acquisition (sound production) or language acquisition (words and word combinations). Studies on the acquisition of sounds in Spanish-English bilingual children indicates that children may, for a short time, demonstrate less accuracy in the production of consonant sounds when the sounds are not identical in both languages, but these differences do not greatly affect their intelligibility, or ability to be understood by others. An example is the production of the sounds [p], [t], and [k], which are pronounced with less aspiration or airflow in Spanish than in English. A child who learns these sounds in Spanish might use them the same way in English. While their productions are considered less accurate in English, they are still within the normal range of production and can still be understood. Accuracy is not reduced for sounds that are the same in both languages.
You mentioned that your daughter does not use the “o” and “u” vowel sounds of Spanish. These sounds also occur in the English language so it would not be expected that they would be influenced or reduced in accuracy as a result of exposure to both English and Spanish.
With regard to language acquisition, research indicates that the vocabulary of children who are bilingual is similar in size to that of monolingual children. We often look at the number of different concepts children express in words in both languages. We give children “credit” for all of the concepts they express in words in both languages. For example, “dog,” “perro,” and “cat” represent two concepts because “dog” and “perro” are translation equivalents. By 18 months of age, children typically have or are approaching 50 words (concepts) and are at the early stages of producing 2-word phrases.
You stated that your daughter is 22 months of age and uses approximately 10 different words. Given this information, I would recommend that you have her evaluated by a bilingual speech-language pathologist. The American Speech-Language Hearing Association (www.asha.org) has a search option for finding speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in your area. They list ASHA accredited SLPs all over the world so if you are already in Spain, this might be a helpful way to find someone who can provide an evaluation.
The first thing you should do is get your daughter’s hearing checked. My son’s speech was delayed when he was two years old. When we got his speech evaluated just before he turned 3, they recommended that we get his hearing checked. We thought he heard fine, but he actually had a mild to moderate hearing loss due to fluid in his ears. He got ear tubes 6 months ago and the change has been amazing. He went from speaking in one to two word phrases that were really hard to understand to speaking in clear five to six word sentences.
Kudos for asking this question, and the responses too. The myth that bilingualism causes delays makes people overlook signs there could be a problem.
Two of our nephews only got hearing aids & speech therapy when they started kindergarten and I really think they needed it before that. Their speech would be a lot more understandable now, if they’d started at an earlier age.
And it’s also important to note that a person may be able to hear even very soft sounds, but still have issues hearing certain frequencies / sounds in speech.
Having said all that, though, I hope Susana that after you take your daughter to the specialists (please do), then try to relax and don’t let it be something your daughter will feel anxious about.
I am a bilingual Spanish/English speaker and I have two daughters, the oldest is 11 years old and an infant. My experience with my oldest child has been great. By the age of 3 she was translating back and forth a full conversation between my parents and my in-laws. I was mesmerized with her communication ease in both languages. When Gabriela was about 4 years old she told me “Mommy, I know how to speak Chinese”. I did not believe her statement and I said “that is great sweet heart” But in fact she did. Since she was 2 and half, she attended a day-care owned by a Chinese lady with Chinese staff. As everyday I went to pick her up one day and at the door she saw a Chinese parent approaching and she started to talk in mandarin. I asked the staff member “what is she saying” “is she speaking in Chinese” and the staff member said “yes she does speak a lot sentences in Chinese and she just said “So and so your mother is coming to pick you up, hurry!!! I was amazed. Currently, my daughter attends to a gifted school (one of the best 100 schools in America). Besides English she reads and writes in Spanish (she was formally taught) and she is taking mandarin now. Language occurs naturally as long children are exposed to it. BEING BILINGUAL does not cause a language delay. I strongly believe that my child is very intelligent because of her bilingualism.
Nice and very interesting post. Your point of view is more or less the same as mine. Thanks!
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