“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.

Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D, CCS-LLP – A bilingual (English/Spanish) speech language professional who earned her Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from The University of Texas at Austin. She has provided bilingual Spanish/English speech-language services in schools, hospitals, and early intervention settings. Her research focus is on the acquisition of semantic language skills in bilingual children, with emphasis on assessment practices for the bilingual population. She is the President of Bilinguistics, which is “dedicated to enhancing speech and language services for Spanish-English bilingual children, enabling those children to achieve their highest communicative and academic potential.” You can read her answers here.

Today’s question was sent by fellow blogger Gabriela:

“Since my oldest son (3 years) was born we decided to speak to him only in Spanish, figuring that he would easily learn English later on. My plan was to start teaching him English gradually sometime after his 2nd birthday. However, I started noticing a speech delay around his 2nd birthday. At 2 1/2 I took him to be tested and he was found to have a speech delay.  However, the testing was mainly based on my reports of his use of words. The speech therapist recommended that we continue to use only Spanish at this time since using English as well would be confusing to a child with a speech delay. Further, he has not really received any type of speech therapy due to the fact that there are not any Spanish-speaking speech therapists around.

Recently, I have started introducing a little English to him since I noticed his vocabulary has expanded a bit more and my hope is that if he learns English he can recieve speech therapy if he continues to need it. He is even saying a few words in English now. And just recently he started putting two-word sentences together, but only after I request him to do so (but it is still visibly hard for him).

I guess my question is, should I continue using mainly Spanish or is it okay to speak to him some more in English now? I am a mental health therapist but currently a stay-at-home mom, and I feel sooo lost when it comes to speech issues.  Now I feel guilty for having only taught my son Spanish since this prevented him from getting the help he needs (speech therapy), but I do want him to be bilingual.”

Dear Gabriela,

It’s great that you have given your son a solid base in Spanish and that you want to introduce English now.  You have only recently started using English with your son and he is already using a few English words.  Clearly, he can learn English and Spanish words.

There is a very common misconception that teaching children two languages confuses them. Current research indicates that even for children who have speech and languages delays or impairments, they are not any more delayed or impaired as a result of learning two languages.  In fact, there is a lot of research that indicates improvements in cognitive flexibility and vocabulary learning as a result of learning two languages.

You did not mention where you live but if you are in the United States there are federally supported programs for birth-to-3-year-olds with language delays. These are available for all children with developmental delays—income is not a factor.  Now that your son is 3, the public school system provides programs for children with developmental delays.  I would also like to point you to a couple of resources that might be helpful.

Our team at Bilinguistics developed an intervention program, SMILE for Infants and Toddlers, aimed at enriching language in daily routines for children with language delays.  SMILE is an acronym for sign, model, imitate, label, and expand, five language enrichment techniques frequently used in language intervention.  It was developed for interventionists in early childhood programs, and includes a parent handbook. It is available through Children’s Publishing.

We also have a number of free resources available on our website.  They have been created for professional development workshops and continuing education courses but there is some very helpful information about the aspects of Spanish and English that overlap.  Addressing the overlapping areas can affect change in both languages.

It’s amazing how much guilt people are made to feel for trying to give their children the gift of two languages.  My advice to you is drop the guilt and pat yourself on the back for giving your son the opportunity to learn both English and Spanish.  The most important thing is that you create a rich language environment for your child by using one or both languages to talk to your child about the actions, objects, textures, sizes, colors, and senses of his environment as he experiences it.

Sincerely,
Ellen Kester, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D, CCS-LLP – A bilingual (English/Spanish) speech language professional who earned her Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from The University of Texas at Austin. She earned her Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology and her Bachelor’s degree in Spanish at The University of Texas at Austin. She has provided bilingual Spanish/English speech-language services in schools, hospitals, and early intervention settings. Her research focus is on the acquisition of semantic language skills in bilingual children, with emphasis on assessment practices for the bilingual population. She is the President of Bilinguistics, which is “dedicated to enhancing speech and language services for Spanish-English bilingual children, enabling those children to achieve their highest communicative and academic potential.”  You can read her answers here.

As always, feel free to leave your thoughts or advice about this in the comments below. You can also leave your own question for the Experts here.

Photo by syronnica

Last week we introduced you to bilingual English/Spanish speech language professional, Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, who debunked three common myths about speech development in bilingual children.  Now, we are excited to announce that Dr. Kester has joined the impressive panel of bilingual experts that collaborate in our weekly series-Ask an Expert.

We invite you to visit Dr. Kester’s website, Bilinguistics, to learn more about her and her team.

They are “dedicated to enhancing speech and language services for Spanish-English bilingual children, enabling those children to achieve their highest communicative and academic potential.”

Click here to send her your questions regarding speech development in bilingual children.

Does my Son Have a Speech Delay Because He’s Bilingual?

Today´s question was sent by Claudia McGlothlin who´s raising two children using the OPOL (One-parent-one-language) method.

Hi. My name is Claudia and I am raising a 34 month-old boy and a 14 month-old girl, both bilingual in English and Spanish. I am from Perú and my husband is from the U.S.

I only speak to my children in Spanish and my husband speaks in English to them. Sometimes he repeats the words that he knows in Spanish but I keep telling him to stop. Some friends told me that the kids can get confused.

My son is not talking yet. He developed his own sign system and he only has a few words: go- jugo-globo-mami-dada-tres(when I count “uno, dos y…” he finishes my sentence)-bus- agua.

I am starting to get concerned on when he will be talking? He completely understands both languages, but I can tell he understands more Spanish since he spends more time with me. Is this normal?  Thanks.

Hi Claudia,

Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

First, let me commend you for your efforts in raising your children as bilinguals.  In today’s world, speaking more than one language will open many doors for your children.  There are three points in your letter that I want to address.  I’ll address them in the order you presented them.

You commented that you tell your husband to stop repeating the Spanish words he knows for fear that your children will get confused.  Stop telling him to stop!  “One parent-one language” is one way that people raise bilingual children but it is not the only way.  Children learn to differentiate their two languages when each parent speaks a different language, when one parent speaks both languages and the other speaks one language, and when both parents speak both languages.  Research indicates that there is no evidence that children with normal language development or children with language impairment are “confused” by learning two languages at the same time.  The more language input your child receives, the better.

Your son is 34-months old and is only using a few words.  This is not typical and it is not a result of a bilingual environment.  Children between 2-1/2 to 3-years of age typically have vocabularies of several hundred words and converse in phrases and simple sentences.  I have 31-month-old twins who live in a bilingual environment.  One has typical language development and converses in sentences.  The other has delayed language skills with a vocabulary of less than 50 words.  They are in the same home and school environments but have very different levels of language skills.  The bilingual environment is not the culprit.

Your son understands both languages well.  This is a great indicator of future language skills.  Children who have comprehension skills similar to their peers are those who are most likely to catch up to their peers in expressive language skills.

I recommend that you have your son evaluated by a bilingual speech-language pathologist who is well-versed in bilingual language development.

To find one in your area, go to the website for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and select Find a Professional.  Follow the prompts to put in your city or zip code and the language(s) you speak.  It will give you a list of providers in your area who can help you.

Sincerely,
Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Bilinguistics Speech and Language Services, Austin, Texas

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