Bilingualism: Strength or Weakness?

by Saera H. Nikita

Years of extensive research have shown that learning two or more languages at once, is associated with multiple
benefits, as long as the child has sufficient support to maintain all of his/her languages. The bilingual experience has
been associated with higher educational achievement , improved pragmatics , and heightened cognitive flexibility,
symbolic representation, and other forms of executive control. These benefits are most likely due to the increased
demand required for managing multiple languages on a day-to-day basis.

What is not yet well researched is bilingualism in children with speech and language disorders. A common belief is that if
learning one language is hard for the child, then two languages will be even more difficult to master. The family is then
advised to keep to a single language in order to consolidate the child's resources and make things easier. This means
families who have been using a minority language at home are asked to switch to the majority language so that the child
can access the appropriate services . In essence, this is due to the fact that as it is often difficult – if not impossible – to
find therapy materials in the child’s home language as well as a bilingual speech and language therapist that can provide
assessment and therapy across both languages.

There are several problems with this attitude. First, there is no scientific evidence supporting the claim that switching to
monolingualism helps a child overcome a speech and language disorder. Second, there is no scientific evidence showing
that bilinguals are more prone to having speech and language disorders than monolinguals. Third, bilinguals with speech
and language disorders are not at a greater disadvantage than their monolingual peers, all else being equal. Children
with speech and language disorders can learn two languages, as can children with Down Syndrome, Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism, and Hearing Impairment.

Monolingual children with speech and language disorders learn language, although at a slower pace and perhaps not to
the same level as their unaffected peers. Similarly, bilingual children with speech and language disorders learn two
languages relatively slower and perhaps not to the same level as their typically developing bilingual peers, but they
match their monolingual peers with a speech and language disorder, if given similar opportunities. In other words,
language development can be typical or atypical irrespective of the number of languages the child is exposed to.

Latest research data confirms that assessment and intervention in speech and language therapy for bilingual children
should target each of the child’s languages. This not only ensures a valid assessment of the child’s true linguistic skills
but it also increases both the chances and the speed of recovery. It has long been agreed that speech and language
therapy should use a holistic approach to meeting the communication needs of children with speech and language
disorders rather than the traditional approach of providing interventions within isolated treatment contexts.

Therefore, intervention success depends on the child’s ability to generalize communicative attainments in therapy
across various communication settings and partners, especially within the family and community. Being monolingual in a
bilingual family or community would inevitably limit a child’s communication opportunities, negate previous language
experiences, deny full participation in family and community life, and effectively turn a disability into a handicap. On the
other hand, developing both languages would allow the child to take full advantage of previous experiences with
language and to increase the opportunities to use language for meaningful interactions within the family and
community.

Reducing the number of languages that a bilingual child with a speech and language disorder is exposed to does not cure
the language impairment. It only creates a monolingual child with a speech and language disorder.