Exploring the effect of bilingualism on the communicative abilities of children who have Down's syndrome

在这个项目中，我们关注的是一个未被充分研究的人群，即在社会层面不支持双语的背景下患有唐氏综合症的双语儿童。众所周知，唐氏综合症儿童存在语言迟缓和语言学习困难（Abbeduto et al., 2007; Ypsilanti & Grouios, 2008），然而，大多数关于这一人群的研究都只关注一种语言背景的儿童。鉴于双语是英国和全球日益多元文化社会的一个重要特征，了解双语接触的影响对于为这些孩子提供适当的支持至关重要。举个例子，在与英国唐氏综合症协会的言语和语言治疗师的讨论中，他们说他们每天接触的孩子中约有25%来自双语背景。的确，已经有一些研究探索了双语对唐氏综合症儿童语言发展的影响，但所有这些研究都是在威尔士或魁北克等社会支持双语的环境中进行的（例如，Burgoyne等人，2015；Trudeau等人，2011；Ward和Sanoudaki, 2020; Woll & Grove, 1996）。因此，这个项目的目的是探索双语仅限于家庭环境的背景，即英国的移民家庭。据我们所知，这将是第一个探索这一群体的项目。该项目涉及与英国唐氏综合症协会的合作，该协会将在整个项目中提供指导和指导，并将学生融入他们的语言咨询服务，并允许他们进行实习，为（para）从业者和家庭开发有关双语和唐氏综合症的材料，并获得与语言治疗师和双语家庭一起工作的第一手经验。该博士生还将成为伦敦国王学院教育、传播与社会学院研究界的活跃成员。

In this project we focus on an understudied population, that of bilingual children with Down's Syndrome in a context where bilingualism is not supported at the societal level. Children with Down's Syndrome are known to have language delays and language learning difficulties (Abbeduto et al., 2007; Ypsilanti & Grouios, 2008), however, the majority of research on this population has focused exclusively on children from one-language backgrounds. Given that bilingualism is an important feature of the increasingly multicultural societies in the UK and globally, understanding the impact of bilingual exposure is crucial to providing the appropriate support for these children. Just as an example, in discussions with Speech and Language Therapists in the Down's Syndrome Association of the UK, they have said that around 25% of the children they work with on a day-to-day basis come from bilingual backgrounds. It is true there is some work that has been done exploring the effects of bilingualism on the language development of children with Down's Syndrome, but all this research has been conducted in contexts where bilingualism is in fact supported societally as in Wales or Quebec (e.g., Burgoyne, et al. 2015; Trudeau, et al 2011;Ward and Sanoudaki, 2020; Woll & Grove, 1996). Therefore, the aim of this project is to explore a context where bilingualism is restricted to the home environment, that of migrant families in England. To the best of our knowledge, this will be the first project exploring this population.This project involves a collaboration with the Down's Syndrome Association of the UK, who will provide mentorship and guidance throughout the project and will integrate the student into their language advisory services and allow them to do an internship to develop materials regarding bilingualism and Down Syndrome for (para-)practitioners and families and get first-hand experience inworking alongside Speech and Language Therapist and bilingual families. The PhD student will also become an active member of the research community within the School of Education, Communication and Society at King'sCollege London.