The relationship between child language proficiency and language of treatment on the outcomes of bilingual children with developmental language disorder

项目摘要 在美国，超过850万儿童在家中说西班牙语(美国人口普查表S1601,2020)，大约 50万人患有发展性语言障碍(DLD)，这是一种语言学习和使用方面的障碍 这不能归因于有限的语言接触、自闭症、智力残疾、听力障碍等。 (Norbury等人，2016；Tomblin等人，1996)。为患有DLD的双语儿童提供服务的一个关键挑战是 他们说的语言(S)与言语语言病理学家(SLP)的可用性之间的不匹配 谁可以用这些语言提供服务。虽然只会说一种语言的孩子应该是不言而喻的 用他们的第一语言治疗，目前没有关于SLP的干预语言的指导 双语儿童(Kohnert等人，2005年)。因此，一个关键的问题是，用什么语言(S)来治疗最好 为有不同熟练程度的DLD儿童提供西班牙语和英语发展方面的服务。 我们首先要问的是，受试语言(S)的学习是否会受到孩子对每种语言熟练程度的影响 (目标1)。跨语言迁移已经在启动研究中被记录下来，这表明潜在的句法 表示法是相互关联的。迁移效应可能会使儿童在这两个方面都有所提高 在儿童具有足够的知识水平的情况下，将语言作为一种语言治疗的结果 将治疗中提供的信息跨两种语言连接起来。最清晰的转移证据可以 在使用单一语言进行治疗时，评估未经处理的语言的效果(目标2)。 我们自己的初步数据表明，重铸疗法可以导致在英语和西班牙语方面的进步 儿童只接受一种语言的治疗。在这项研究中，我们进行了一项随机对照试验，招募了120人 得分低于40%的4至6岁患有DLD的儿童在使用条件药物方面是正确的 状语从句(IF-THEN)和主语关系从句(例如，女孩喜欢的娃娃…)。孩子们会收到一张 在一个语法结构的三种可能的治疗方法(只使用英语、只使用西班牙语、使用双语)中， 然后对两种语言的两种结构的结果进行重新评估。第二种语法结构 然后进行9周的治疗，并第三次评估结果。不同治疗方法的比较 方法将使我们了解什么是治疗双语儿童的最好方法 特定的熟练程度配置文件。跨语言和目标的收益比较将使我们能够确定 跨语言迁移在语言学习中的作用和对语言的理论解释 在发育中的双语儿童中的代表性。

Project Summary More than 8.5 million children in the USA speak Spanish at home (U.S. Census Table S1601, 2020) with about a half million experiencing Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), a disorder in language learning and use that cannot be attributed to limited language exposure, autism, intellectual disability, hearing impairment, etc. (Norbury et al., 2016; Tomblin et al., 1996). One key challenge in serving bilingual children with DLD is the mismatch between the language(s) they speak and the availability of Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs) who can provide services in those languages. While it seems self-evident that a monolingual child should be treated in their first language, currently there is no guidance for SLPs as to the language of intervention for bilingual children (Kohnert et al., 2005). Hence, a critical question is what language(s) of treatment will best serve children with DLD with different proficiency profiles in their development of both Spanish and English. We ask first whether gains in the treated language(s) are influenced by the child’s proficiency in each language (Aim 1). Cross-linguistic transfer has been documented in priming studies suggesting that underlying syntax representations are interconnected. Transfer effects may make it possible for a child to improve in both languages as a result of treatment in one language, provided that the child has adequate levels of knowledge to connect the information provided in treatment across both languages. The clearest evidence of transfer can be derived from assessing gains in the untreated language when treatment is presented monolingually (Aim 2). Our own preliminary data suggest that recast therapy can result in gains in both English and Spanish for children treated in just one language. In this study, we carry out a randomized controlled trial, enrolling 120 children with DLD between the ages of 4 and 6 who score below 40% correct on the use of conditional adverbial clauses (if-then) and subject relative clauses (e.g., the doll that the girl loved…). Children receive one of three possible treatments (English-only, Spanish-only, bilingual) for one grammatical structure for 9 weeks, and then outcomes are re-assessed for both structures in both languages. The second grammatical structure is then treated for 9 weeks, and outcomes are assessed a third time. Comparison of different treatment approaches will inform our understanding of what is the best approach to therapy for bilingual children with a particular proficiency profile. Comparison of gains across languages and targets will allow us to determine the role of cross-linguistic transfer in language learning and to inform theoretical accounts of language representation in the developing bilingual child.