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Attention in Bilingual Children With Developmental Language Disorder
Kerry Danahy Ebert1, Diane Rak1,2, Caitlyn M Slawny1
1Department of Communication Disorders and Sciences, Rush University, Chicago, IL.
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research : JSLHR
|April 11, 2019
Summary
Developmental language disorder (DLD) negatively impacts attention in children, regardless of bilingualism. This study found no bilingual cognitive advantage in attention for Spanish-English bilingual children with or without DLD.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Developmental Psychology
- Linguistics
Background:
- Bilingualism may enhance attentional control due to managing two languages.
- Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is associated with potential weaknesses in sustained attention.
- The interaction between bilingualism and DLD on attention is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the influence of bilingualism and DLD on attentional control and sustained attention.
- To investigate the intersection of bilingualism and DLD in relation to attention.
- To assess attention in monolingual and bilingual children with and without DLD.
Main Methods:
- Compared monolingual English-only and bilingual Spanish-English children aged 6-8 years.
- Utilized parent interviews for language environment and concerns.
- Administered nonlinguistic computerized flanker and continuous performance tasks to measure attention.
Main Results:
- Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) was a significant predictor of attention performance for both tasks.
- Bilingualism did not show a significant effect on attentional control or sustained attention.
- Continuous measurement of bilingualism did not change the observed results.
Conclusions:
- No evidence of a bilingual cognitive advantage in attention was found for Spanish-English bilingual children.
- Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) demonstrated a consistent negative effect on attention across all groups.
- Subtle nonlinguistic deficits in children with DLD appear minimally affected by diverse linguistic experiences.
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