Bilingualism and Processing Speed in Typically Developing Children and Children With Developmental Language Disorder

Area of Science:

• Child development
• Cognitive neuroscience
• Linguistics

Background:

• Processing speed is a key cognitive skill influencing language development.
• Dual language exposure is common, but its effects on cognitive skills like processing speed require further investigation.
• Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) often exhibit cognitive differences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if dual language experience affects processing speed in typically developing (TD) children and those with DLD.
• To examine the predictive relationship between processing speed and language abilities (vocabulary, sentence level) in both receptive and expressive modalities.
• To explore how socioeconomic status might influence the relationship between processing speed and language abilities.

Main Methods:

• Assessed processing speed using a visual choice reaction time task in monolingual and bilingual children aged 8-12.
• Included typically developing children and children with DLD, with subgroups of monolingual and bilingual participants.
• Utilized standardized language assessments: Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and Expressive Vocabulary Test.

Main Results:

• Children with DLD demonstrated significantly slower response times compared to TD children.
• Bilingual experience did not alter response times in either TD children or children with DLD.
• Faster processing speed correlated with higher language abilities, though this link was not significant after controlling for socioeconomic status.

Conclusions:

• Slower processing speed is associated with diminished language abilities in children.
• Dual language experience appears to have minimal impact on processing speed within the studied age range (8-12 years).
• Further research is needed to fully understand the complex interplay between bilingualism, processing speed, and language development across different age groups.