A cross-linguistic approach to treating speech sound disorders in bilingual children

The present study explores generalisation of production skills across languages when treating speech sound disorders in bilingual children. Early work suggests that treating shared sounds across languages may facilitate cross-linguistic generalisation. Thus, selecting shared sounds across languages as targets may have clinical advantages. In this study, we asked if cross-linguistic generalisation can be facilitated for targets using shared sounds in bilingual children with phonological delays from Spanish (L1) into English (L2) when treating only the L1. Two Spanish-English bilingual children between the ages of 5;0-5;3 with speech sound disorders participated in an intervention with shared sounds as targets. Each child received two sessions per week of therapy that included both linguistically-based and motor-based approaches. Accuracy of targets was assessed within and across languages using a single-subject case design. Results show increased accuracy of targets and generalisation of sounds across languages when treatment was administered only in the L1. Specific growth varied per target and child. The implications affect how we select treatment targets in bilingual children. Future studies should explore additional ways to select targets to increase generalisation of skills and replicate with additional participants.