Morphological and Inhibitory Skills in Monolingual and Bilingual Children With and Without Developmental Language...

Area of Science:

• Child language acquisition
• Developmental psychology
• Linguistic development

Background:

• Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) affects language skills in children.
• Bilingualism presents unique challenges for language assessment.
• Understanding DLD in bilingual children is crucial for accurate diagnosis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare language and inhibitory control skills in Italian monolingual and bilingual preschoolers with and without DLD.
• To identify potential nonlinguistic markers for DLD in bilingual children.

Main Methods:

• Four groups of preschoolers were assessed: typically developing (TD) monolinguals, TD bilinguals, monolinguals with DLD, and bilinguals with DLD.
• Assessments included Italian vocabulary, morphosyntax, and nonverbal inhibitory control.
• Performance was compared using one-way analyses of variance.

Main Results:

• Children with DLD performed significantly lower in all language measures compared to TD children.
• TD bilinguals showed better language skills than monolinguals with DLD but were closer to them than to bilinguals with DLD.
• Both TD groups outperformed DLD groups in inhibitory control, especially in interference suppression.

Conclusions:

• DLD impacts both language and inhibitory control skills in preschoolers.
• Nonlinguistic markers like inhibitory control may aid in diagnosing DLD in bilingual children.
• Accurate diagnosis of DLD in bilingual contexts requires careful consideration of language and cognitive profiles.