Lexicon in Bilingual Language Impaired Children

[Chris Boyatzis]

Would anyone be able to point me to some readings on the relationship between:
         a.  early language development and brain maturation, specifically
in temporal lobe/Broca's/Wernicke's areas?
         b.  early linguistic environment/parental input and brain maturation?

THanks much!
Chris Boyatzis

At 02:32 PM 3/24/2005 +0100, M.M.R. (Manuela) Julien wrote:
>Dear Edith,
>
>I think that the idea that learning two languages would be to much for a
>child with a language impairment is not justified. There is no evidence,
>as far as I know, to support that changing from bilingualism to
>monolingualism helps children with language problems overcome their
>problems. One of the risks of such a sudden switch is that the
>communication with the family wil be disturbed.
>This is a very delicate issue and there are many factors which need to be
>considered before taking a decision. For instance,  what are the wishes of
>the parents regarding the childs bilingualism, what is the parents command
>of the language they choose to use if they insist on droping one of  the
>languages? Are they able to offer the child a rich exposure to that language?
>
>Colin Baker has written about this issue on " A parents' and teachers'
>guide to bilingualism,  Multilingual Matters ltd. Clevedon, England 2000
>
>The following book, written bij Elke Montanari  Montanari (2004), is also
>worth reading (it does not deal with language disorders but gives good
>advice to parents on several issues regarding raising children to be
>multilingual). The original book was written in German so you can refer it
>to these parents.
>
>"Hoe kinderen meertalig opgroeien, PlanPlan producties, Amsterdam"
>
>Nazife Cavus en myself are at the moment writting an artikel about this
>issue, in Dutch,  which wil be published in the LO & FO (the Dutch
>monthly  magazine of the association of speech and language therapists).
>
>I hoop this wil help you
>
>Manuela Julien (neurolinguist and speech and language therapist)
>Haags Audiologisch Centrum Effatha, The Netherlands
>
>
>
>At 14:01 21-3-2005, you wrote:
>>Dear childes-readers,
>>I would like to ask you for some advice. I work with language impaired
>>children in the Netherlands and one of them has got serious language
>>delay, especially in lexical skills. She eldues to gesticulation in both
>>languages. I'd like to have some advice on what language choice the
>>parents should make. Is it better to have her exposed to one language
>>only or would it be more advisable to let both her parents
>>(German-Spanish and living in a mostly German environment) use their
>>mothertongues? I imagine that two languages are a little overtaxing for
>>the kid. Is simultaneous development of two lexicons two much for a
>>language impaired?
>>Grateful for any suggestion,
>>Edith Schlag, MSc, SLT
>>Delft, The Netherlands
>
>Chris J. Boyatzis, Ph.D.
>Associate Professor of Psychology
>Department of Psychology
>Bucknell University
>Lewisburg PA  17837
>
>Office phone:  570.577.1696
>FAX  570.577.7007
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