a question about multilingual babies

Mon May 9 08:36:22 UTC 2011

Dear Parisa,

I have read a lot of papers recently that seems to show that Autism is
strongly based on genetic origin (not only one gene but a pool of
genetic alterations can cause autism).
It is not clear however how environment can trigger autism but
environment seems not to be the origin of this "impairment".

A general article about autism (but a simple search will give you a
lot more information about genetic issues linked with autism) :
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/autism-and-genetics-a-breakthrough-that-sheds-light-on-a-medical-mystery-1996221.html

Best,

Christophe dos Santos
Université François Rabelais, Tours

2011/5/9 parisa Daftarifard <pdaftaryfard at gmail.com>:
> Dear Aliyah,
>
> Thank you for your reply and comment. What I am cautious about is not being
> bilingual (I speak two languages and understand three languages) but is
> about early bilingualism. Many early bilingualism (for example the one Edith
> explained) one language is dominant and functional.
>
> I think we need research to see if multilingual interaction from zero (one
> month forward) would exist very much or not. Usually one language is
> functional not two languages. This is the case we have in Iran. Turkish or
> Armenia all are bilingual but kids from zero are mostly (if I say not all of
> them because I have no research at hand), through my individual questioning
> parents, are interacted in one language first and the second language is not
> dominant or interactional in early stages.
>
> from educational perspective, bilingualism brings many chances but when we
> approach the issue from the clinical perspective we need to be very cautious
> about claims and result of research.
>
> Many cognitive problems like autism may not show itself till age two. If we
> expose our kid when we are not even aware of his health to more than one
> language, our kids are at risk. Unless you have an evidence of autistic
> bilingual who benefit multiple exposures.
>
> Moreover, do you think who is more healthy: the kid who start speaking at
> the age two or the one who starts at the age of four or five. expressive
> language is very important to mental health. I have seen those kids with
> language delay that are angry when they cannot express themselves some times
> they show aggressive behavior.
>
> Natural exposure is not what we argue about here. I am talking about
> purposefully confusing kid with many functionally used language while we are
> not sure that this kid is completely OK.
>
> Best,
> Parisa Daftarifard
>
>
> On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 10:35 AM, Aliyah MORGENSTERN
> <aliyah.morgenstern at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Parisa, dear Tamar and Yves,
>> 3/4th of the world is at least bilingual, if not multilingual and some of
>> us have been exposed to 2 , 3, 4 languages from birth. Don't be so quick in
>> saying it provokes more language delay than being monolingual. And remember
>> most monolinguals are native English speakers (and native French speakers)
>> and write a lot of papers...
>> So lets take our time before we stress parents about what to do with their
>> children when they are lucky enough to live in a multicultural society.
>> I'm sure more specialists of multilingualism will answer. PLEASE take your
>> time and don't follow ONE advice.
>> Best,
>> Aliyah from Paris
>> Le 9 mai 2011 à 05:11, parisa Daftarifard a écrit :
>>
>> Language delay is much more dangerous than loosing time for true
>> bilingualism. There are many risk factors like being autistic, developmental
>> delay and global delay in terms of cognition. I think recent psychology
>> suggests for learning one language first and then being exposed to other
>> languages. I can send you some books off list.
>>
>> Best,
>> Parisa
>>
>> On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 3:55 AM, beachjade <beachjade at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear Tamar and Yves,
>>> There is a recent paper by Janet Werker that may be relevant to your
>>> second question about how early should you expose your child to his many
>>> languages.  In contrast to an earlier response to your post, my reading of
>>> the literature suggests that bilingualism/multilingualism in an of itself is
>>> not a risk factor in development.  This is echoed by
>>> http://www.lsadc.org/info/pdf_files/Bilingual.pdf
>>> http://www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/pspi/pspi_10_3.pdf
>>> http://www.psychologicalscience.org/media/releases/2010/werker.cfm
>>>
>>> On Sun, May 8, 2011 at 10:48 AM, Tamar & Yves <tamarmr at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hello all,
>>>> Our 10 months old son is exposed to 3 languages at home ( each one of
>>>> us is speaking to him his mother- tongue, and we speak English between
>>>> us) and to a 4th one outside.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Soon he will be starting Nursery, and we were wondering what language
>>>> it should be in. Is it better to expose him simultaneously to all 4
>>>> languages or should we do it gradually over the first few years of his
>>>> life (It's possible to sign him up to a nursery in my husnband's
>>>> mother tongue (2)/ english (3)/ bi lingual (enviroment+English)(4))
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> We don't want language acquisition to be too much of a burden on him,
>>>> and not sure how many languages he can learn at once.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> We are aware of the large number of factors affecting the answer, but
>>>> does anyone know or refer us to research done on the specific issues
>>>> of (i) number of languages babies can learn and its implication on
>>>> their emotional state; and (ii) Is it better to expose a baby to those
>>>> languages simultaneously or gradually over the first few years of his
>>>> life.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Tamar & Yves
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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