Lexicon in Bilingual Language Impaired Children

[Barbara Zurer Pearson]

Dear Edith,
I'm getting ready to go out of town, so I don't
have time for a long answer.  Speaking one or two
languages won't change the child's language status--
whether she's impaired or not.  But if the parents
stop one of the languages, she'll lose the chance
of intimacy with her extended family who speak that
language.  You may want to consult a new book by
Genesee, Paradis, and Crago on bilingual development
and language disorders.  (2004, I believe). It
should give you some better perspective on the question.

Good luck,
Barbara Pearson

On Mar 21, 2005, at 8:01 AM, Edith Schlag 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