BILINGUALISM: CONSIDERATIONS FOR TEACHERS OF CHILDREN WITH SPEECH, LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION NEEDS

Abstract

International research has recently emphasized the benefits of bilingualism at the social, cognitive, and educational levels, raising concerns about supporting bilingualism among families with children with special educational needs. The majority of recent research indicates that parents are encouraged to prevent bilingualism, to stop using their native languages, and to favor the use of the majority language or the language of teaching. However, research on bilingual language development has demonstrated that children with language and communication impairments can grow up bilingually, and their abilities in each language are not different from those of monolingual children with the same disorders.The paper examines relevant literature to give insight on the most recent findings on bilingual language development in children with language impairments, and it suggests potential solutions to some of the challenges that teachers confront.