In this episode, Julieanne and Leah discuss speech issues in a bilingual 4 year old who tested in both English and Spanish with severe receptive and expressive language delay.
The parents wanted therapy to be done in English, even though it’s not the primary language spoken at the home, but the child is exposed to English at the daycare he attends.
The child has been seen about 5 months and minimal progress is being made because what is taught in therapy is not carried over to the home.
There are no “bilingual test”, only English or another language, which are based on monolingual norms, not based on children growing up learning two languages.
A lot of times children growing up bilingual are incorrectly diagnosed with having a language delay.
According to ASHA, American Speech and Hearing Association, therapy should be done in the child’s primary language.