by admin | Jul 29, 2014 | news
Many parents are concerned about the implications of exposing children to a bilingual parenting environment. There are many questions about the delays or confusion a child may experience when exposed to two languages at such an early age. Many parents are even discouraged because they are wrongly advised that learning two languages can confuse their children and cause speech delays. It's not like that.
One of the most widespread myths is that a child who learns two languages at the same time becomes confused and uses the two languages without differentiating one from the other. But according to Barbara Zurer Pearson, researcher at the University of Massachusetts expert in bilingualism and author of the book "Raising a Bilingual Child" the baby a few days after birth can already differentiate between one language and another especially if these two languages are very different from each other and in the case of more similar languages the child manages to differentiate them around 6 months of age.
It is important to mention that there is a possibility that when the bilingual child begins to speak he will begin to get his vocabulary from both languages and therefore construct phrases such as "drink milk" but this does not mean that he does not differentiate between the two. Bilingualism experts agree that mixing two languages is transitory and disappears as a child's vocabulary increases in both languages.
It is likely that the myth of language confusion has its basis in fairly old research which claimed that learning two languages at such an early age was counterproductive and thus caused many professionals to erroneously advise parents to avoid bilingualism and continue to do so to this day.
Current research shows that being bilingual has many advantages, such as the ability to think more flexibly. At the semantic level, bilingual children have two or more words for each concept, which translates into more than one way of solving problems. Other studies maintain that children exposed to several languages are more creative and their brain circuits are programmed so that in the future the child is more prepared to learn more languages; they also have a better metalinguistic development that is the ability to understand the structure and components of language, a very important skill for learning. It has also been shown that these children have a greater ability to focus attention when it is needed.
It is true that some bilingual children usually take a little longer than monolingual children, but this is not a general rule and if it were to happen, it would be a temporary delay again.
Numerous researches on bilingualism reveal that the vast majority of bilingual children reach the various stages of language development at approximately the same time as monolingual children.
As all children develop skills at their own pace, specific ages vary from child to child regardless of whether they are spoken in one or two languages. Some children say their first words at one year of age while others say them at one and a half years of age and this is no different in the bilingual child.
This is normal if we can confirm that the child understands passive language, i.e. follows instructions and tries to respond in non-verbal ways to communication in the second language, even if he does not yet use expressive or verbal language.
It is important to stop believing that bilingualism can be harmful to the child's language development. However, if you have doubts about it, it is best to consult a professional. If you want to provide a bilingual education to your child my recommendation is that each parent address him in the language he speaks most since at this age the most important thing is to provide your child with a correct linguistic model. For example, if one parent speaks better English and the other parent speaks better Spanish, then each parent should speak with their child in the language in which he or she speaks best.
Lic. Rocío Vargas
Speech, Language and Voice Therapist.
by admin | Jul 25, 2014 | news
This is the first in a series of publications to help parents understand what to expect from the speech therapy process. As a mother, I understand the fear you feel when you suspect something is wrong with your children and are waiting to know the diagnosis of what is going on. Then when you have confirmation that your child needs intervention, a series of worries and endless questions begin to haunt your head.
First let's start with some basic information to establish possible scenarios.
Many factors can play a determining role in what things to expect from evaluations and therapy.
The first important thing you need to know, as a parent, is that your child's therapy (and even the evaluation process) may have a different aspect from another child's therapy or evaluation, even if they are being treated for similar situations by the same speech therapist. There are so many variables at stake when it comes to speech therapy that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Some of these variables include:
The configuration of the services. You can get speech therapy in a variety of settings, and each setting is unique in how, why, where, and when it is recommended and implemented, including public services funded by state agencies such as early intervention or in the school system, hospitals, clinics, and private clinics, to name a few. Some of them provide one-on-one therapy, only groups, or a combination of the two.
The city or province where you live. If you are receiving services that are funded through the state such as early intervention or the school system, the services may look different from those in other places.
Your child's age and grade. Therapy can and will be different for children of different ages due to developmental abilities, imitation, reading, writing, etc.
The specific disorder your child is experiencing. Therapy for a child who works on reproducing a sound will look different from therapy for a child who is working on speech fluency (however ... it is common for these two children to be in the same group therapy sessions!) Therapy for a child with infantile apraxia of speech will be different from therapy for a child with a phonological delay, although once again these two children could be in a group session together.
The severity of the problems / delays. A child with a more severe delay may require more frequent therapy and more individual therapy than a child with a less severe delay.
Any additional delay/disorder your child may have. Some children have more than delays in speech or language. This may affect your child's evaluation and/or speech therapy. For example, if other delays are suspected, your child's evaluation may be conducted as a collaboration between various therapists (such as occupational therapy, physical therapy, psychologist, behaviorist, etc.).
Your child's individual personality/temperament. The shy child, the extroverted child, the funny child, the serious child... each personality type presents different needs for intervention styles to help them learn better.
Your child's learning style. Some children are more visual learners, while others are more auditory learners. Some children learn best with multisensory instruction, while others do not. Each child's therapy will be tailored to meet your child's learning style.
Your personal speech therapist. Every speech therapist does things his own way. Each has its own teaching style and unique personality , so your child's therapy may have a different aspect of your child's speech therapy from his friend. And yet, both children may be receiving exactly the right services to achieve their goals!
Source:http://www.playingwithwords365.com/2013/04/what-you-can-expect-from-speech-therapy-a-guide-for-parents/
by admin | Jul 24, 2014 | news
The following is a Spanish translation of an interesting article published in the journal TIME about some brain processes that make it difficult for adults and make it easier for children to learn a new language.
"A new MIT study shows that doing more can actually make some aspects of learning a new language more difficult. Although researchers have known that adults have more difficulty with new languages than children, the latest findings, published in the journal PLOS ONE, suggest that the best cognitive abilities of adults are actually the ones that can cause them to stumble.
Children have a "sensitive period" for learning new languages that lasts until puberty, and during these years, certain parts of the brain are more developed than others. For example, they are experts in procedural memory, which study author Amy Finn, of MIT's McGovern Institute for Brain Research, describes as the "memory system we get for free. He is involved in tasks that we learn unconsciously, such as bicycling, dancing, or subtle linguistic rules. It is a system that learns from observation and experience; neural circuits in the brain construct a set of rules for the construction of words and sentences by absorbing and analyzing information-like the sounds-of the world around them.
A young child's procedural memory is in its own place and working well, and it doesn't interact with other brain functions," Finn says. However, with age, another memory system that is not so much based on the processes of exploration begins to mature, and control the process of learning languages. "As an adult, you have really useful late-development memory systems that assume and do everything."
In essence, adults can over-analyze new rules of language or sounds and try to make them fit into an understandable, coherent pattern that makes sense to them. But a new language may involve grammatical rules that are not so easily explained, and adults have more difficulty overcoming obstacles than children, who simply absorb the rules or exceptions and learn from them. That is especially true with pronunciation, since the way of making sounds is something that is established early in life, and becomes second nature.
"Adults are much better at choosing things that will help them right away like words and things that will help you get around a supermarket," says Finn. "As an adult, you can learn a language functionally, but it will never sound like a native speaker."
So how can adults remove their own obstacles to learning new languages? Finn says more research is needed to determine if adults could relearn like children, but linguists are looking at a variety of options. Some include "turning off" certain areas of the brain using a medication or a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation, which may allow adults to be more open to accepting new rules of speech and sound.
Finn also hopes to be able to study adults who perform a difficult task while learning a language, since it's another way to distract the cognitive parts of the brain from focusing on the new language, to see if that can help absorb more linguistic information.
Abby Abrams
TIME Magazine
