Question Hi! I am worried about my daughter who is three and a half years old. She was born in Sweden, but I raise her by myself and we speak only Dutch at our home. Her Dutch is fluent, and she has been very talkative for a long time, she speaks in long fluent...
language development
Q&A: How to help a toddler exposed to several languages with her speech development?
Question Hi, My first language is Arabic, my 2-year-old child is American. Me and my daughter live in Netherlands where people speak Dutch. I don't know which language my daughter will end up speaking. I talk to her mostly in English, but sometimes in Arabic. I...
Q&A: How can a monolingual professional offer Speech and Language Therapy for a bilingual child?
Question Hello, I am a Speech Language Pathologist in a school setting. I evaluated a 2 year 10 month old child who is a dual language learner. Dad speaks native language and English. Mom speaks native language and is just now learning English. Dad is concerned...
Q&A: How to help a 7-year-old improve her spoken language skills?
Question Hi, My 7-year-old was born in Switzerland, but her father and I speak English at home. She has had some exposure to German since birth. She watches tv in German 5 days a week, attended two years of kindergarten and her first year of school in German,...
Q&A: How to encourage a child’s minority languages and arrange language exposure?
Question Hello, I am a Spanish native speaker living in Canada with my Jordanian husband and h little boys aged almost two and five. At home we speak three languages: me Spanish, husband Arabic and all of us English. My husband and I speak English to each...
Q&A: Worried mother: my bilingual 2-year-old is not talking – what to do?
Question Hello I'm hoping you might be able to help me. I'm a first-time mummy and very worried about my 22-month-old. Her understanding is phenomenal, but she refuses to speak. She will say mama, dada, yaya (grandmummy), daddina (grandfather) and about three...
Q&A: “Will my grandson ever learn English, or will he have a strong accent?”
Question Hello My English son married a Mexican girl and their son was born in the US where they still live. My daughter-in-law speaks English but with a very heavy accent and she has found this to be a great disadvantage life and work wise, as where they live...
Q&A: When to introduce a family language to a child who will attend a trilingual school?
Question Hi I live in Hong Kong where almost everyone is trilingual speaking Cantonese, Mandarin and English. The school I will send my baby, who is five months now, is a trilingual school that will begin at the age of two (Cantonese, Mandarin and English). My...
Q&A: How far behind can parents expect a bilingual child’s second language to be?
Question Hello, I have a three-year-old daughter who is bilingual. I speak exclusively English and my husband speaks exclusively Czech to her (since birth). In a typical day, she is exposed to about 70% English and 30% Czech. She listens to music and looks at...
Q&A: Is a dual-language school a good choice for a bilingual child to become trilingual?
Question Hello! My wife and I are native Russian speakers living in the United States. Our son is turning five in a few months and will start school. Our home language is 100% Russian. Our son speaks Russian at or slightly below the level of his peers in Russia...