About a quarter of young children in the United States are dual language learners.
The large majority are Latino children who are exposed to Spanish in their homes.
The language needs of Latino dual language preschoolers are different from the needs
of monolingual English-speaking children. As a group, they are likely to live in environments
that put them at risk of delays in language development. This situation is direr for
dual language preschoolers with language impairment. Recent findings from studies
on interventions for Spanish–English preschoolers with language impairment suggest
that a bilingual approach does not delay English vocabulary and oral language learning
and promotes Spanish maintenance. Targets and strategies for different language domains
are described. The effects of pullout versus push-in interventions for this population
are preliminarily explored.
Keywords
Dual language learners - language disorders - intervention
