Will bilingualism cause speech delays?

The Gist:

Speaking two (or more) languages does NOT cause a speech or language delay.  Some kids have speech or language delays, and those kids will demonstrate that delay in ANY and ALL languages they speak.

If your child has a speech or language delay, don’t use “but they’re learning two languages” as a reason not to seek help.

Read all about it here:

I recently evaluated a two-year-old with this language profile: mom is a native Ukranian speaker; dad is a native Italian speaker; they live in the United States. The family called me because this little guy is not yet using any words. They asked me a couple of questions that I hear a lot:

1. Is the reason he’s not speaking yet because we are overloading him with too many languages?

2. Should we only speak English to him?

The answer to both of those questions is a solid NO!

More often than I’d like, I hear from parents, whose native language is not English, that someone in their world has recommended that they only speak to their child in English. 

This HORRIFIES me, and I”ll tell you why. 

I mentioned it last week, but I’ll say it again. 

Your number one job as a parent is to create a secure and lasting BOND with your child. The BEST way to do this is by speaking your NATIVE LANGUAGE. 

That is the language that conveys all the love, all the ease, all the nuance, and all the natural emotion with it. Your child needs that WAY MORE than they need to learn English (or whatever language ‘everybody else’ is speaking). 

They need GOOD language more than they need the majority language.

Do not let anyone tell you (no professional, no friend, not anyone) not to speak your native language with your child.

The research is VERY clear on this: being exposed to two, three, even four languages DOES NOT CAUSE A  SPEECH OR LANGUAGE DELAY (although with 4, you have to be diligent, mostly because you run into a time constraint in the day).

But when your child is demonstrating a speech or language delay, this issue can feel a little sticky. And in this case, the little guy was definitely demonstrating a delay. 

But here’s the thing: HE WAS DEMONSTRATING THE DELAY IN ALL LANGUAGES, and this tells us something.

The problem is not with any specific language, but with Language Learning in general. Trust me, the distinction is a big deal, because it informs the way we handle the problem.

Here’s what I recommended to the family:

1. Be consistent in what language each parent is speaking to the child: mom speak only Ukrainian; dad speak only Italian.

2. Get a full (trilingual if possible) speech and language evaluation.

3. Get some speech therapy to help the little guy get some traction using words to communicate.

4. When he starts using words, acknowledge what he says in whatever language he says them for now.

I’m repeating myself here, but this is super important: this little guy would have a speech/language delay regardless of which language he was speaking, even if he was only speaking English at home/in the world.

Multiple languages don’t CAUSE a problem.

If your child is being raised in a multilingual environment, but is late to talk or is having trouble using words to communicate, DON’T WAIT to seek help from a speech/language professional. Don’t use the excuse of “but she’s learning more than one language”. Your child needs to feel successful, not frustrated; and they need to know that talking is something they can do. Get help for them sooner rather than later.

All my best -

Gabriele