Children with SLI
Most studies have shown that children with SLI who learn a second language catch up to their monolingual peers with SLI after sufficient exposure to the second language [6]. These children follow a similar developmental path and achieve similar levels of language proficiency as monolingual children with SLI.
However, Dutch researchers found different results. Minority (Turkish) language children with SLI who learned Dutch as a second language lagged behind their monolingual peers with SLI, even after four years of exposure to Dutch [6]. It has been suggested though that these results could be due to the fact that children who come from isolated, socioeconomically disadvantaged minority groups may be at a disadvantage when it comes to learning a second language [1]. In the studies mentioned above with positive outcomes, children lived in environments in which both of their languages had high status and support (such as Canadian children learning French and English, two official languages). Therefore, this may promote successful second language learning in this group of children.
• Children with ASD
A recent study in 2011 compared the language skills of sequential, simultaneous, and monolingual children with ASD [7]. This study included nonverbal and verbal children. Significant differences between the language levels of these three groups of children were not found.
The Bottom Line...
The research that has been conducted to date shows that sequential bilingual children with language impairments can learn a second language, although there seems to be an advantage for children whose languages are both highly supported in their community and school. Sequential bilingual children with language impairments face language-learning challenges, but not greater than monolingual children with the same language impairment.
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