Starting a foreign language in a speech-delayed child

[SparrowsNest]

So my daughter is 6, and she has a language processing disorder.  No need to rehash her history blow by blow, but suffice it to say, although she's gaining ground, her receptive and expressive language are both delayed about 12-18 months.  She'd rather be outside or mommying the dogs than doing anything academic. :)

 

She is very, very interested in learning Chinese.   I don't know why Chinese, it's not a language we have any ties to or that anyone else in our house (homeschooled or not) is working on.  But for several months she's been quite insistent upon it.  Downloading a few kids songs in Chinese was absolutely not going to cut it:  "Mama, I need to *speak* Chinese, not sing it!"    

 

My inclination is to table the Chinese until we're a little more solid in English, so I've been stalling.  Yet at the same time, I'm not sure it's a good idea to tell her no on the one academic-ish thing she's really wanting to do.  

 

Does anyone know if there is a consensus view on starting a foreign language with a speech-delayed child?  Or, just in general, what would you do?

 

 

[LilBearsMama]

This is just what happened to us, so please don't take it for gospel. :)

DS is speech delayed. When he was younger, he actually stopped speaking beyond a few grunts and weird little half words. DH started studying Japanese and German. For some reason, DS suddenly took an interest. Now, he wants to learn Latin and German, still knows some phrases in Japanese and German. And I don't know why, but if, for example, he knows how to say "How are you today?" in German, he says it clearly in English. We worked for ages on it in English over the last 2 years - he learned it in German and boom, could do it. I don't know if it spurred something in his little brain or what. It's strange. Maybe it just got him more interested in trying. Take from that what you will, but I wouldn't necessarily say now - maybe with the phrases in both English and Chinese she'd be encouraged to try just a little harder.

[SparrowsNest]

This is just what happened to us, so please don't take it for gospel. :)

 

DS is speech delayed. When he was younger, he actually stopped speaking beyond a few grunts and weird little half words. DH started studying Japanese and German. For some reason, DS suddenly took an interest. Now, he wants to learn Latin and German, still knows some phrases in Japanese and German. And I don't know why, but if, for example, he knows how to say "How are you today?" in German, he says it clearly in English. We worked for ages on it in English over the last 2 years - he learned it in German and boom, could do it. I don't know if it spurred something in his little brain or what. It's strange. Maybe it just got him more interested in trying. Take from that what you will, but I wouldn't necessarily say now - maybe with the phrases in both English and Chinese she'd be encouraged to try just a little harder.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience! :)  

[The Governess]

I have a slightly speech delayed daughter who is very casually studying Chinese (her older sister studies it at a more advanced level).  She is 9 now and this year for fourth grade, I am feeling better about diving into foreign language at a deeper level with her because she is reading well and is finally feeling more confident with her spelling.  In the past, there were some difficulties.  She would get the phonics mixed up (for example, e in Chinese pinyin sounds like "uh", c sounds like ts) between English and Chinese, etc.  If I were to do things over, I would still have her learn Chinese but would hold off on teaching her the pinyin.... I would teach her to recognize characters only, or starting out maybe just keep everything at an oral level and use picture cards and conversation, nothing written at all, until she is solid with her English phonics. 

[Rosie_0801]

We're working on reading and writing, since we are better at that than at speaking and listening.

[EmilyGF]

My son had expressive speech delays and was in speech therapy for about three years. His receptive speech was always excellent.

 

I introduced him to German through immersion beginning at the age of 4.5 years. About six months later, he was speaking German and English, but soon developed a terrible, terrible, terrible stutter (9-10 syllables before each and every word). His speech therapist was bilingual in English and German and actually did an assessment in both languages. After some research, we found a study out of Quebec that showed that some kids with speech issues who are dropped into a bilingual environment between the ages of 4 and 6 (when English-speaking kids start French kindergarten there) develop a stutter. We ended up dropping the German and introducing it again about a year later. We worked on many other approaches, but ultimately dropped German. His stutter stopped within a month, dropping 75% within two days, after being present for about three months.

 

Despite his problem, though, all the research showed that for the vast, vast majority of kids, even those with speech delays, only good is done by starting a foreign language. Go for it, and you can take a break if a problem develops. I think, also, any work you are doing on purposefully speaking and interacting with others will have positive effects. I was really shocked by how enforcing rules of conduct in math games (saying things like "your turn" and "I don't have that card" while making eye conduct) was key to my son's speech improving.

 

Emily

 

[luuknam]

So my daughter is 6, and she has a language processing disorder.  No need to rehash her history blow by blow, but suffice it to say, although she's gaining ground, her receptive and expressive language are both delayed about 12-18 months.  She'd rather be outside or mommying the dogs than doing anything academic. :)

 

She is very, very interested in learning Chinese.   I don't know why Chinese, it's not a language we have any ties to or that anyone else in our house (homeschooled or not) is working on.  But for several months she's been quite insistent upon it.  Downloading a few kids songs in Chinese was absolutely not going to cut it:  "Mama, I need to *speak* Chinese, not sing it!"    

 

My inclination is to table the Chinese until we're a little more solid in English, so I've been stalling.  Yet at the same time, I'm not sure it's a good idea to tell her no on the one academic-ish thing she's really wanting to do.  

 

Does anyone know if there is a consensus view on starting a foreign language with a speech-delayed child?  Or, just in general, what would you do?

 

I probably would let her try Chinese if she wants it that badly. Chinese is so different from English that it's not likely to cause much confusion. And pinyin is much more phonetic than English, so learning to read pinyin might be helpful too (but then I might consider holding off on teaching English phonics rather than teach both at the same time... not sure what I'd do). With my own kid with speech/language/communication delays/issues I decided to wait before doing Dutch (I'm Dutch, living in the US), but Dutch is too similar to English imo. Beer = bear, and bier = beer, etc... didn't seem like a great plan to me to do that.

 

I'd be curious why your daughter is that interested in learning Chinese though.

[Incognito]

Have you ever seen Kai Lan?  It is like Dora, only Chinese.  That would be something very easy you could do that might placate your daughter while you figure out how to approach Chinese with her more seriously.

[strawberryjam]

Oh my goodness your kid sounds exactly like mine. My daughter is fascinated with Chinese too. I don't know how serious she is about learning it, but she likes it. She also has a speech delay, we think she might have an Auditory Processing Disorder (she hears things TOO well). She also has some mild general sensory processing which may be related to Giftedness (her brother is Gifted so I'm all too familiar with the sensory stuff related to it). Anyways... I would go for some fun exposure to another language for sure. Is your daughter left handed? Mine is. I think it effects the way her brain is wired. She just approaches things differently (kind of out of order) then most people do and she is always surprising me with the things she is able to do or understand without taking the logical step-by-step process that most people would think is necessary. Maybe it's the same thing with your daughter and learning another language might actually accelerate her English skills? I'm bilingual myself and I think immersion would be detrimental at this age, but casually learning a new language could be good.  I really like this blog for ideas on foreign language exposure at this age. She's got some great resources listed: http://eclectic-homeschool.com/

 

*Edited to add... I did read a study recently about the effects of immersion on young kids. It's kind of a myth that young kids learn foreign languages better then adults do. They may pick up the accent easier, but it's just as difficult to learn the language as it is for an adult and they are more likely to pick up improper grammar. Not a popular view I know, but if you google it you'll find some supporting documents. I was in immersion when I was 6 years old and I would agree that it's not a good thing.

[SparrowsNest]

Thanks so much for the replies!  They are very helpful in sorting through the pros and cons.  

 

DD is not left-handed, but she is very musically inclined.  'Born with a song in her heart' is how one of her teachers described her.  Like one of my older sons, her issues aren't linear, more like there are just areas that are 'blocked' or something.  When my son was tested, almost across the board they would hit a spot where he would miss three or whatever, and the test was supposed to stop, but the therapist kept going and he would then pick up and be able to do more.  Some of the lower skills aren't there but the higher ones can still be.  It's like their development isn't according to the typical sequence, 'out of order' like barefoot mommy mentioned.      

 

My husband suggested I contact my son's old speech therapist.  She actually recommended using the interest in Chinese as a way to sneakily work on her English.  So, talking about a word in Chinese can lead to talking about the word in English, when you'd use it, how you'd use it in an English sentence, etc.  She felt that we could basically exploit her interest in Chinese to develop her English skills!  So something like watching Kai Lin would be perfect.  I think we'll start there. :)

 

Again, thanks!

 

[Rosie_0801]

 

Like one of my older sons, her issues aren't linear, more like there are just areas that are 'blocked' or something.

 

Get her tested for retained primitive reflexes. OhElizabeth has made a few great posts about them recently.

[Classical Katharine]

I was going along thinking "well Chinese is so musical that it's different from most other languages so go ahead and try it" and then finally I got to your post which said . . . your daughter is very musical! At least for the oral dimension, she will probably thrive on Chinese and will greatly enjoy the fact that what to us sounds like the "same word pronounced four different ways" is actually four different words in Chinese. The pitch patterns are what distinguish them--each one has its own tune.

 

Your idea of sneaking in a little English sounds great too.

 

I hope this works very well for your daughter!

 

Oh--and this is over on K-8! http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/556102-beginning-mandarin/

[SparrowsNest]

Thanks for the input, Rosie & Classical Katherine!  I have never heard of RPR, but I'll definitely have a look into that!  

 

And you know, I hadn't linked the musicality of Chinese with her interest in music. That's a great connection.  :)

 

The more I've thought about it, the more excited I am for her to start.  I am excited to encourage her in a worthwhile academic pursuit, and I think it will also perhaps be one baby step towards independent learning.  And, I also think in a large family, it's good for her to have something that's *her* special thing.  I'm hopeful this will be a positive, confidence-building experience for her!

[CanadianAlison+3boys]

You got some excellent responses. I will echo with my own experience. My youngest had a speech delay in expression. None of the work we did through his speech therapy and ABA gave us more than little gains until we started teaching him ASL at home. Breaking it down and starting from the beginning with ASL suddenly gave us a breakthrough in communication. We added in French at basically the same time for his older brothers and he ended up making amazing progress in English and ASL and even measurable gains in French despite it not being specifically taught to him. Now my middle is chomping at the bit to learn Mandarin and I have a feeling that my youngest will join in too. :)