Which therapy language helps bilingual children with developmental language disorder
The relationship between child language proficiency and language of treatment on the outcomes of bilingual children with developmental language disorder
Speech therapy in English, Spanish, or both will be compared to see which approach best helps bilingual children with developmental language disorder based on their language strengths.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Houston NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Houston, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11324265 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If your child speaks both Spanish and English and has trouble learning language, this work compares giving therapy in one language versus the other or in both to see how each approach affects progress. Children will be grouped by their current proficiency in each language and will receive targeted therapy while clinicians measure changes in both Spanish and English. The team will look for evidence that skills learned in one language transfer to the other and will use standardized language tests and observations over time. Results aim to give clearer guidance to families and speech-language therapists about which language(s) to use in treatment.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are Spanish-English bilingual children in the preschool to early school-age range who have a diagnosis of developmental language disorder and limited confounding conditions like hearing loss or intellectual disability.
Not a fit: Children who are monolingual, or whose speech difficulties are due to autism, hearing impairment, or intellectual disability rather than developmental language disorder, are unlikely to benefit directly from this work.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the project could show which therapy language(s) lead to bigger language gains for bilingual children, helping therapists choose more effective treatments.
How similar studies have performed: Research has shown some cross-language transfer in experimental tasks, but direct clinical comparisons of therapy language for bilingual children with developmental language disorder are limited.
Where this research is happening
Houston, United States
- University of Houston — Houston, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Mills, Monique T — University of Houston
- Study coordinator: Mills, Monique T
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.