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4.15.1.1: Language Delays Facing Minorities

  • Page ID
    205608
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    Being a minority can have a significant impact on language development, as it can affect access to language resources and opportunities for language use. Minority children may have limited access to speakers of their home language, which can make it more difficult for them to develop proficiency in that language. They may also be exposed to the majority language more frequently and have more opportunities to use it, which can lead to greater proficiency in that language. This could lead to the child developing language skills in the majority language, while their skills in their home language may be less advanced.  

    Additionally, minority children may experience pressure to assimilate into the dominant culture and give up their home language, which can lead to language shift.  It’s important to note that the impact on language development can vary depending on the specific context and cultural background. Some minority children may have access to strong language resources and support in their home language, which can mitigate the negative effects of being a linguistic minority. 

    Overall, being a minority can have a significant impact on language development, but it does not necessarily mean that a child will not be able to develop proficiency in their home language. Supportive language policies, programs and parents engagement can help minority children to maintain and develop their home language. 

    As students progress throughout the public education system from preschool to high school, the goal is to assist them in making a successful transition into the workforce or college as they enter young adulthood. Many minority students who suffer from learning disabilities and language delays are often initially assessed during early childhood, and once labeled as such, they remain in special education programming and do not progress and advance at the same rate as White students. There is an overrepresentation and misplacement of minority children in special education curriculum. Conversely, educators, administrators, and counselors of color are underrepresented, and this is even more so for those who are bilingual. 

    Many minority students misbehave, bully other children, and perform poorly in academics because of developmental delays. However, instead of being provided with support and resources, they are often misplaced as having a conduct disorder, suspended, or expelled. According to a California Department of Education report, black male students in grades K–3a are suspended at a rate six times higher than the state average. Within the classroom, minority children face micro-aggressions and immediate discipline for any perceived wrongdoing, and they are singled out when others are behaving in a similar manner. Educators are surprised when these students succeed, believing that their lack of motivation and success is due to dysfunctional home life. Children who are learning English as a second language are often mislabeled, placed in special education classrooms, and belittled in public settings, while educators praise other children for academic success and ignore ELL students, assume the child is not intelligent, and prioritize the learning of other children.

    Children face adverse childhood experiences that shape their emotional and physical well-being, and the repercussions can have a lifelong impact. Children endure racial battle fatigue, which is a phrase Luke Wood, Vice President of San Diego State University, describes as “a framework for making sense of the cognitive, emotional, and physiological effects of being a person of color in environments that are both implicitly and explicitly racist.” The effects of racial discrimination are often overlooked and minimized by mainstream culture and within our education system. Students attending public school in the U. S. whose native language is not English struggle with psychological impacts of adjusting to bilingualism, such as anxiety and worry; low self-confidence; difficulty thinking coherently, expressing themselves, and being articulate; and experiencing frustration, withdrawal, isolation, anger, and resentment. 

    Suggested solutions to combat the negative experiences in the school system include diversity training for educators, providing a welcoming and supportive environment for students and families, and minority-representative school personnel. The idea of culturally responsive teaching has been the highlight of teacher education programs in recent years. Culturally responsive teaching is an approach that empowers students on a multitude of personal, academic, and behavioral levels using culturally relevant cues to create an inclusive learning environment centered around the children. The role of educators is even more impactful now than in years past and a culturally responsive teaching philosophy should be integrated into the school system. The absence of bilingualism/dual language learner education programs in the education system and the denial that ebonics exists, Proposition 227 English only are attempts to erase the importance of language acquisition and how it exists across varying cultures. 

    Preschoolers who are bilingual have been studied and noted to have improved short term memory in comparison to monolingual children and learning a second language serves as a protective factor against disruptive behavior disorders in young children. 

    Language delays in children can be caused by a variety of factors, including trauma and mental health issues. Physical or emotional abuse can affect a child's ability to develop language skills. Similarly, mental health issues, such as autism, development disorders, and conduct disorders can impact language development. However, there are many other potential causes of language delays, such as hearing loss, exposure to a limited language environment, and failure to thrive. It is important to consult with a professional, such as a speech therapist or pediatrician, to determine the specific cause of a child's language delay and develop an appropriate treatment plan.

    Latino children are four times as likely as White children to be identified as having a speech disorder. The tools speech language pathologists use to assess children have been designed for children who speak one language, in particular English. Their speech skills usually appear weaker. When Latino children are mislabeled and mandated to receive speech services, they experience a reduction in hours of general education curriculum learning, resulting in lower academic performance. 

    The impact of misdiagnosis along with adverse childhood experiences can cause delays in speech, language, and communication. Children are noted to experience a decrease in impulse control, limited access to words, reduced memory capacity, difficulty with problem solving, and reduced ability to navigate emotions. Communication delays are one of the most lasting negative effects of adverse childhood experiences in early childhood.  Additionally, mothers who experienced multiple adverse childhood experiences have difficulty using language to express their feelings, regulate emotions and behavior, and engage in dialogue. To support children in this situation, a trauma informed approach is ideal. For educators, a trauma-informed approach consists of  realizing the widespread impact of trauma and understanding potential paths for recovery, recognizing signs and symptoms of trauma in families and classrooms, and responding immediately by implementing positive change, empathy, and following institutional policies to protect children and keep them physically and emotionally safe in school.

    The United States high school education system has approved the Seal of Bi-literacy in all 49 states, with South Dakota still pending. The Seal of Bi-literacy is an award given by a school, district, or state in recognition of students who have studied and attained proficiency in two or more languages by high school graduation. The Seal of Bi-literacy encourages students to pursue bi-literacy, honors the skills our students attain, and can serve as evidence of skills that are attractive to future employers and college admissions offices. Most states established criteria for awarding equivalent course credit and will allow the Seal of Bi-literacy to equate to eight college credits in one single foreign language.

    Case Study: Parenting an Autistic Child

     

    When Edward was born to a 30 year old African American single mother from a lower socioeconomic background, his mother knew that finding childcare while she worked full time would be challenging. Edward spent extended periods of time at the homes of different babysitters who were not experienced in caring for an infant. He would spend several hours crying in his crib until he fell asleep despite needing feeding, changing, or physical touch. 

    As Edward grew older, he continued to be placed in the care of different caregivers, and he began spending most of the day in front of a television or with a cellphone; and again, he was rarely held or allowed to explore outside of his playpen. Edward reached the age of 3 without ever making a sound other than crying. He was diagnosed with autism and with evident speech and language delays deemed non-communicative and required sessions with a speech language pathologist were necessary. When the brain of a child is not stimulated and the environment is not conducive for learning and acquiring language skills.

    There are several reasons why autistic children may have difficulty learning to speak. Some possible causes include communication and sensory processing difficulties. Some autistic children may have difficulty understanding and using language, which can make speaking difficult. They may also have difficulty using nonverbal communication, such as gestures and facial expressions, which can make it harder for them to communicate and interact with others. 

    Some autistic children have difficulty processing sensory information, such as sounds and visual cues. This can make it hard for them to attend to and understand speech. Autistic children may have difficulty understanding and using social cues, such as tone of voice and body language. This interferes with their level of understanding and their use of language in social contexts. Finally, autistic children usually engage in repetitive behaviors, such as rocking or spinning, which can serve as a distraction from learning to speak. Although autistic children may have limited interest in social interaction, families should continue to provide an inclusive environment for them. Isolation can make it more difficult to learn to speak. Families can increase social interaction by engaging in activities that interest the child and playing with toys that interest them. 

    Research has suggested that minority children may be less likely to be diagnosed with autism than white children. This is thought to be due to a combination of factors, including cultural and linguistic barriers, lack of awareness and knowledge about autism in minority communities, and biases in the diagnostic process. Minority children are more likely to be underdiagnosed and less likely to receive early intervention services, which can make it more difficult for them to achieve optimal outcomes. Cultural biases in the diagnostic process may often impact this population. Minority children are more likely to be diagnosed with autism later in life than white children and have more profound deficiencies resulting from the lack of  early intervention services. More research is needed to fully understand the racial disparities in autism diagnosis among different racial and ethnic groups.

    Home literacy environment and children's existing language knowledge mediate the effect of socioeconomic status (SES). Children who are learning two languages (dual language learners, or DLLs) represent a rapidly growing population in the United States. DLLs are disproportionately more likely to live in families of low SES, which places many of them at risk for poor dual-language outcomes. To date, most studies on SES and dual language development have relied on static measures of vocabulary and syntactic skills without examining the language learning processes, particularly children's ability to acquire new language items. (Luo, 2021)

    Parental involvement helps caregivers and children build stronger, more understanding relationships; encourages kids to regulate their behavior through things like breathing techniques and exercise when they are experiencing unhappy memories or thoughts; and builds resiliency.

    Many interventions incorporate social emotional activities, such as spending time with animals, mediation, yoga, deep breathing exercises, and massage. Attending specialized programs and weekly therapy sessions can equip children with effective trauma coping skills.

    Researchers explain that the way bilingualism affects the intellectual functioning of autistic children has yet to be explored. Nor has there been a satisfactory factor structure that explains monolingual and bilingual autistic children's IQ performance in terms of individual factors, such as age and socioeconomic status. One study examined the intelligence profiles of 316 bilingual and age- and gender-matched monolingual children with autism using the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children–Third Edition. Low-socioeconomic status bilingual autistic children outperformed their monolingual peers on both verbal and nonverbal subtests, while the differences faded in medium-SES and high-SES children. The findings emphasize the positive effects of bilingualism on low-SES autistic children's intelligence and also highlight high SES as a factor that may mitigate discrepant patterns of strengths and weaknesses in monolingual children's IQ performance.

    Discussion Questions

    1. Do environmental stimuli and human interaction impact language development? Why or why not?

    2. Does the likelihood of a diagnosis of autism increase through lack of parental education, race, hand/or socioeconomic status? Why or why not?

    Relationship Between Screen Time and Language Development

    The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) advisory board recognizes the health implications of too much screen time. In addition to language delays, children are at increased risk for obesity, violence and aggression, loss of social skills, attention problems, anxiety and depression, sleep deprivation, vision problems, migraine headaches, repetitive motion syndrome, and arthritis (American Academy of Pediatrics [AAP], 2016). In January 2017, the AAP advisory board ratified an online Media and Children Communication Toolkit, which encourages families to create a media use plan to gain awareness of media use habits and adopt methods to decrease use. In their most recent 2016 policy statement, the AAP advisory board advocated for no screen time in children between the ages of 18–24 months other than video-chatting and for limiting screen time to less than 1 hour per day of high-quality programming and apps for children ages 2–5 because of the harmful impact it might have on the developing brain. They also recommended that caregivers view and use media simultaneously with children and avoid allowing screen time during meals or for one hour before bedtime, and remove televisions and other media devices from children’s bedrooms.

    Different theoretical perspectives

    Developmental Needs

    Copyright 2013 by Franklin Reyes, AP. 

    Noam Chomsky is a linguist who believes that some of a child’s language ability is innate. Genetics and innate mechanisms direct language development. Chomsky is considered a nativist and  has contributed a great amount of insight in the area of language development, including proof that a universal grammar exists for all languages and that children are equipped with a language acquisition device. 

    Learning theorists and behaviorists believe language is learned through conditioning processes and reinforcement.

    Interactionists believe language is both innate and learned.

    This topic sheds light on the similarities and differences between cultures and the need for further research surrounding the Latino population. Latino children of migrant families are at an elevated risk for poor language outcomes. There is an increased effort to find ways in which to promote their development (Cole-Grove, 2019). There are also groups of Latino and African American children who appear to develop language skills successfully early on in childhood and later regress, which can account for late autism and developmental delay diagnosis in minority children. 


    This page titled 4.15.1.1: Language Delays Facing Minorities is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Juhelia Thompson (Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI)) .

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