Early intervention of language and behavior in monolingual and bilingual preschoolers with Developmental Language Disorders

Abstract

In the present study, we investigated Dutch language and behavior progress in monolingual and bilingual preschoolers with developmental language disorders (DLD). All were enrolled in an early intervention program targeting language and communication in interaction. Following a pretest–posttest design, 100 monolingual children (MAGE = 3;5) and 50 bilingual children (MAGE = 3;6) were tested on receptive and expressive vocabulary, language comprehension, and sentence production in Dutch as L1 versus L2. Pedagogical therapists rated children's internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems before and after the intervention. Results showed that monolingual and bilingual children improved their Dutch language abilities during the intervention, with no increase in behavioral problems. Bilingual children obtained lower Dutch language scores than monolingual peers. There was no evidence for differences in behavior problems between the groups. Furthermore, for both groups, better receptive vocabulary abilities, less progress in expressive vocabulary, and greater progress in language comprehension and sentence production during the intervention were related to fewer internalizing behaviors after the intervention. We conclude that strengthening Dutch language development during the intervention may also prevent the occurrence of internalizing behavioral problems in both monolingual and bilingual children with DLD.