Abstract
BackgroundDue to demographic changes over the last few decades, the number of multilingual children has grown rapidly. Many of them face problems in learning their second language. Similarities between linguistic manifestations of stages of second language acquisition and an impairment of language acquisition cause a diagnostic dilemma. The Vienna Model of language assessment in multilingual children will be presented.MethodsA key feature of our procedure is the integration of medical students as native speakers in diagnosing acquisition of the first language. A case study of a boy with Russian as first language illustrates the procedure.ResultsThe Vienna Model of language assessment in multilingual children offers the possibility to evaluate language competence in a differentiated manner with support of medical students as native speakers. Based on the bilingual assessment on different linguistic levels the diagnosis ICD-10 F80.0 is given. The subsequent short therapy showed an improvement regarding phonological competence.
Highlights
Due to demographic changes over the last few decades, the number of multilingual children has rapidly grown
In Austria 45% of children in day nurseries grow up with a first language (L1) that is not German [1]. In this situation many professionals face a diagnostic dilemma because there are similarities between linguistic manifestations of stages of second language acquisition (L2) and an impairment of language acquisition [2]
Even though there is not enough data available on bilingual children, it is supposed that these children suffer from specific language impairment (SLI) just as often [3]
Summary
Due to demographic changes over the last few decades, the number of multilingual children has rapidly grown. In Austria 45% of children in day nurseries grow up with a first language (L1) that is not German [1]. In this situation many professionals face a diagnostic dilemma because there are similarities between linguistic manifestations of stages of second language acquisition (L2) and an impairment of language acquisition [2]. About 5–8% of monolingual children show a specific language impairment (SLI) according to the criteria of ICD 10 (www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/). Even though there is not enough data available on bilingual children, it is supposed that these children suffer from SLI just as often [3]. Thordadottier [4] describes four scenarios depending on the L1: (1) normed tests are available, (2) appropriate tests are not available, (3) no tests, but a clinical tradition is available and (4) neither tests nor a clinical tradition exists
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