Case 1. Darla joined our daycare when she was 2 years and 4
months old. She had no language skills whatsoever and in desperation her
parents had taught her sign language. Sign language is a huge advantage for a
child who has been identified as having a permanent impediment for speech. When
it is used as a solution for a situation that has not been correctly addressed,
it is an impediment for skilled verbal development.
She was living in a dual language home where the mother was
speaking Italian and accented English and the father was speaking English with
a few Italian words thrown in. In reality, they were speaking to her in three
languages.
We immediately recommended that the mother speak only
Italian and the dad would only speak English.
We were also reinforcing the English language at the daycare
and as with all children, established an expectation that she would begin
requesting and responding verbally.
After two weeks she began demonstrating a reasonable
developed basic language and, not surprisingly, now understands that she needed
to speak Italian to her mom. Four to six months later she was fluent in both
languages.
Case 2. Oren joined our daycare when he was two and a half.
At that point his life he was completely non-verbal and was demonstrating
anti-social behavior that was possibly leading to a childhood of therapies and
behavior evaluations that were mostly negative that may remain with him
throughout his childhood.
We found out that he began his life hearing his mother speak
Japanese and his father speak English. This was obviously a good start.
However, when they decided to place him in a daycare we had no space available
and they selected a location where the caregivers and children spoke Spanish.
AS time passed they became aware that the caregivers were also speaking heavily
accented English and by the age of two, he was totally non-verbal.
Because they felt it would improve the situation, the mom
began speaking English which would stimulate him to at least speak that
language. The reality was that because she spoke heavily accented English, she
was in fact introducing him to yet another language.
Everyone began to see signs of aggressive and non-verbal
behavior that was leading the caregivers to believe that he would need a
professional evaluation to determine what his condition really was.
When the parents were contacted by use because there was now
an available space at our daycare, upon hearing the details of his experience,
we initially concluded that by communicating with him in five different languages
he had been isolated from his world, was angry and frustrated, and was acting
out physically since he was unable to communicate verbally.
We recommended that the parents go back to only speaking to
him in their native language and we would only speak English.
Within a month, he was listening to us, starting to follow
the rules, interacting with the other children in a non-aggressive manner, and
in fact, beginning to be educated and socialized. He was also beginning to
communicate in the English language, which is the one he was hearing the most.
We really encourage that there is a strong possibility these
previous circumstances were the cause of the anti-social behavior.
Case 3. Maria join use when she had just turned two. She
already understood and spoke Farsi (her mother’s language) and Portuguese (her
father’s language). She had never been in an environment where people spoke
English.
It was the parents’ goal to introduce her to English. They
had been traveling a lot because of their business and were now ready to remain
in LA for at least a year.
She spent the first two months just listening and trying to
figure out what we were all saying. There was a pivotal moment when she
realized she understood some of the basic words such as milk, hungry and food.
We actually saw a light go on in her eyes and a smile of understanding
appeared.
It was amazing from that day how quickly she picked up the
language and to our surprise, spoke it without an accent.
It was exciting and rewarding that within six to eight
months she could communicate her needs and understand everything we were
telling her.
Conclusions
Over the many years we have operated our daycare we have had
hundreds of children who came from dual language families.
Living in Los Angeles we are interacting with families from
all over the world and ones that have blended cultures that value different
languages.
The majority of families involved one parent whose primary
language was English because most of our families joined us when their child
was in their first year. They followed our advice to have each parent speak
their primary language only at all times.
Interestingly, we were obviously reinforcing the English
language at our daycare, but the child tended to speak both languages almost
simultaneously.
In all cases, a child learning two languages became
proficient at a slightly older age than a child learning only one language. Our
one language children were proficient at the age of two, who the dual language
child reached that level with both languages in most cases three to four months
later.
I think it is a huge advantage for a child to embrace and
benefit from, as well as acknowledge the uniqueness of both cultures that they
have been born to our brought into. It is a strange, adventuress and invaluable
opportunity.
If these case studies are reflective of your experiences,
embrace the challenges and give your child the benefits of what is unique,
interesting, and life altering.
For all of you who are taking this path, good luck!
