The current study aims to investigate the extent to which bilingual children shift between languages during collaborative math tasks and to explore the potential relationships between language shifting, known as translanguaging, executive function abilities, and mathematical abilities. By considering students' unique linguistic backgrounds, the study highlights the potential benefits of creating a translanguaging environment to enhance student’s mathematical performance. Furthermore, this study aims to analyze any correlations or lack thereof between mathematical test scores, translanguaging and executive function. The research methodology includes pretesting, a collaborative intervention, and post-testing. This study will implement a mixed-design approach using qualitative analysis of language shifting moments and quantitative analysis to measure additional tasks such as executive function assessments and language use and proficiency evaluations. This study aims to contribute to the limited existing research on translanguaging in educational settings, ultimately promoting inclusivity and providing valuable insights into effective instructional strategies for bilingual students.

This study aims to investigate the development of semantic networks in typically developing Spanish-English bilingual children from 1st to 3rd grade through analysis of narrative language samples. The investigation seeks to understand how these samples reflect developmental changes in English and Spanish semantic networks and how these changes inform language dominance over time in English-only, subtractive school environments. The study involves 60 bilingual children (N=60) from Southern Arizona, divided into two groups: 30 first graders and 30 third graders. Using the wordless picture book "Frog, Where Are You?" by Mercer Mayer, narrative samples were elicited in both English and Spanish. The narratives were transcribed and analyzed using the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) to assess phonological, morphological (i.e., grammatical), syntactic, and semantic errors. Narrative samples reveal a nuanced development of semantic networks informed by error analyses, showing fewer errors related to phonology and greater refinement of English semantic categories as children progress to 3rd grade. Spanish narratives show varied development influenced by the predominantly English-speaking educational environment. This study is crucial for clinicians and educators, providing insights into bilingual language development and challenging monolingual ideologies that often misrepresent bilingual language development and proficiency. Understanding these typically-developing patterns in bilingual development is essential for creating equitable educational decision-making and support systems for bilingual students, minimizing the historic over- and under-identification for special education services. This research highlights the need for a more informed and asset-based approach to bilingual research, particularly in contexts that favor English-only policies.

The current study aims to characterize language development in children with agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC), a congenital brain malformation characterized by the failure of proper corpus callosum development. Participants in this study were categorized into one of four groups: Isolated ACC, Corpus Callosal Hypoplasia (CCH), Uncertain Dysgenesis of the Corpus Callosum, and ACC with other complex medical diagnoses. Data from typically developing children in the Baby Connectome Project were used for control comparisons. Assessments of language development were completed at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months of age (n = 108) using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS), the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Developmental Inventories (MCDI), and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Aim 1 of this research examines the variability in language development trajectories in children with ACC based on diagnostic status. Aim 2 evaluates the agreement between the different measures of language development. It is hypothesized that children with ACC will exhibit lower language scores compared to typically developing controls from the Baby Connectome Project at all ages. Additionally, we expect the ACC group with additional complex medical diagnoses to have more delayed language development compared to the other ACC diagnostic groups. For Aim 2, it is hypothesized that the VABS, MCDI, and CBCL will show significant correlations, indicating strong agreement between these measures of language development. The results aim to profile the variability in language development and identify potential predictors of language skill in children with ACC to better inform clinicians and parents about their child’s expected development.

In the United States, about 42 million people speak Spanish as their first language, subsequently creating a large population of people who are bilingual. The process of language development varies in monolingual versus bilingual children, where one group is attempting to establish a single structure, and the other is undertaking the task of differentiating between two. However, the progression of bilingual children is not clear, and as such, more research and data is required to discover patterns. This topic is important because difficulty with grammaticality is a defining characteristic of development language disorder. The purpose of this current study is to examine grammatical patterns of Spanish-English bilingual children through language samples to better understand their development. For this study, narrative language samples in Spanish from 30 children ages 5 to 7 were transcribed and coded. All language samples were previously collected as part of a larger project on developmental language disorder in bilingual children. The coding focused on correct and incorrect instances of grammatical forms that have varying degrees of “difficulty” in bilingual children’s language development, such as the preterite, plural nouns and articles, and prepositions. After coding was completed, the frequency and the accuracy of the grammatical forms were analyzed. In addition, patterns were examined based on home exposure and age. The findings of this study serve to contribute information on grammatical patterns of developing bilingual children. Understanding their development is essential in enacting a more effective way to assess and diagnose bilingual children with a development language disorder.