Language Disorders in Bilingua

Language Disorders in Bilingual Children and Adults, second edition, provides speech-language pathologists, advanced students in communication disorders programs, and clinical language researchers with information needed to formulate and respond to questions related to effective service delivery to bilingual children and adults with suspected or confirmed language disorders. The bilinguals of interest represent varying levels of first and second language proficiency across the lifespan. That is, bilingualism is not determined here by a priori notions of relative proficiency in each language, but rather by the individual's experience or need for two languages.

In separate chapters, the book synthesizes the literatures on bilingual children and adults with typical and atypical language skills to give the reader a deep understanding of the multiple factors that affect language development and disorders in those who rely on two languages for meaningful interactions. Assessment and intervention issues and methods are presented separately for each population.

The focus for children is on primary developmental language disorder (specific language impairment, language learning impairment, isolated language impairment, and late talkers). For adults, the focus is on primary acquired language impairment, in particular aphasia. Although child and adult, typical and atypical populations are presented separately, all are considered within a unifying Dynamic Interactive Processing perspective. This broad theoretical framework emphasizes interactions between social, cognitive and communicative systems to form the basis for very practical implications related to assessment and intervention.

For the second edition, the author has updated the entire text with references to the considerable amount of research that has been undertaken in recent years. There has been an impressive uptick in research at the intersection of bilingualism and language impairment as well as bilingualism and adults with aphasia. This rapidly increasing body of empirical studies has direct implications for assessment and treatment of language in bilingual individuals.

Other additions to the second edition include:

• A foreword by Ellen Bialystok, Ph.D., Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Psychology at York University
• New content on common factors those core aspects of clinical practice that may transcend specific therapies Clinical Questions and Extension Activities added to each chapter
• New tables and figures in each chapter to illustrate key concepts

With its updated content and new features, Language Disorders in Bilingual Children and Adults, Second Edition, is a must-have resource for any SLP who works bilingual children or adults.

Kathryn Kohnert, PhD, CCC-SLP, is Professor Emeritus of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences at the University of Minnesota, where she founded the Bilingual-Multicultural Emphasis Program in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. She received her PhD from the joint doctoral program in Language and Communicative Disorders at San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Kohnerts NIH-funded research has focused on language and cognition in diverse populations, including bilingual children and adults with and without language impairment. Her research articles have appeared in more than twenty different peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journals. She has also written many book chapters and intervention programs. Dr. Kohnert has been a certified member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) since 1992 and was named an ASHA Fellow in 2009. She twice served as Associate Editor for the Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research and on the editorial board for several international journals. Dr. Kohnert has received many awards for her research, teaching excellence and professional service. She has given invited research and professional talks throughout the United States and internationally on issues at the intersection of communication disorders and second language learning. Dr. Kohnert currently writes and consults from her home in Minneapolis.