What does developmental language disorder (DLD) look like when two languages are developing simultaneously? In this presentation, I synthesize findings from a longitudinal research program examining morphosyntactic growth in Spanish–English bilingual children with and without DLD, interpreted through the perspectives of bilingual acquisition, language proficiency shift, and protracted development. Children were followed over two years across three waves of data collection using standardized assessments, spontaneous language samples, and elicited morphosyntactic probes.

Across measures, children demonstrated continued growth in English, alongside patterns of maintenance or domain-specific growth in Spanish depending on the construct examined. Children with DLD consistently remained behind their typically developing peers in overall level of attainment across methods and time points. These findings indicate that although bilingual development is shaped by shifting proficiency and input, DLD reflects persistent limitations in language ability.

The presenter also integrates findings from a mixed-method study examining parents’ retrospective reflections on their children’s bilingual development and the ways these perceptions shape home language practices. Together, these studies support a developmental account of bilingual DLD in which disorder explains differences in overall level of attainment, while bilingual trajectories vary as a function of changes in input over time. This framework moves the field beyond static descriptions of bilingual proficiency toward a dynamic model that integrates limitations in language ability with bilingual change across development.

Participants will be able to:
● Describe patterns of longitudinal language growth in Spanish–English bilingual children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD).
● Explain how language proficiency shifts contribute to a developmental framework for understanding bilingual DLD.
● Compare longitudinal findings from standardized assessments and spontaneous language samples to characterize language growth in bilingual children with and without DLD.
● Describe how parents’ perspectives on their children’s bilingual development influence home language practices.

Time-Ordered Agenda
05 minutes– Introductions and disclosures15 minutes– Language Development in Bilinguals
10 minutes– Growth of Executive Function Skills Across Youth and Adolescence
10 minutes– Language Development in Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)
20 minutes– Longitudinal study – Behavioral measures of language growth
20 minutes– Mixed Method study – Parent’s perceptions of language growth
10 minutes- Closing
15 minutes- Moderated question and answer session

Participants will leave with a practical system they can implement immediately, along with renewed confidence in using language sampling as a central component of ethical, effective, and culturally responsive assessment.

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Practitioners attending recorded sessions demonstrate learning and attendance by passing a quiz with a score of 80% or greater. The quiz addresses questions from material presented throughout the course. Practitioners can retake the quiz if they do not initially obtain a score of at least 80%. For events including case studies, participants download, read, and utilize materials in order to participate.