Although a slight general cost of bilingualism was found in the language profile of the six-year olds in this study, a bilingual background was not associated with more severe language problems in the LI Risk Group. Thus, there would seem to be no need to shield language-impaired children from opportunities for dual language learning.

Aim: There is little data on whether or not a bilingual upbringing may aggravate specific language problems in children. This study analysed whether there was an interaction of such problems and simultaneous bilingualism.Methods: Participants were 5-to 7-year-old children with specific language problems (LANG group, N = 56) or who were typically developing (CONTR group, N = 60). Seventy-three children were Swedish-Finnish bilingual and 43 were Swedish-speaking monolingual. Assessments (in Swedish) included tests of expressive language, comprehension, repetition and verbal memory.Results: Per definition, the LANG group had lower scores than the CONTR group on all language tests. The bilingual group had lower scores than the monolingual group only on a test of body part naming. Importantly, the interaction of group (LANG or CONTR) and bilingualism was not significant on any of the language scores.

This investigation assessed the effectiveness of a phonological intervention program on the brain functioning of bilingual Finnish 6- to 7-year-old preschool children diagnosed with specific language impairment (SLI). The intervention program was implemented by preschool teachers to small groups of children including children with SLI. A matched group of other bilingual children with SLI received a physical exercise program and served as a control group. Auditory evoked magnetic fields were measured before and after the intervention with an oddball paradigm. The brain activity recordings were followed by a behavioral discrimination test. Our results show that, in children with SLI, the positive intervention effect is reflected in plastic changes in the brain activity of the left and right auditory cortices.

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