Bilingualism in children with developmental disabilities

Description of impact

Bangor University conducts world leading research on bilingualism in children with developmental disabilities, which impacts on children’s lives within bilingual Wales and worldwide. The first study worldwide on language development in children with a dual diagnosis of Down syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorder, and the first group study in the UK (and one of very few internationally) on bilingual children with Down syndrome, both show that exposure to two languages does not create problems for these children. Our results are groundbreaking: parents (in the UK and internationally) often receive advice against exposing their children with developmental disabilities to two languages, and decide to limit the child’s environment to one language for fear that the child would not be able to cope; our findings allay any fears about bilingualism, thus transforming perceptions and (in the long term) practices, and enriching the lives of the beneficiaries.

Beneficiaries and reach of impact

Education; Individuals; Society / the public; Third sector; Professions

The research and impact is pioneering for Wales (the first research ever on language development in these Welsh-speaking populations) and has also attracted international interest, with the potential to benefit children with developmental disorders and their families worldwide.

General Notes

The impact to date can be seen in parents’/practitioners’ questionnaire responses (post-workshop), wide dissemination of results on Welsh and international media spreading the message (and reactions of wider public to this)- and much more impact is anticipated as the Down’s syndrome association has asked us to create the first ever guidelines about bilingualism in children with Down syndrome (for their website). There are more planned impact and engagement activities in our new ongoing funded project – and a planned major grant application aims to continue this work. Welsh government has also shown interest.

Impact status	Potential
Impact date	20 Dec 2018
Category of impact	Health/Quality of life, Societal