Intervention with linguistically diverse preschool children: a focus on developing home language(s).
OBJECTIVE
This article addresses a series of questions that are critical to planning and implementing effective intervention programs for young linguistically diverse learners with primary language impairment (LI). Linguistically diverse learners in the United States include children whose families speak languages such as Spanish, Korean, Cantonese, Hmong, Vietnamese, or any language other than, or in addition to, English.


METHODS
A narrative review of the relevant literature addresses clinical questions including (a) Why support the home language when it is not the language used in school or the majority community? (b) Does continued support for the home language undermine attainment in a second language? (c) Should we support the home language when it includes the code switching or mixing of two traditionally separate languages? and (d) What are some strategies that can be used to support the home language when it is a language that the speech-language pathologist (SLP) does not speak?


CONCLUSIONS
SLPs should provide services to linguistically diverse preschool-age children with LI in a manner that effectively supports the development of the home language. Parent and paraprofessional training along with peer-mediated models of intervention are presented as two possible methods for facilitating the home language in children with LI.
Kohnert
Kathryn
K
Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455, USA. kohne005@umn.edu
Yim
Dongsun
D
Nett
Kelly
K
Kan
Pui Fong
PF
Duran
Lillian
L
D002675:Child, Preschool; D005190:Family / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000208:ethnology / Q000628:therapy*; D019303:Multilingualism; D013070:Speech Therapy / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D014705:Verbal Behavior