title: Pulling it all together: The road to lasting bilingualism for children with developmental disabilities.
abstract: Children with DD must and do become bilingual, but the research reported in this special issue raises questions about equitable access to bilingual opportunities and provision of appropriate supports to ensure optimal bilingual growth in these children. The purpose of the present article was to apply the findings from our international collaboration to inform policy and practice on bilingualism in children with developmental disabilities (DD). To do this, we first overview the research presented in detail in other articles of this special issue: a narrative literature review, a review of site policies and practices related to special education and language education, a qualitative analysis of key informant interviews, and a quantitative analysis of surveys of practitioners. From these overviews emerge a complex set of contextual factors that impact bilingual development in children with DD. We then use the Bioecological Systems model of Bronfenbrenner and Morris (2007) and conceptual maps (C-maps) to examine the particular circumstances of three hypothetical children with DD who are in very different bilingual contexts. In so doing, areas of both positive and negative influence on lasting bilingualism are identified for each child. We end with recommendations for increasing access to and support for bilingualism in children with DD.
authors.affiliation: Dalhousie University, Canada. Electronic address: rainbird@dal.ca.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kay-Raining Bird
authors.affiliation: University of Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: Natacha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Trudeau
authors.affiliation: University of Ottawa, Canada.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sutton
mesh_terms: D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D007804:Language Development; D017145:Models, Educational; D019303:Multilingualism
keywords: Bilingualism; Inclusion; Intellectual disabilities; Language disabilities; Policy; Practice