More similitudes than differences between bilinguals and monolinguals on speeded and demand-varying tasks

[eng] We tested the presence and nature of bilingual advantage in early bilinguals, as compared to a sample of monolinguals with a similar social and cultural background. Participants performed three non-linguistic flanker tasks with increasing demands (simple < no-go < n-back), each designed to tap into specific executive control components. Results showed that Catalan‒Spanish bilinguals were more accurate overall, independent of task demands. However, we did not find evidence of better general performance regarding reaction times in bilinguals (BEPA hypothesis) nor a better interference suppression (BICA hypothesis), response inhibition or updating of information regardless of task demands. Besides, the current data revealed that task demands modulated the magnitude of the interference effect in both reaction times and accuracy. Moreover, Spanish monolinguals showed a reduced interference effect in terms of response times in the no-go task. Results are discussed in relation to distinct group response strategies and differential allocation of executive resources. Keywords: bilingual advantage, task demands, executive contro

Academic outcomes in bilingual children with developmental language disorder: a longitudinal study

[eng] Previous studies have shown that most English-speaking children with language difficulties show academic difficulties during their schooling. The present study aimed to describe the academic achievement of children speaking Spanish and Catalan with developmental language disorder (DLD) during their primary education and to predict their academic outcomes using several processing skills assessed at the beginning of their schooling. To this end, we followed 28 children during their schooling (6-12 years of age). Participants were divided into two groups, one with DLD (n=14) and a control group (n=14) paired by age, gender, socio-economic status (SES), family language (L1), and classroom. All participants were assessed through different processing skills with the Spanish version of the NEPSY at the beginning of their schooling (age 6): attention (visual attention, auditory attention, and response set), phonological awareness, verbal short-term memory (sentence repetition, and narrative memory), access to language (semantic verbal fluency and rapid naming), and language comprehension (comprehension of verbal commands). At the end of primary education, schools reported the official academic marks at the 1st cycle (6-8 years), 2nd cycle (8-10 years) and 3rd cycle (10-12 years). Direct scores of the processing skills and academic results were used for statistical analyses. Results showed that children with DLD had more frequent grade retention, and their academic marks were significantly lower than those of their peers in all the cycles and for all academic subjects with a high language dependency (all except physical education and mathematics. Those subjects with lower language dependence did not show significant differences (physical education and mathematics). Rapid naming accounted for most of the variance of academic outcomes, followed by phonological awareness, and language comprehension when both groups were taken together. Only rapid naming accounted for academic results in the DLD group and phonological awareness did so for the control group. In sum, children with DLD experienced more academic difficulties during their primary education. Those children (with and without DLD) who experienced difficulties not only with rapid naming but also with phonological awareness and oral language comprehension at the beginning of their schooling showed a higher probability of academic failure

Retrospective bullying trajectories in adults with self-reported oral language difficulties

[eng] Background: Previous research has consistently evidenced that children with speech and language difficulties suffer more bullying victimisation during middle school years, whereas other educative stages remain less explored. Moreover, there are divergent results in previous evidence about the types of victimisation (physical, verbal, relational) youths may experience. Aims: To examine the retrospective developmental trajectories of bullying victimisation in adults with and without self-reported oral language difficulties across seven educational stages (preschool to university). Special attention was given to the prevalence and types of victimisation. Methods & Procedures: A total of 336 participants (ages between 18 and 65, M = 30.3) from a sample of 2259 participants that fully answered an online survey were classified as having experienced oral language difficulties (LD) not associated with a biomedical condition. A comparable control group (n = 336; ages between 18 and 72, M = 30.0) was randomly selected for statistical betweengroups contrasts. Responses to the California Bullying Victimization Scale-Retrospective (CBVS-R) were analysed by generalised estimating equations (GEE) including language groups, types of bullying, and educational stages as explanatory variables. Specific language group comparisons in terms of percentages were conducted using chi-square tests. Outcomes & Results: GEE results suggested that experiencing LD was associated with an overall increase in the likelihood of bullying victimisation, Wald's χ2 (1) = 8.41, p < 0.005 for the main effect of the LD group, along almost all educational stages, Wald's χ2 (6) = 3.13, p = 0.69 for the LD group × educational stage interaction. Finally, a higher proportion of participants in the LD group reported having suffered teasing behaviours at the second cycle of elementary, the first cycle of secondary, and baccalaureate. They also reported with a higher proportion being physically hurt at preschool and having received sexual comments at the second cycle of elementary, Wald's χ2 (93) = 259.87, p < 0.001 for the LD group × educational stage × type of bullying interaction. Conclusions & Implications: People with oral language difficulties experience more bullying victimisation behaviours than their typically developing peers. Heightened bullying prevalence in children with language difficulties seems to emerge as early as 6-9 years old and persists along the rest of schooling. Not all victimisation forms seem to show differential increased rates in people with speech/language difficulties, evidencing important implications for bullying assessment. Results highlight the need to provide particular support to individuals with language difficulties against bullying during the entire schooling