Trilingual child with speech delay

[Lize90]

Hello , i have a 4 year old who is struggling with conversations, she does understand everything and take directions , communicates with single words but doesn’t make back and forth conversations. She is involved with 3 languages as me and her father were raised in different countries. Do you have a similar experience , I’ve been to speech and language but I haven’t seen any improvement as they were trying to make her say words but she already knew that .

Unless you are very fluent in English then you and your partner should continue to speak your native languages at home. Multilingual children often have a delay in their language development, but this is a significant delay which would warrant further investigation.
Is she still being seen by the Speech and Language Therapist?

Have a read of the below document from the University of Reading’s specialist centre of multilingualism. I think it’s advised to keep speaking all languages. Maybe find a speech and language therapist with expertise in multilingualism who can assess your child?

sites.reading.ac.uk/slt-clinic/wp-content/uploads/sites/51/2022/04/BM@Reading_FamilyLeaflet.pdf

It really should be one parent one language. You should stick to that.

DD speaks completely native/fluent English with me. Fluent, perfect Spanish with her father, another language fluently at school. Read to her also in your respective languages.

Slightly delayed speech, until 2 she didnt say a word.

Then she said everything! In about 6 months.

From what I remember of my psychology degree and teacher training, delayed speech in multi-lingual kids is very common. There's just a lot of language going on, and they need to work out which language belongs with which.

There used to be a family on TikTok whose DD (aged between about 3 and 6 when I was watching) who was tri-lingual. If I remember correctly, mum was English, Dad was French but they lived in Spain and she went to Spanish nursery/pre-school. Her speech was slow to come, and she'd jumble up sentences, but she got there in the end. :)

What a total shame! The benefits of bilingualism/multilingualism go far beyond the actual languages spoken.

Op don’t give up in your search for answers.
I have two children. Just turned 4&2. My 4 year old is completely trilingual(I am a polyglot) and if anything she is classed as having a high verbal IQ.
So the nonsense spewed out by many about delayed speaking in bi/multilinguls is just that.

And I wouldn’t drop any of her languages if you are fluent in them. The problem arises when some try to transmit a language they are not fluent in. I hope you get to the bottom of the issue.

Don't worry. My nephew is trilingual and was the same as your DD to start with. She will catch up.

Exactly! I just wrote an academic paper on that. It is truly fascinating.

You could try scaling back on languages for now. My son is also trilingual, he is 2.5 and we are not having any issues at the moment. He chooses his primary language as English, which we speak a bit at home but is the only language used at nursery. He will speak Latvian at home but only when spoken to in Latvian and follow instructions/understand in Ukrainian but only will speak a few words. Does she have a preferred language? I would focus on that for now.

Speech therapist here. Please don’t do this, it’s the worst advise that could be given in this situation. Please continue with all languages she needs to know to communicate with family and friends in education. It’s not the being exposed to multiple languages that is causing a delay.

Do try and have clear rules to when you and others are speaking the different languages to her. For example one parent one language at home and then the 3rd language a nursery or 3rd language at meal times.

If shes stuck on single words in all languages then focus on modelling back two word phrases in all languages. Eg if she says truck you say ‘yes, red truck’, fast truck’, ‘my truck’ or truck go’. This will support her to know how to join two words.

Across all 3 languages make sure she has the types of words needed to make short phrases. If she only has mainly nouns it will be hard for her to join these together. Focus on modelling lots of doing words (eg. Want, help, go, jump, look, eat, make) while you are playing with her.

Maybe someone has linked already, but billingalism matters have lots of info and research on bi/multilingual children.

bilingualism matters

I would watch this carefully and not be fobbed off by people who do not understand multilingual children. Have her hearing assessed. And try to access a speech therapist with experience in this area.

Most multilingual children of this age will have words and phrases across all their languages. One language may dominate if the child is exposed to it more than the others. Multi lingual children will substitute words from another language if they do not have those words in the language they are using but they do not usually have a speech delay.

eg Mummy the volante(steering wheel) is kaputt (broken)

But they should have the grammar in the dominant language broadly correct by four - especially word order. Look also for grammatical mistakes which are “correct”

So “Mummy I goed to scuola” This is reassuring because the use of “goed” instead of went shows they have understood that the past tense in English is formed from the infinitive plus -ed.

Trust your instincts. I had a colleague in a similar situation. Son was slow to speak and everyone put it down to him being a third child in a multi lingual environment. Because he was clever he got by. But when he finally had grommets fitted his speech was transformed.

Honestly you should really do one parent one language, not have the same person speak to her in multiple languages.

My DS was raised with 2 languages and had a speech delay that turned out to be SEN. I was raised with 3 languages and spoke very early but it took me a long time to get to grips with just talking in one language at a time. My brother was also raised with 3 languages and was slow to speak and had a clear preference for one language. It’s a very varied field so definitely look at some additional SALT, and try and model 1 parent 1 language.

Yes! My niece and nephew are trilingual in the same way - mother one language, father another, living in a country that speaks the third. Nephew did well as he was older and spoke both mum & dad's languages fluently before they moved to where they live now. Niece has grown up where they live now so has learned all three languages at the same time. She didn't speak very much at all until she was 3. She didn't voluntarily speak to adults apart from her parents and her school teacher until she was about 6. She's now 8 and speaking to everyone! She sometimes uses all three languages in one sentence, especially at home because everyone understands her, but she's fluent in all three now. They came to stay with us this Christmas and she only spoke English to us without getting anything confused. It just takes them time to work it out. Don't panic yet.

I'm so glad someone qualified said this!

The advice to drop a language always seems like the equivalent of saying "just stop speaking to them" about a speech-delayed monolingual child.

Oy! You should do one parent one language. Unless neither of you speak each other's language?

Wow. Almost the same as us but Russian instead of Ukrainian. And Latvian is the third language rather than second… which is a shame as I prefer we speak Latvian but English + Russian is more useful and accessible than just Tutas and me (both familial sides prefer English over Latvian) 😅

But while it is the third inconsistent language, DD thrives in Latvian when we’re in Latvia so it doesn’t seem to be a hindrance the way we’ve done it… yet!

I'd try and get a referral to a speech therapist who is experienced with multilingual families. There may be simple things you can do that will help her.
We always understand way more than we can articulate so in a sense her development makes sense. But definitely get another professional opinion if you're still concerned.

@LondonPapa We are hoping to add Russian in a few years but we are keen to push the Ukrainian first and then Russian won’t be too much of a stretch once he has mastered it. You do the same with Russian first and then Ukrainian. Yes everyone seems to love speaking English but when we go to visit family we insist on the appropriate language to reinforce that other people are speaking it. He recently started at the weekend Latvian school in London and enjoys that other children are speaking his language too, it’s really sweet to see. If you’re daughter is already getting the hang of Latvian then it won’t fall by the wayside, she may need it in the future if she wants to relocate. Best of luck!

I thought delayed speech was normal with kids raised with multiple languages? At least that's what my friend told me, she is Ukrainian, her husband is German and they speak English at home and in public. Her daughter was slow to start speaking, but when it happened, she spoke in full sentences and was fluent in all three languages. She was already in reception by that point.
So maybe you should just lean back and relax, it'll happen when she's ready.

I've brought up a bilingual child and live in a bilingual area. I found obviously there is more vocabulary to learn so in that way yes the child is learning extra but I imagine the problem in your case is that there is too much of a mix. So so spoke English primarily at home but introduced phrases and words of the second language in a clear way, usually by doing first English then second language for the phrase. But this was only in a controlled way as I felt it was important to have a first/ primary language. I also taught him to read at home before school as school teaches reading in the second language and so again it would be clear to a degree. Even now with my grand daughter same situation to a lesser degree I tend to announce when I'm using second language ( very very common phrases used by the teachers at school to prepare her).
So I think I would advise use the language you want to be her primary language most to consolidate it and also introduce the others but with clarity.

When you say she says single words what do you mean? If she is literally only using 1 word per utterance than she is quite delayed and speaking 3 languages wouldn’t cause that. Many children worldwide speak lots of languages and single words by 4 is not common. Are there any other concerns about her development or social skills? Can she communicate non-verbally? (Pointing, showing you, acting out, gesturing etc.
Everyone should use the language they are most fluent in with her.

Are you concerned about her speech (pronunciation of speech sounds ie tat for cat) or her language (the amount of words she is putting together / ability to follow instructions etc?) if it is her language, are the delays across all 3 languages?

@Dutch1e Came on here to say exactly this. Listen to the speech therapist PP above too. My DC are trilingual with no real perceptable speech delay in any of their languages by about three years old, same for three bilingual members of my family. Sounds like it would be best to investigate this further with a professional who has experience with multilingual families.

My DC didn't speak properly in sentences until 4 or 5 - they are almost bilingual.

Both have a "dominant" language but strangely it's different for speaking and reading in one DC.
I wouldn't worry at this stage, just continue as you are. It's a big thing for DC to work out which language is fitting for each environment. Time and patience will be your friend.