Bilingual children and SLT assessment

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Hello there! My son is 2.10, and, as a result of a not-very-successful 2 1/2 year check-up with the HV, is undergoing SLT assessment.
He goes to nursery full-time but to be honest he's still settling in (and they seem to have a rapid staff turn/around, so as soon as he gets attached to someone, they leave!).
My main question is if anyone has experience of how bilingualism (I'm Italian, DH's English but by his own admission doesn't talk as much as I do ) affects language development, and even more, SLT assessments!
PS I guess this is addressed in particular to Moondog - the mums in the Special Needs Section recommended you!
Thank you!!

No personal experience but I have a German friend whose 4 year old daughter does not speak English at the 'expected level' but I don't know how good her German is as I don't understand it ! She has only recently started nursery though so her English will pick up , I'm sure. The girl was seen around the 2.6 age by SLT because of 'delayed' English.

Hiya,
My DD is speech delayed and bilingual. She has some sort of developmental delay / speech and language disorder. As I understand it, being bilingual does NOT cause speech delay.It is quite normal for one language to be better than the other, but not for both to be delayed. How is his Italian? If he expresses himself well in Italian, his English will probably pick up when he settles into nursery. If you have concerns about his Italian as well then there could be a problem. If at all possible, talk to a bilingual SALT (not easy, I know). Moondog could certainly advise more fully!
Here is a link to speech/lang milestones (borrowed from Tclanger:

www.blankees.com/baby/speech

Brio.

We saw our SALT recently (for feeding assessment NOT speech, tho DS is very clever ) and she asked us about bilingualism (we're Welsh). I said no, but asked why and she said that they take it into consideration when assessing language skills as to which is the primary language they use and hear.

Thanks BriocheDoree and all the others! To be honest, I can't say I had concerns until the HV referred us to the CDC. I was so unconcerned that DH took him to the visit on his own, and apparently DS ran around for 20 minutes, said absolutely nothing, and got himself referred.
Pretty much same show with the SLT at nursery. I just hope he decides to talk at the home visit...
According to the milestones you have, DS should be fine. He has three-word sentences (not a lot admittedly), some 'feeling' words, a good number of verbs, knows colours, shapes, identifies pictures in books, understands instructions. BUT he talks when he wants to talk, and not when we (or anyone else apparently) asks him... Or is that in itself a red flag?

Not a red flag, no.
We know that bilingual kids are generally slower to talk.
Sounds like HV being extra careful 9as often are).
I'm a trilingual SALT who assesses in three different languages and I have bilingual kids.

Don't let anyone panic you into not bringing your child up bilingually.It is priceless.

My friend's bilingual son had to go for SALT and psychological assessments due to delayed speech and behaviour problems.
The SALT said exactly what Moondog said - that bilingual kids can be slower to talk (though she's got another bilingual son - different second language - who was very quick to talk). He's ok now with speech, and behaviour has piped down, but by god is he bossy!

Thanks guys!! Moondog: it must be totally fascinating to be a trilingual SALT! It's not just the grammar differences between different languages, but all the different worlds that come with them, isn't it? I've been trying to teach DS more 'feeling' words, like 'angry', then I realized that in my language we really just have one word for 'angry' and 'cross', and then just qualify it with other words. And the difference in terms of facial expressions is very subtle. If I teach him 'angry', will he go round thinking that someone is 'angry' when they are actually 'cross'?? I miss the days when I didn't have to think about what I was saying so very much...