Bilingual Exposure Following Preterm Birth: Toddler Language Outcomes and Cumulative Risk Factors

The number of children in the U.S. who are exposed to both English and Spanish is on the rise. Bilingual expo- sure can provide sociocultural, economic, and/or cognitive benefits, and a growing body of research suggests that bilingual exposure does not negatively impact language skills, even for children at-risk for language difficul-

ties. Previous research on a population of at-risk children, children born very preterm (VPT), has either excluded bilingual participants or has inadequately assessed their language skills. This has led to concerns among par- ents, clinicians, and researchers about the language development of bilingual VPT toddlers. In order to ade-

quately assess the language skills of bilingual VPT toddlers, the proposed research will use language measures that assess total vocabulary across the two languages, focus on general language abilities, and were developed for bilingual children. Language skills will be considered in the context of other environmental and neurological

factors, such as the quality and quantity of language exposure and neuroplasticity. The central hypothesis of the current study is that neuroplasticity allows the brain to adapt to a bilingual environment, and when controlling for quality and quantity of language exposure, bilingual exposure does not negatively impact language development

following preterm birth. Data for this project will be collected from Spanish-English bilingual toddlers (n = 60) and monolingual (n = 60) toddlers born VPT (