Growing up bilingual does not cause a speech delay. Learn what parents should know about bilingual language development, mixing languages, and when to consider a speech evaluation.
“Should we stop speaking our home language?”
This is a question many bilingual parents ask when they become concerned about their child’s speech or language development.
Maybe your child is growing up hearing English at school and Portuguese at home. Perhaps your family uses both English and Spanish. Or your child regularly moves between two—or even more—languages throughout the day.
When speech seems slower than expected, it can be tempting to wonder whether hearing multiple languages is making things more difficult.
But here’s the important part:
Growing up with two or more languages does not cause a speech or language delay.
You do not need to give up the language your family feels most comfortable speaking together.
Does Being Bilingual Confuse a Child?
Children are capable of learning more than one language.
A bilingual child may develop language somewhat differently from a child who hears only one language, but that does not mean the child is confused.
For example, a child might know some words in English and others in Portuguese. When looking only at one language, it might seem like the child knows fewer words. But their communication skills should be considered across all of the languages they use, rather than evaluating each language in isolation.
This is one reason understanding a bilingual child’s complete language environment is so important when there are concerns about development.
What If My Child Mixes English and Portuguese or Spanish?
That can be a normal part of bilingual language development.
A child might begin a sentence in English and finish it in Portuguese. They may use a Spanish word in an otherwise English sentence or choose whichever word comes to mind most easily at that moment.
This is often called code-switching, and it does not automatically indicate a speech or language problem.
Adults who speak multiple languages do this too.
As children gain experience with their languages, they learn more about when, where, and with whom each language is used.
Should We Speak Only English at Home?
In most cases, families should not feel pressured to abandon their home language because they are worried about speech development.
Your home language is more than vocabulary.
It can be part of how your child communicates with parents, grandparents, siblings, and extended family. It carries family stories, traditions, humor, affection, and culture.
Parents can also provide richer and more natural language when they communicate in the language they know and feel most comfortable using.
You don’t have to choose between supporting your child’s communication and preserving your family’s language.
But What If My Bilingual Child Really Does Have a Speech Delay?
Being bilingual doesn’t prevent a child from having a speech or language disorder either.
A bilingual child can experience communication difficulties just like a monolingual child can. The important distinction is that learning two languages is not the cause of the disorder.
When there is a true language difficulty, concerns may appear across the languages the child uses, although they may not look exactly the same in each language.
That’s why evaluating bilingual children requires looking at the bigger picture—the languages they hear and speak, how much exposure they have to each one, their communication skills, development, and family concerns.
When Should Parents Consider a Speech Evaluation?
If you’re concerned about how your child communicates, you don’t need to wait simply because your child is bilingual.
Parents may consider speaking with a speech-language pathologist when they notice persistent difficulties communicating, understanding language, learning or using words, combining words, being understood, or participating in everyday interactions.
An evaluation can help determine whether what you’re seeing reflects typical multilingual development or whether your child may benefit from additional support.
The purpose isn’t to take a language away. It’s to better understand how your child communicates across their languages and what kind of support, if any, may be helpful.
Supporting Your Child’s Languages Is Supporting Connection
For bilingual and multilingual families, language is deeply connected to relationships.
Keep talking. Keep reading. Keep singing songs, telling stories, playing, and sharing everyday moments in the languages that are natural to your family.
Those interactions give children meaningful opportunities to hear and use language while staying connected to the people and culture around them.
And if you still have concerns, professional guidance can help you understand what’s happening without asking your family to give up an important part of who you are.
Looking for Speech Therapy for Kids?
At Provita Speech Language Associates, we understand that every child’s communication experience is different—including children growing up in bilingual and multilingual homes.
If you’re concerned about your child’s speech or language development, our team can help you determine whether an evaluation may be appropriate and discuss the next steps for your family.
Families searching for Speech Therapy Boca Raton can contact our Boca Raton office, while those looking for West Palm Beach Speech Therapy can reach our West Palm Beach team.
💜 Have questions about your bilingual child’s communication development? Contact Provita to schedule an evaluation.
🌎 provitaspeech.com
📍 Boca Raton: (954) 666-2942
📍 West Palm Beach: (561) 308-9792
🌐 Online Speech Therapy Available
