{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,8]],"date-time":"2026-10-08T01:46:01Z","timestamp":1791423961378,"version":"4.3.3"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,9]],"date-time":"2025-06-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1749427200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Behavioral Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Despite the growing number of bilinguals worldwide, research on how bilingualism influences grammatical development in children with learning disabilities remains limited. This may be due to challenges in assessing language in these children, given the heterogeneity of their disabilities, lack of appropriate tools, and variability in language background and exposure common in bilingual populations. This pilot study investigates grammatical abilities in bilingual versus monolingual children with Down syndrome using the LITMUS Sentence Repetition Task, specifically designed for bilingual populations. Sentence repetition tasks are widely used for assessing grammar in neurotypical children and children with language impairments and are part of many omnibus language assessments. Ten children with Down syndrome aged 5\u20138 were recruited: five bilingual, speakers of British English and various home languages, and five monolingual, age- and language-matched. Both groups produced a high proportion of ungrammatical repetitions, with more omissions of verbs than nouns, function words than content words, and significant difficulties producing complex structures such as relative clauses, wh-questions, and passives. However, qualitative analyses showed that bilingual children speaking morphologically rich home languages (e.g., Polish, Greek) appeared to have fewer difficulties with some function words (e.g., prepositions) and were able to produce complex structures like passives and wh-questions, unlike their monolingual peers. Although the small sample limits generalisability, two insights emerge: First, sentence repetition may be of limited use in assessing expressive grammar in children with Down syndrome due to frequent ungrammatical responses. Second, while both groups showed similar challenges, bilingualism\u2014especially with richly inflected home languages\u2014may support specific grammatical skills. These findings support existing evidence that bilingualism does not hinder grammatical development in children with Down syndrome and suggest that parents should not avoid dual-language input. Further research is needed to determine whether bilingualism confers specific benefits in grammatical morpheme use and complex syntactic constructions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bs15060791","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,9]],"date-time":"2025-06-09T08:22:34Z","timestamp":1749457354000},"page":"791","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Bilingualism Does Not Hinder Grammatical Development in Down Syndrome: Evidence from a Sentence Repetition Task"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5980-7229","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexandra","family":"Perovic","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Katie","family":"Levy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, London SE6 4JF, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"In\u00e8s","family":"Aertsen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Gesondheetszentrum Greiweldeng, 5427 Greiveldange, Luxembourg"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrea","family":"Baldacchino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"413","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-8624.2011.01707.x","article-title":"Bilingual effects on cognitive and linguistic development: Role of language, cultural background, and education","volume":"83","author":"Barac","year":"2012","journal-title":"Child Development"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bialystok, E. (2001). Bilingualism in development: Language, literacy, and cognition, Cambridge University Press.","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511605963"},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Bishop, D. (2003). The test for reception of grammar: TROG-2, Pearson Assessment. [2nd ed.]."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"74","DOI":"10.1177\/01427237231204167","article-title":"Sometimes larger, sometimes smaller: Measuring vocabulary in monolingual and bilingual infants and toddlers","volume":"44","author":"Schott","year":"2024","journal-title":"First Language"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1106","DOI":"10.1044\/jshr.3405.1106","article-title":"Language skills of children and adolescents with Down syndrome: 1. Comprehension","volume":"34","author":"Chapman","year":"1998","journal-title":"Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"42","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jcomdis.2014.02.006","article-title":"Syntactic bootstrapping in children with Down syndrome: The impact of bilingualism","volume":"49","author":"Cleave","year":"2014","journal-title":"Journal of Communication Disorders"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"189","DOI":"10.1214\/ss\/1032280214","article-title":"Bootstrap confidence intervals","volume":"11","author":"DiCiccio","year":"1996","journal-title":"Statistical Science"},{"key":"ref_8","unstructured":"Dunn, D., Dunn, L., and National Foundation for Educational Research (2009). The British picture vocabulary scale: BPVS3, GL Assessment. [3rd ed.]."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"720","DOI":"10.1044\/1092-4388(2002\/058)","article-title":"Profiles of grammatical morphology and sentence imitation in children with specific language impairment and Down syndrome","volume":"45","author":"Eadie","year":"2002","journal-title":"Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Efron, B., and Tibshirani, R. J. (1994). An introduction to the bootstrap, Chapman & Hall.","DOI":"10.1201\/9780429246593"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/S0911-6044(00)00016-6","article-title":"Differences in native and foreign language repetition tasks between subjects with William\u2019s and Down\u2019s syndromes","volume":"15","author":"Fabbro","year":"2002","journal-title":"Journal of Neurolinguistics"},{"key":"ref_12","first-page":"6","article-title":"Language learning in four bilingual children with Down syndrome: A detailed analysis of vocabulary and morphosyntax","volume":"32","author":"Feltmate","year":"2008","journal-title":"Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Grosjean, F. (2010). Bilingual: Life and reality, Harvard University Press.","DOI":"10.4159\/9780674056459"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Guasti, M. T. (2017). Language acquisition: The growth of grammar, MIT Press. [2nd ed.].","DOI":"10.1093\/oxfordhb\/9780199573776.013.12"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"288","DOI":"10.1352\/0895-8017(1998)103<0288:VUBIWD>2.0.CO;2","article-title":"Verb use by individuals with Down syndrome","volume":"103","author":"Hesketh","year":"1998","journal-title":"American Journal on Mental Retardation"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"705","DOI":"10.1080\/02699200701541375","article-title":"Patterns of syntactic development in children with Williams syndrome and Down\u2019s syndrome: Evidence from passives and wh-questions","volume":"21","author":"Joffe","year":"2007","journal-title":"Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"376","DOI":"10.1080\/1034912X.2019.1684458","article-title":"Bilingualism in Down syndrome: A Greek study","volume":"68","author":"Katsarou","year":"2019","journal-title":"International Journal of Disability, Development and Education"},{"key":"ref_18","unstructured":"Kaufman, A., and Kaufman, N. (1990). Kaufman brief intelligence test manual, American Guidance Service."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"187","DOI":"10.1044\/1058-0360(2005\/019)","article-title":"The language abilities of bilingual children with Down syndrome","volume":"14","author":"Cleave","year":"2005","journal-title":"American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"48","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-7687.2008.00742.x","article-title":"Early bilingualism enhances mechanisms of false-belief reasoning","volume":"12","year":"2009","journal-title":"Developmental Science"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"423","DOI":"10.1080\/13682820410001681207","article-title":"Verbal deficits in Down\u2019s syndrome and specific language impairment: A comparison","volume":"39","author":"Laws","year":"2004","journal-title":"International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"360","DOI":"10.1038\/s44159-023-00178-9","article-title":"The relationship between bilingual language use and executive functions","volume":"2","author":"Lehtonen","year":"2023","journal-title":"Nature Reviews Psychology"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Armon-Lotem, S., de Jong, J., and Meir, N. (2015). Sentence repetition. Assessing multilingual children: Disentangling bilingualism from language impairment, Multilingual Matters.","DOI":"10.21832\/9781783093137"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104781","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ridd.2024.104781","article-title":"Vocabulary and expressive morpho-syntax in individuals with Down syndrome: Links to narration","volume":"151","author":"Neitzel","year":"2024","journal-title":"Research in Developmental Disabilities"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2225","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ridd.2011.05.014","article-title":"Language and verbal short-term memory skills in children with Down syndrome: A meta-analytic review","volume":"32","author":"Lyster","year":"2011","journal-title":"Research in Developmental Disabilities"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Papastefanou, T., Powell, D., and Marinis, T. (2019). Language and decoding skills in Greek-English primary school bilingual children: Effects of language dominance, contextual factors and cross-language relationships between the heritage and the majority language. Frontiers in Communication, 4.","DOI":"10.3389\/fcomm.2019.00065"},{"key":"ref_27","unstructured":"Paradis, J., Genesee, F., and Crago, M. (2011). Dual language development and disorders: A handbook on bilingualism and second language learning, Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. [2nd ed.]."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1616","DOI":"10.1016\/j.lingua.2005.05.011","article-title":"Syntactic deficit in Down syndrome: More evidence for the modular organisation of language","volume":"116","author":"Perovic","year":"2006","journal-title":"Lingua"},{"key":"ref_29","unstructured":"Perovic, A. (2024, December 01). Comparing grammatical Abilities of Serbian speakers with Williams and Down syndromes. Invited talk presented at Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics 26, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Available online: https:\/\/publish.illinois.edu\/fasl26uiuc2016\/sample-page\/."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Perovic, A., and Wexler, K. (2019). The effect of age on language in adults with intellectual disabilities: A comparison of passives in Down syndrome and Williams syndrome. Interdisciplinary Linguistic and Psychiatric Research on Language Disorders, 25.","DOI":"10.17234\/9789531758314.03"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106","DOI":"10.1111\/1460-6984.12126","article-title":"Sentence repetition: What does the task measure?","volume":"50","author":"Chiat","year":"2015","journal-title":"International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders"},{"key":"ref_32","unstructured":"RCSLT (2022, September 01). Bilingualism-Guidance, Available online: https:\/\/www.rcslt.org\/members\/clinical-guidance\/bilingualism\/bilingualism-guidance."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"479","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jneuroling.2005.06.002","article-title":"Distinct patterns of language impairment in Down syndrome, Williams syndrome and SLI: The case of syntactic chains","volume":"19","author":"Ring","year":"2005","journal-title":"Journal of Neurolinguistics"},{"key":"ref_34","first-page":"263","article-title":"Down syndrome","volume":"Vol. 6","author":"Batshaw","year":"2007","journal-title":"Children with disabilities"},{"key":"ref_35","unstructured":"Schaeffer, J., Novogrodsky, R., Perovic, A., Prevost, P., and Tuller, L. (in press). Building a baseline battery to measure language in autism. Language in Autism, Wiley."},{"key":"ref_36","first-page":"1","article-title":"A survey of speech and language therapists\u2019 opinions of bilingualism and the advice they give to bilingual families of children with speech, language and communication needs\u2014A comparative study between the UK and Singapore","volume":"39","author":"Sharpe","year":"2024","journal-title":"Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Armon-Lotem, S., de Jong, J., and Meir, N. (2015). Clinical use of parental questionnaires in multilingual contexts. Assessing multilingual children: Disentangling bilingualism from language impairment, Multilingual Matters.","DOI":"10.21832\/9781783093137"},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1205","DOI":"10.1111\/jcpp.12596","article-title":"Practitioner review: Multilingualism and neurodevelopmental disorders\u2014An overview of recent research and discussion of clinical implications","volume":"57","author":"Katsos","year":"2016","journal-title":"Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines"},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"155","DOI":"10.1080\/13670050.2018.1450355","article-title":"Inflectional morphology: Evidence for an advantage of bilingualism in dyslexia","volume":"24","author":"Vender","year":"2018","journal-title":"International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism"},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106126","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jcomdis.2021.106126","article-title":"Language profiles of Welsh-English bilingual children with Down syndrome","volume":"93","author":"Ward","year":"2021","journal-title":"Journal of Communication Disorders"},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"760","DOI":"10.1080\/09297049.2023.2275331","article-title":"Predicting language outcomes in bilingual children with Down syndrome","volume":"30","author":"Ward","year":"2023","journal-title":"Child Neuropsychology"},{"key":"ref_42","unstructured":"Wiig, E., Secord, W. A., and Semel, E. M. (2004). Clinical evaluation of language fundamentals\u2014Preschool, Harcourt Assessment. [2nd ed.]."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"461","DOI":"10.1177\/0142723711409976","article-title":"On the role of morphological richness in the early development of noun and verb inflection","volume":"31","author":"Xanthos","year":"2011","journal-title":"First Language"}],"container-title":["Behavioral Sciences"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-328X\/15\/6\/791\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,9]],"date-time":"2025-10-09T17:48:45Z","timestamp":1760032125000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-328X\/15\/6\/791"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,9]]},"references-count":43,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,6]]}},"alternative-id":["bs15060791"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/bs15060791","relation":{},"ISSN":["2076-328X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2076-328X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,9]]}}}