Multilingual Children with Special Needs in Early Education

Today, more than half of the world’s children are raised multilingual, which poses diagnostic and interventional dilemmas to providers for children with special needs. This chapter discusses issues related to multilingual language assessment and intervention in early education. According to the best practice guidelines of professional bodies, multilingual children with special needs should be diagnosed and receive intervention in all languages the child speaks. Importantly, empirical research consistently demonstrates that multilingualism is not a burden for children with special needs. There is no empirical evidence that children with developmental disorders cannot become multilingual. Multilingual children with developmental disorders can acquire two languages, following their own trajectory of language development. This chapter gives the reader a complete picture of potential ways to implement these approaches in early education for multilingual children with special needs. The chapter ends with suggestions for future directions for research and education, focusing on the relationship between the child’s educational needs, the family’s needs, and the languages that are part of his/her life.