Twice Overlooked: Bilingual Students with Receptive Language Deficits 

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, in 2010, 9.2% of all students were English Learners in US public Schools. By 2021, that number increased to 10.6 percent. Similarly, in the state of Illinois, in 2018, 12.1% of the students were English Learners, whereas that number went up to 16% of the students in 2021. These statistics are evidence that our English Language Learners are becoming a significant proportion of the students in our classrooms. These changes bring new areas of research to support our growing classroom dynamics. 

Identifying the different needs of our students is the first step in recognizing how to support our students. As a special education teacher, I have had many students with comorbid disabilities with this most often presenting as a student with a specific learning disability and a speech or language disorder. As I am reaching completion of a program focusing on supporting my English Language Learners (ELL) and in recognizing these changing dynamics, I have an additional area of need that I must consider in my students.

Although I can discuss many of the needs of the students with a learning disability or a social-emotional disability, I now have the lens to understand the intersectionality between a student with communication needs as well as an English Language Learner. In looking for best practices between these two populations, I began researching to find how to best support these students. Unfortunately, even with this trending data, the research has clear challenges in best practices for supporting these learners. 

Assessment Challenges

There are many conflicting perceptions on how to get valid results for assessing an ELL student with a developmental language disorder (DLD). Zhang (2025) attempted to compare the vocabulary depth, or vocabulary complexity, with the vocabulary breadth, or number of words, to determine a DLD. Ramírez et. al., (2023) utilized phonological awareness and working memory to determine a language deficit. Van den Eynde et. al., (2025) note that they utilize an evaluation that is effective due to its efficiency and timeliness, with 90% validity. Bishop (2014) points out that many of the assessments utilized do not accurately predict a student’s ability to communicate as they often are viewing a student’s working memory or phonological awareness.

Paradis et. al (2013) pointed out further concerns in noting many evaluations available do not consider the impacts of a student having two languages. Another concern highlighted by Bishop et. al. (2012) was how to assess the non-verbal students for a specific communication disorder. Castro (2015) also notes that there is an obvious lack of assessments that have been reviewed in their validity for a student whose language is something other than English and Spanish. With many of these points in mind, it becomes challenging to suggest best practices when the experts cannot agree on what might indicate an area of need.  

Attention to Labels

When a team has decided on whether a student has a language disorder, there are many conflicting opinions on what the label should be. Rice (2020) indicates the most common conflicting opinion of the qualifying differences between a developmental language disorder versus a Speech Language Impairment. Bishop (2014) completed a literature review in which they note 130 variations of how a communication language is described.

Personally, as a researcher without a background in speech, I was challenged to learn which research was appropriate to my questions. This indicates a further challenge in the teaching field for how they might be able to find resources when the experts can’t agree on what label we should even be looking for. 

Needs Overlap

Bishop et. al. (2012) emphasized that many other disabilities, like ADHD or Autism, are receiving the researcher’s attention, indicating a lack of emphasis on the SLI students, despite data indicating a clear intersection. Bishop (2014) addressed the impacts of the suggestion of placing each label with an umbrella term of just special education needs (SEN) in order to approach this controversy. He noted this will further challenge which students receive the attention as it removes accountability per each population. Ramirez et. al (2023) points out that because reading comprehension is developed from language development, it may indicate that assessments resulting in a specific learning disability may have been caused by a developmental language disability but has been since overlooked due to overlap in skills and presentation.

Dockrell, et. al., (2019) explicitly reviewed the comparison of Developmental Language Learner and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) with overwhelming results favoring support of ASD students over Developmental Language Learner students, despite severity of need. Furthermore, Conti-Ramsden et. al., (2019) reviewed how emotional regulation can be directly related to Developmental Language Learner. Each of these areas of study further indicate a challenge in truly recognizing how to support comorbid areas of need. 

So Now What? 

Despite the technicalities related to whether a student may receive a label or what has caused that area of need, the need for the student remains an area of focus. I’ve compiled a list of strategies below to serve as a guide for supporting your English Language Learner students with Developmental Language Learner needs. If looking for further information, much of the research for these strategies is rooted in Krashen’s Theory of language development as well as resources from Colorin Colorado. Keep advocating for all of our students!

Resources

Bishop, D. V. M., Clark, B., & Conti-Ramsden, G. (2012). RALLI: An Internet Campaign for Raising Awareness of Language Learning Impairments. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 28(3), 259–262. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265659012459467

Bishop, D. V. (2014). Ten questions about terminology for children with unexplained language problems. Int. J. Lang. Commun. Disord. 49, 381–415. doi: 10.1111/1460-6984.12101

Castro, D. C., Franco-Jenkins, X., & Chaparro-Moreno, L. J. (2025). The Effects of Dual Language Education on Young Bilingual Children’s Learning: A Systematic Review of Research. Education Sciences, 15(3), 312. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15030312 

Colorin Colorado. (2025) Special Education and English Language Learners. Webpage. https://www.colorincolorado.org/school-support/special-education-and-english-language- learners

Conti-Ramsden, G., Mok, P., Durkin, K. et al. Do emotional difficulties and peer problems occur together from childhood to adolescence? The case of children with a history of developmental language disorder (DLD). Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 28, 993–1004 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-018-1261-6 

Deng, Q., & Trainin, G. (2023). The Effect of a Self-Regulated Intervention on Vocabulary Knowledge and Self-Regulated Learning Skills for English Language Learners. Reading Psychology, 44(7), 761–791. https://doi.org/10.1080/02702711.2023.2187908 

Dockrell, J. E., Ricketts, J, Palikara, O., Charman, T, & Lindsay, G. A. (2019). What Drives Educational Support for Children With Developmental Language Disorder or Autism Spectrum Disorder: Needs, or Diagnostic Category? Frontiers in Education, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2019.00029

English Learners in Public Schools. (2024) National Center for Education Statistics. Webpage. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgf/english-learners-in-public-schools 

Paradis, J., Schneider, P., & Duncan, T. S. (2013). Discriminating Children With Language Impairment Among English-Language Learners From Diverse First-Language Backgrounds. Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 56(3), 971–981.

Ramírez, R., Huang, B. H., Salazar, K., & Eik, M. (2023). Predictors of Reading Development Among School-Age Bilingual Children With Developmental Language Disorder: A Scoping Review. Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 54(3), 1020–1033. https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_LSHSS-22-00093

Rice, M. L. (2020). Clinical Lessons From Studies of Children With Specific Language Impairment. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 5(1), 12–29. https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_PERSP-19-00011

Van den Eynde, L., De Clercq, P., Rombouts, E., Vandermosten, M., & Zink, I. (2025). Identification of Developmental Language Disorder in Bilingual Children: An Accurate and Time-Efficient Combination of Language Measurements. Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 68(8), 3956–3975. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_JSLHR- 24-00541

Zhang, X. (2025). Vocabulary knowledge towards L2 reading and listening performance. Reading in a Foreign Language, 37(2), 109–126. https://doi.org/10.64152/10125/67500

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