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Semin Speech Lang 2019; 40(04): 256-271
DOI: 10.1055/s-0039-1692962
Review Article
Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Cognitive Control along the Language Spectrum: From the Typical Bilingual Child to Language Impairment

Klara Marton
1   Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York
2   Department of Communication Arts, Sciences and Disorders, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, New York; New York
3   Bárczi Gusztáv Faculty of Special Needs Education, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
,
Thorfun Gehebe
1   Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York
,
Lia Pazuelo
1   Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York
› Author Affiliations
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Publication History

Publication Date:
16 July 2019 (online)

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Abstract

Cognitive control refers to the ability to perform goal-directed behaviors in the presence of other compelling actions or in the face of habitual practices. Cognitive control functions play a critical role in children's language processing and literacy development. In recent years, many clinicians have expanded their assessment and treatment to target specific cognitive skills. Our goal is to provide a review of recent findings on cognitive control functions in children with different language status (i.e., monolingual and bilingual children with and without language impairment). While children with language impairment show performance deficits in specific cognitive functions (e.g., working memory updating and interference control), typically developing bilingual children often outperform their monolingual peers in cognitive control tasks. However, the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive control has been controversial. Several factors that influence these variations are discussed. Given the findings on the joint impact of bilingualism and language impairment on cognitive control functions, we identify conditions in which bilingualism attenuates the negative effects of the language deficit and conditions in which language impairment has a stronger effect than bilingualism. Critical issues of bilingual assessment, suggestions, and future directions are discussed.

Keywords

cognitive control - specific language impairment - bilingualism - language proficiency

Disclosures

Financial: Funding sources include the following grants awarded to the first author.


 1. CUNY Interdisciplinary Research Award (CIRG), “The effects of bilingualism, language impairment, and socio-economic status on children's cognitive-linguistic performance,” 2016–2017.


 2. PSC-CUNY Research Award—44, “Resistance to interference in children with language impairment,” 2013–2014.


 3. 1 R15 DC009040–01, NIH-NIDCD, “The impact of inhibition control on working memory in children with SLI,” 2007–2011.


Nonfinancial: The authors do not have nonfinancial relationships to disclose regarding the study.