A Complexity Approach to Promoting Within- and Cross-Language Generalization in Bilingual Children With Phonological Delays

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of generalization when treating complex targets with shared sounds in Spanish for a 5-year-old Spanish–English bilingual child with a phonological delay. Method: Two complex clusters (/fl/ and /fɾ/) and one additional target (/l/) were chosen for treatment. Intervention sessions were held in Spanish over the course of 1 year on a weekly basis. The accuracy of the treated and untreated targets was monitored using a single-subject case design and was assessed using visual analysis. Results: The accuracy of the production of treated targets increased upon administering the intervention. Accuracy also increased for untreated /fl/ targets in Spanish and English, /l/ in English, and untreated /fɾ/ clusters in Spanish. Conclusions: The results suggest that choosing complex targets consisting of shared sounds helps promote the generalization of skills within and across languages. Future studies should examine the outcomes of selecting additional forms of complex targets for bilingual children.