The Effect of Bilingual Exposure on Language and Cognitive Development in Children Following Ischemic Stroke

Abstract

AbstractAIMMany children who experience ischemic stroke come from bilingual backgrounds. Whether bilingual exposure affects post-stroke development is unclear. Our research evaluates the effects of bilingual vs. monolingual exposure on linguistic/cognitive development post-stroke.METHODAn institutional stroke registry and medical charts were used to gather clinical variable and outcome measure performance data on 237 children across 3 stroke-onset groups: neonatal - 0-28 days, first-year - >28 days to 12 months and childhood - 13 months to 18 years. We used the Pediatric Stroke Outcome Measure (PSOM) administered at several timepoints post-stroke, to evaluate cognitive and linguistic development.RESULTSWhile no main effect by language exposure group was found, bilingual children with stroke onset between 1 and 12 months of age, had better post-stroke performance on the language expression subscale, compared to monolinguals within 10 years after stroke onset.INTERPRETATIONOverall, no clear advantages nor detrimental effects of bilingualism were found on children’s post-stroke development of language and cognition. Our study suggests that a bilingual environment facilitates some aspects of language development – if the stroke occurs early in life.WHAT THIS PAPER ADDSBilingual exposure post-stroke in pediatric patients does not result in worse linguistic and/or cognitive development.Bilingual children with stroke onset between 1-12 months had better expressive language post-stroke.Bilingualism may be associated with protective factors when expressive language development is considered.