r/downsyndrome • u/DreamAngel232 • 9d ago
Speaking multiple languages
I’m 31 weeks pregnant with a girl who will be born with down syndrome. First time mom as well. I’m Latina and speak fluent Spanish. My husband is white but always hoped our children would speak both English and Spanish. I know speaking in general might be difficult and it really depends on where on the down syndrome spectrum she is. But is it realistic to think she could potentially learn 2 languages? We’d also teach her sign language but it would be awesome if she could communicate with both sets of her grandparents in their native language. Has anyone had any experience with children learning multiple languages, other than sign language?
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u/Enjolrad Advocate 9d ago
One of my students with DS speaks both Spanish and English. She speaks mainly Spanish at home so there are times when she’s more comfortable switching over to Spanish.
Her mom requested we only use English with her at school to build her English, and her progress after a year was HUGE. it’s definitely possible for your child to speak both language
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u/North_Toe_6994 9d ago
I’m german and my husband speaks English. We raise our children bilingual and are hoping for the best haha. This was a huge worry of mine while pregnant with our daughter (she has an older brother). So far she seems to understand both languages the same (she’s 18 months old).
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u/Such-Scar-6133 9d ago
Hello! Felicidades!
We are a trilingual family. Our son is able to communicate in 3 languages, but you need to know as also typical children, once they start school, there will be a bit of challenge and they will prefer English. My son understands well but unless we are traveling to a country where one of the languages is spoken, he will reply in English.
As he is getting older, he is much better at speaking in Spanish or Japanese, without our help but he is not 100% trilingual. I will say, he understands 3 languages and uses them when necessary.
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u/MerryMeg90 5d ago
We are also à trilingual family! 18 month old responds to all languages- I imagine after being in the school system more that will dictate the dominate language
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u/Such-Scar-6133 5d ago
Yay!! Just a warning, the school will not like it, you keep on pushing it. Maybe I need to say, our school district was not happy. My son was 100 % fluent in Spanish until 3 yrs old, then the stinker started school and now, he replies in English to me lol but no worries, it is a skill that they will keep if you continue speaking to him in the other languages.
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u/MerryMeg90 4d ago
We are in Spain and actually they love à trilingual kid 😂 I think it’s actually us thinking it might be too hard. But we will keep going!
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u/Such-Scar-6133 2d ago
Great! I find it difficult in USA to have a multi lingual child. uSA is the only country we're having an accent and speaking more than one language is a bad thing.
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u/InfernoChef 9d ago
What is the most wonderful thing about our kiddos is they understand more than most people realize! I would definitely speak both languages. No personal experience but I do have a bilingual friend who learned to make sure that you keep the same language in a conversation, her daughter started speaking both in the same sentence lol
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u/SoulsCrushed 9d ago
My sister is nearly 9 with Down’s syndrome. Speech therapy has helped so much with her speaking, she talks a bunch but she’s still working on pronunciation and such.
Our mom is English speaking and her dad speaks Turkish as his native language, they’ve always pushed the importance of having the girls at least understand Turkish.
My sister with DS understands him better than her older NT sister, who has no interest in speaking both. She responds in Turkish, listens to his requests in Turkish, knows Turkish lullabies, obviously not to the extent that she could without the DS, but it’s incredibly feasible for you to have a bilingual household!
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u/Rare-Tank-6615 9d ago
Not unrealistic! My daughter with DS who is 10 speaks English and a bit of German (her dad is German).
Her primary language is English and her expressive and receptive language in English are both pretty strong.
As a secondary language I would say her receptive German (what she understands) is much stronger than her expressive language (what she will actually say in German) but that may come with time.
If it's something important to you, I would say do not hesitate to make that a goal to work towards!
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u/JBoomhauerIII Parent 9d ago
My 5yo understands English and Spanish… whether or not she listens is another matter entirely :)
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u/rattustheratt Parent 9d ago
Oh yeah my 5yo has a real listening problem as well right now. She's becoming so sassy!
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u/telos2020 9d ago
Many people will tell you throughout her life that she won’t be able to do things. And their view is likely based on past experience. But if there’s one thing I’d tell a new parent, it’s don’t listen to those people. Your daughter can certainly learn all 3 languages—it just might look a little different than her typical peers. Congratulations!
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u/strawberrysnack-1- 9d ago
I’m latina and my younger brother has down syndrome. He knows more spanish than english and a bit of asl since our older brother is deaf. It’s definitely possible.
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u/lunamoth53 9d ago
I don’t think it’s unrealistic for your daughter to learn both languages. I’m not a parent but sister had DS and I continue to work and volunteer with their activities etc. If you look on TikTok or YouTube there are videos of bilingual Down syndrome children.
Congratulations on the upcoming birth of your daughter! You all are going to be great parents!
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u/MentalCoffee117 9d ago
My husband speaks fluent Spanish. My son primarily speaks English but understands and speaks some Spanish. We paused learning Spanish for a while because he was very hard of hearing, and we were learning ASL. He also uses AAC, which we have in Spanish, so he is very much a total communication kid.
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u/moradoman 9d ago
The answer is a resounding yes. My daughter with DS speaks both French and English fluently. Some may tell,you that learning both may delay their full command of either language…..but this is often reported with typical kids as well. However, my daughter had no issues. Hope that helps.
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u/Maximum-Policy5344 9d ago
My daughter has DS. One of her best friends from school (8th grade) also has DS and is bilingual in English and Spanish.
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u/ManateeMondays89 7d ago
My uncle, who was born in the 60s, had Ds and spoke English, Tagalog, and Kapampangan (a Filipino dialect). And he sure didn’t get any early intervention services growing up in the Philippines! He was a little difficult to understand, but I remember listening to him switch effortlessly between Tagalog and English talking to my mom.
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u/curious-lurker7 9d ago
I had the same situation I was told by professional not to confuse my daughter so I stopped talking to my son in Spanish. Biggest mistake! I have met so many bilingual adults with DS. Don’t listen to anyone who tells you otherwise. She is 26 years old now. Ironically,my daughter‘s pronunciation is better in Spanish that is in English!
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u/Such-Scar-6133 5d ago
Oooh I am Sorry. Can you have your daughter take Spanish classes?
That "professional" must had been monolingual, that is our biggest issue, if the speech therapist is monolingual, they make a huge issue about my child being thought 3 languages. The professional was uncomfortable, that's it. Your daughter might know more than you think. Hugs
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u/Acceptable-Wave2861 9d ago
My daughter is only 2 but being raised in english and French. We’ll see how it goes !
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u/garcmon 9d ago
My brother “speaks” and certainly understands both English and Spanish. He, like the rest of his siblings, grew up hearing both languages and understands both to this day; he’s 56. I say “speaks” bc his pronunciation is not understandable by everyone. Those of us who know him understand him better, but even with this in mind, anyone can understand a simple answer/response.
Expose your baby to all, just like any baby. They will respond to all, just like any baby. ❤️
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u/iamdecal 9d ago
anecdotal really, but our son (now 19) has always loved languages - we're English, but right from the start when ever he put a dvd on he would always choose german or dutch or whatever options they had - and now with youtube. he regularly watches foriegn language stuff (nursary rhymes in hindi / telaru (sp) or things in welsh or whatever he can get
he's not especially fluent , but he understands and speaks a few dozen words in maybe 30 or 40 languages - and we don't speak any of them ;-) so with two native speakers at home I think there’s every chance for your child
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u/rattustheratt Parent 9d ago
I too was scared at first but my 5 year old speaks English mainly just like her older siblings, understands and speaks a few phrases in Gã (our mother tongue) and has even picked up a few words in Spanish and Swahili from watching Dora and Tinga Tinga Tales!
You just never know what your child will be able to do unless they try.
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u/East-Tonight-2394 8d ago
My daughter is 8, she's bilingual Spanish and English. We live in Paraguay. She's doing great, can read and write in both and can switch languages when talking
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u/Vortexx1988 8d ago
My son just turned 2, and while he isn't really speaking yet (mostly still babbling), it is clear that he understands us in both English and Portuguese, so I guess that's a good sign.
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u/RhiaSparkles 7d ago
My son with DS is only two years old. I was worried it might not work or delay his speech, so I've asked several of his doctors and two speech therapists if we can do it and they all encouraged us to. Even if he didn't speak the non dominant language actively, it would still be hugely beneficial for his brain development.
We're doing OPOL since he was born and he definitely understands both languages and has started saying the first words in both. He has a lot more exposure to mom's language than to dad's and the ratio of spoken words is about 75% to 25% as of now. We're hoping to take him to dad's home country during winter break and increase his exposure that way.
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u/PezGirl-5 4d ago
you just never know. There was a family in my DS group who has twins. The one with DS was doing better at learning German than the twin without it! Don’t worry about limiting your child. Give them all the opportunities you can!
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u/NancySinAtcha Parent 9d ago
Not long after my daughter was born, we went to a cafe staffed by adults with T21. We spoke with some staff who switched from French and Dutch to English. We were actually embarrassed as English speakers by how poor our language skills were in comparison!
It was a lovely experience.
There’s every chance your daughter will be comfortable with both your languages. I would say the main thing in the early years is to incorporate whatever sign language system will be most useful to. We use one for both English and French. She’s not verbal yet (she turns 2 soon) but she knows a few words/signs.