Serving Multilingual Preschoolers with Disabilities  

Some educators serve multilingual preschoolers with disabilities. In this blog, learn more about collaborating with families, services, and evidence-based strategies for supporting these children.  

Collaborating with Families

Educators should build a relationship with the family of a multilingual preschooler with disabilities.  Reaching out to a cultural liaison may help. Liaisons know about the culture’s language, child-rearing practices, and beliefs about disabilities.  Understanding specific beliefs about a disability can inform a teacher’s decisions about daily routines, activities, and expectations.  Child rearing practices are tied to cultural beliefs and traditions. Some families may be comfortable with certain expectations for their child’s development. Other expectations may not be as relevant to their goals for their child. For example, some families may place a high value on independent skills in areas like eating or getting dressed. Other families may not.  

Educators should share information in the family’s home language and preferred manner. For example, some families prefer email instead of phone messages. Some families may prefer that the child’s father receive all written information. All special education forms should be in the family’s home language. Individual Education Program (IEP) meetings and parent/teacher conferences should include an interpreter and an English language teacher. 

The Intersection of English Language Learning Services and Disability-Related Services

Educators provide both English Language Learning services as well as special education and related services. Young children with disabilities can learn two languages.  Educators should support the family in using the home language so that the child can participate in the family’s daily life. Program staff can learn a few simple words in the child’s home language to use in the preschool setting. Families may be able to provide some items from the child’s home culture (e.g., books, foods, music) to help the child acclimate to the classroom setting. Environmental print in the home language can be helpful. Videos with the home language giving a brief description of events such as washing hands, sitting at the snack table, or going outdoors, can help children understand the daily routine.  

As children learn a new language, their understanding of the words (receptive language) happens first. Later, their speaking (expressive language) skills may become more proficient. Young children with disabilities may require speech and language services. A bilingual speech and language pathologist (SLP) can collaborate with classroom staff. The SLP can distinguish what is typical of a young child who is learning English and what may be related to the child’s disability. 

Evidence-Based Strategies

The Iris Module English Learners with Disabilities: Supporting Young Children in the Classroom is an excellent resource for early care and education providers who want to increase their knowledge about teaching multilingual children with disabilities in preschool settings. Part of this module describes ways staff can support these children the classroom. These are a few of the evidence-based strategies described in the module: 

• Reduce language demands on young children learning English. 
• Support home and second language development in early literacy instruction. 
• Include quiet times during the day when children who are learning English do not have to speak to others in English. 
• Teach English-speaking children some simple words in their multilingual peer’s language. Pair them in small group activities. 
• If there are children who speak the same home language, let them speak to one another in their home language; do not insist on English only all day. 

Final Thoughts

Educators should remember that each multilingual child with a disability is unique. Each child’s family has beliefs and experiences about disabilities. Educators can work in partnership with families to warmly welcome each child to the classroom community.  

IEL Resources