A literature survey this past few weeks has turned up many articles on “bilingual special ed” but in the vast majority of cases, they mean students who are English-as-a-second-language learners who have special education needs. And in most cases, the focus is on how students are likely to make more progress if some resources are in their home language.
There are also a lot of articles on how and why ESL students are often either under or over identified for special education because of their lack of English skills.
The American Councils for International Education says that 11 US states have some foreign language requirement for high school graduation, 24 have requirements that can be met by a foreign language class, and 16 have no requirement. Most competitive colleges and selective colleges recommend or require at least 2 years of foreign language classes in high school. Given those stats, you’d think there’d be more info out there on teaching foreign languages to students with learning challenges.
The resources that we found useful were these two:
From Learning Disabilities Online, an article about learning disabilities and second language learning, and how learning disabilities may impact one’s ability to learn a language, and what sorts of things can help (hint: any technique or strategy previously taught probably still applies).
A booklet from the Virginia Department of Education on helping students with learning disabilities meet world language requirements for high school graduation. It has lots of concrete suggestions for classroom teachers.
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