SYDNEY SPEECH THERAPY
Speech Pathology or Tutoring?
What Parents of Bilingual Children Need to Know
Vocabulary & Concepts
Understanding words, phrases, and
concepts such as time, location and size (e.g., before, next to, behind, smaller)
Question Types
Understanding wh questions (e.g., who, what, where), inferencing questions, predicting questions & abstract language
Grammar & Sentences
Understanding grammatical structures (e.g., past tense, plurals, pronouns) and sentences
Following Directions
Understanding and recalling single and multi-step directions. These are used in conversation at home and school
Your child moves easily between English and your home language at the dinner table, makes friends quickly at school, and seems perfectly comfortable speaking English out loud. Yet school reports tell a different story: spelling is tricky, reading is draining, and multi-step instructions aren’t always being followed. This contrast is common among Australian students learning English as an additional language, and it raises an important question for families: is this typical second-language development, or a sign that more targeted support is needed?
The Gap Between "Sounding Fluent" and "School-Ready" Language
There are two kinds of language a child needs to pick up, when learning another language - and they don't grow at the same speed. The everyday, conversational kind of language, which is used at lunch and in the playground, is usually developed within one to three years of exposure to a new language. But the academic language needed for schoolwork, such as spelling, reading stories, and following a maths explanation, takes a lot longer. This can take up to five to seven years (Collier, 1987; Cummins, 1981). That's why a child can sound completely fluent chatting away, while quietly struggling to keep up in class. It's easy for that to look like a motivation problem or a content problem, when really there's a gap in vocabulary depth or sentence structure. Building language itself, rather than delivering academic content, is the focus of speech-language pathology training.
Language difference vs. language disorder
When an English learner is struggling at school, there are really two different things that could be going on. One is a language difference, which simply means your child is going through the normal process of picking up a second language, which doesn't need any specialised support. The other is a language disorder or language impairment, which is an underlying difficulty that would show up no matter which language your child was speaking.
A certified speech therapist is able to tell the difference between a language difference and a language disorder. Pieretti and Roseberry-McKibbin (2016) found that English learners often get referred for services they don't actually need, simply because normal language learning gets mistaken for a disorder. Kohnert (2010) found the opposite happens too: genuine impairments get missed because everyone assumes it's "just" the English still catching up. Getting this wrong either way has real consequences, from a child being unfairly labelled, to a child missing out on critical early support when they genuinely needed it. That's why standardised, cross-linguistic assessment and specialised clinical judgement by a speech therapist is important.
Language Disorder/
Impairment
Difficulties with instructions in both languages
Struggles to retell a simple story, even at home
Vocabulary/grammar behind in both languages
Frequent word-finding trouble in both languages
Unusual sound errors
Social communication difficulty in both languages
Language Difference
Word order replicates their home language
Home-language speech-sound accent patterns
Mixes languages mid-sentence
Smaller English vocabulary, but expected vocabulary in home language
Language Difference
Word order replicates their home language
Home-language speech-sound accent patterns
Mixes languages mid-sentence
Smaller English vocabulary, but expected vocabulary in home language
Language Disorder/
Impairment
Difficulties with instructions in both languages
Struggles to retell a simple story, even at home
Vocabulary/grammar behind in both languages
Frequent word-finding trouble in both languages
Unusual sound errors
Social communication difficulty in both languages
Speech Therapy vs. Tutoring
Tutoring is great for academic content, things like homework support, study skills, or going over what's been taught in class. But it tends to build on top of the language a child already has. Speech therapy works on something different: it strengthens the language itself, the vocabulary, the sentence structure, the ability to tell a story in order, the sound skills behind reading and spelling, and the social side of using language too.
And there's real evidence behind this kind of support:
Ebert and colleagues (2014) found that bilingual children with primary language impairment made real progress in both their home language and English after structured speech therapy.
Goldstein and Kohnert (2005) made the point that helping these kids well means looking at their whole language picture, not just their English.
And more recently, Risueno, Gray, and Romeo (2024) found that a structured storytelling-based intervention, run by qualified speech pathologists, led to genuine gains for Spanish-English bilingual children with developmental language disorder.
So, Tutor or Speech Therapist?
Speech Therapist
As a general rule, if a child struggles with understanding or producing language itself, following directions, retelling a story, constructing sentences, reading comprehension that doesn't improve with practice, speech therapy may be beneficial.
Tutor
Generally, if a child understands material once it's explained but needs help with homework, remembering information and/or study skills, tutoring may be better suited.
Speech Therapist
As a general rule, if a child struggles with understanding or producing language itself, following directions, retelling a story, constructing sentences, reading comprehension that doesn't improve with practice, speech therapy may be beneficial.
Tutor
Generally, if a child understands material once it's explained but needs help with homework, remembering information and/or study skills, tutoring may be better suited.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
Please don't feel pressure to do this! Your home language isn't holding your child back, and dropping it doesn't speed up English. If anything, a strong first language gives your child something solid to build their second language on, and it keeps an important connection to family and culture intact.
-
Not necessarily. Speech pathologists are trained to work with families across many languages, often alongside an interpreter, by comparing how your child communicates in both languages rather than needing to be fluent in each one themselves. What matters most is their training in spotting language patterns, not which languages they personally speak. Using culturally appropriate assessment tools built for bilingual families should also be considered. What matters is knowing what to look for, not speaking every language themselves.
-
Not necessarily. Lots of kids go through a stage where they understand more than they say out loud, especially in a new language, and that's completely normal. It's more worth paying attention to if the quietness shows up in their home language as well, or if it doesn't ease up over time.
-
Yes, this is completely expected! It's called code-switching, and it's actually a sign of a flexible, developing language brain, not confusion. Lots of bilingual speakers code-switch especially when they're missing a word in one language and reach for it in the other.
-
While earlier support often means quicker progress, speech pathologists work with kids right through primary and high school. It's never too late to get a clearer picture of what's going on and put the right support in place.
Vocabulary & Concepts
Understanding words, phrases, and
concepts such as time, location and size (e.g., before, next to, behind, smaller)
Question Types
Understanding wh questions (e.g., who, what, where), inferencing questions, predicting questions & abstract language
Grammar & Sentences
Understanding grammatical structures (e.g., past tense, plurals, pronouns) and sentences
Following Directions
Understanding and recalling single and multi-step directions. These are used in conversation at home and school
Where to next?
If you suspect your child's struggles go beyond typical second-language adjustment, you can:
Ask your child’s teacher or learning support team for their thoughts
Speak to your GP or paediatrician about your concerns
Get in contact with us today, for a complimentary chat about your child’s development
References
Collier, V. P. (1987). Age and rate of acquisition of second language for academic purposes. TESOL Quarterly, 21(4), 617–641.
Cummins, J. (1981). The role of primary language development in promoting educational success for language minority students. In Schooling and Language Minority Students: A Theoretical Framework (pp. 3–49). California State Department of Education.
Ebert, K. D., Kohnert, K., Pham, G., Disher, J. R., & Payesteh, B. (2014). Three treatments for bilingual children with primary language impairment: Examining cross-linguistic and cross-domain effects. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 57(1), 172–186.
Goldstein, B., & Kohnert, K. (2005). Speech, language, and hearing in developing bilingual children: Current findings and future directions. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 36(3), 264–267.
Gutiérrez-Clellen, V. F. (1999). Language choice in intervention with bilingual children. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 8(4), 291–302.
Kohnert, K. (2010). Bilingual children with primary language impairment: Issues, evidence and implications for clinical actions. Journal of Communication Disorders, 43(6), 456–473.
McLeod, S., Verdon, S., & International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children's Speech. (2017). Tutorial: Speech assessment for multilingual children who do not speak the same language(s) as the speech-language pathologist. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 26(3), 691–708.
Pieretti, R. A., & Roseberry-McKibbin, C. (2016). Assessment and intervention for English language learners with primary language impairment: Research-based best practices. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 37(2), 117–128.
Risueno, R. J., Gray, S., & Romeo, S. (2024). The efficacy of Story Champs for improving oral language in third-grade Spanish-English bilingual students with developmental language disorder. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 55(3), 938–958.
Written by Alisha Seeto, certified practising Speech Pathologist
Vocabulary & Concepts
Understanding words, phrases, and
concepts such as time, location and size (e.g., before, next to, behind, smaller)
Question Types
Understanding wh questions (e.g., who, what, where), inferencing questions, predicting questions & abstract language
Grammar & Sentences
Understanding grammatical structures (e.g., past tense, plurals, pronouns) and sentences
Following Directions
Understanding and recalling single and multi-step directions. These are used in conversation at home and school
Not sure where to start?
If you have concerns about your child’s language development, we’re here to help!