Language Preference of a Multilingual Individual With Disabilities Using a Speech Generating Device

Kunze et al. (2019) asked one child with Down syndrome to pick between Spanish and English on a speech-generating device. They used an alternating-treatments design. Each session gave the child equal shots at hearing requests in either language through the device.

The child hit Spanish buttons far more often than English ones. The device output in the heritage language was clearly preferred. No extra teaching was needed; the child simply chose what felt natural.

Barrett et al. (1987) did the same quick-choice trick 32 years earlier. They compared oral-only lessons with total-communication lessons for kids with intellectual disability. Their ATD showed each child learned better with a different mode, proving individual choice matters.

Tincani et al. (2020) reviewed later SGD studies and found most focus on multiply-controlled mands. Kunze’s simple preference test adds a missing first step before those mand programs start.

Polišenská et al. (2014) remind us that Down syndrome language is delayed but typical. Picking the right language mode, not fixing a deviant pattern, is the goal.

Before you lock an SGD to English, run a five-minute alternating trial. Let the child hear requests in each language and record which button gets pressed more. If Spanish wins, set the device to Spanish and build all later verbal-operant training on that preferred base. It takes one session and can save months of resistance later.