Project Grant K23DC022006

This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), under the Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders program (CFDA 93.173), provides $193,752 to Trustees of Boston University to conduct research examining the relationship between dual language input, semantic structure, and word learning in bilingual typically developing and late-talking toddlers. The 5-year project will use computational and observational methods to model children's lexicons, characterize how dual language exposure shapes semantic structure, and analyze how semantic network properties predict word learning performance. The research aims to enhance understanding of typical and atypical language development trajectories in bilingual learners, and inform the development of clinician- and parent-mediated interventions for bilingual children with communication disorders.