Socioeconomic Status and Fine-Grained Literacy Outcomes in Heritage Bilingual and Monolingual Children With and Without Specific Learning Disorders

Abstract

This study investigated the sociolinguistic background and the cognitive and literacy profiles of heritage bilingual (HB) children with specific learning disorders (SLD) in reading and spelling or typical development (TD) in comparison with their monolingual peers. About 454 primary school children were included and divided into four groups: HBs with SLD (n = 108) or TD (n = 70), and monolinguals with SLD (n = 106) or TD (n = 170). Children completed tasks assessing nonverbal IQ, working memory, processing speed, nonword repetition, listening comprehension, and literacy skills, including word, nonword, and text reading and spelling, and reading comprehension. Parents provided information on language history and socioeconomic status (SES). Results showed comparable sociolinguistic profiles across groups, with greater heritage language maintenance in the HB-TD group. SES primarily predicted performance on tasks with higher lexical demands and nonverbal IQ. Once SES was considered, language background only influenced spelling tasks. Interaction effects indicated a stronger influence of SES in HBs. At the phenotypic level, HBs and monolingual children with SLD showed comparable profiles, with an SLD-specific disadvantage for HBs emerging only in nonword spelling. These findings underscore the importance of SES in assessing HB children and promoting the home language in clinical populations.