Diagnostic de troubles du langage chez l’enfant réfugié : Challenges actuels

Abstract

Refugee children tend to show weaknesses in emotional well-being (EWB) as well as limitations in executive function (EF) and in language, which may complicate the diagnosis of language disorders in this population. We assessed the performance of 140 children (5-8 years old): 20 monolinguals, 86 non-refugee bilinguals, and 34 refugee bilinguals. Results show that refugee children are indeed at higher risk than non-refugees in terms of EWB; they also have deficits in EFs as well as on language measures. These results confirm the high vulnerability of refugee children for cognition and language and underscore the need to construct appropriate tools for language assessment in this population.