Is it possible to differentiate multilingual children and children with Developmental Language Disorder?

The language profiles of young multilingual children and monolingual children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) are similar and can be easily confused. This confusion can lead to under- and over-diagnoses of DLD in multilingual children. Despite the similarities between the two groups, it is possible to differentiate between them. There are markers speech and language clinicians should look for such as distinct grammatical features children with DLD demonstrate. Additionally, multilinguals without DLD will learn their second language (L2) after at least two years, whereas children with DLD will not learn a L2 fully.