In this one-hour workshop, we will explore the typical progression of first and second language acquisition, debunk common myths about bilingualism, and clarify what hinders and supports language development in the fields of both bilingual education and clinical psychology.

We will compare typical language development milestones—pragmatics, expressive, and receptive language skills—in both monolingual and bilingual individuals and discuss the distinction between language and literacy.

Participants will gain insight into these expected milestones, such as first words, sentence formation, and literacy acquisition as well as the five foundational concepts of language, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.

Additionally, we will highlight signs that professionals should watch for to distinguish between language difference and language disability, providing guidance on when to refer children for further evaluation to ensure timely and appropriate interventions.

This workshop will benefit educators and clinical professionals in bolstering their culturally competent and culturally responsive-sustaining practice to center multilingual children, adolescents, and their families at the core of their work to benefit holistic development – for language and beyond!

About the presenters:

Dr. Michele Goldin is Assistant Professor of Bilingual Education and TESOL in the Graduate School of Education at Touro University where her research broadly focuses on bilingual language development in children. She is specifically interested in exploring the factors that contribute to language acquisition in multilingual learners in Latin@ communities, and how our schools can foster bilingualism and support heritage language maintenance. As a heritage speaker of Spanish herself, she believes that increasing our understanding of bilingual development has direct implications for successful academic outcomes, language policy and pedagogy, as well as bilingual, multicultural and dual language education. Her work has been published in a range of international academic journals on linguistics and education, and she is the recipient of various research grants including the GAANN Fellowship from the US Department of Education, the P.E.O. Scholar Award, the ACLS Emerging Voices Research Award and most recently the Touro University Presidential Research Development Grant. Before earning her PhD in Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition at Rutgers University, she was a professional flamenco dancer and lived in Madrid for nearly 10 years where she founded a successful creative language education method for learning through movement called Hello! English. She earned her BA from George Mason University and her MA from New York University, and was previously a visiting assistant professor of Hispanic Linguistics at the University at Albany, SUNY.

Dr. Emily Winter (she/her/hers) is a Licensed Psychologist in Connecticut and New York as well as a Connecticut and Nationally Certified School Psychologist. She completed her specialist level training in School Psychology at the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at Fairfield University and her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, specialization School Psychology at the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut where she conducted research on mind-body health interventi" We may need help with creating a zoom link that participants can register for because we would like to keep track of which health science students and which GSE candidates register/attend. Is this something your office can do?  Touro University School of Health Sciences Clinical Psychology PsyD program and the Graduate School of Education Department of TESOL and Bilingual Advanced Certificates

The event is sponsored by the Touro University School of Health Sciences Clinical Psychology PsyD program and the Graduate School of Education Department of TESOL and Bilingual Advanced Certificates,

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