Conceptualizing variability in U.S. Latino children's dual-language development

Approximately 25% of the population of children in the United States comes from Latino families, many of whom are immigrants and speak Spanish in the home, and this number is steadily growing. However, research on dual-language learning Latino children is lacking, especially in the field of language development. In order to move toward a framework of positive development of Latino children, it is important to understand the inter- and intra-individual variability that exists within language development of the DLL population in order to highlight their unique skills and advantages that extend beyond the domain of language. Moreover, a focus on variability can prevent negative biases and help researchers and practitioners better support young DLLs in their early education. Accordingly, this chapter presents two main research questions: 1) What does the early language variability of young Latino DLLs look like? 2) What factors might contribute to this variability?