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The �Թ�Ⱥ�� Child Bilingualism Lab, based in the School of Arts, Culture and Language, held a thematic symposium on supporting bilingual acquisition in individuals with developmental conditions. Meinir Williams (PhD Linguistics) reported on a project creating children’s voices for bilingual augmentative and alternative communication in Wales, led by the University’s Language Technology Unit. Rebecca Day (PhD Bilingualism) presented findings on the prevalence of bilingualism in Rett syndrome. The experiences of speech and language therapists in Wales was the topic of the presentation of Jazmine Beauchamp (PhD Bilingualism). Finally, the thematic symposium closed with a presentation by Bethan Collins (PhD Bilingualism) on an innovative project using arts to aid language learning in an inclusive way, led by Mared Huws (Pontio).

Postgraduate researchers from the Child Bilingualism Lab and collaborators gave many other individual talks on their research at the conference, including bilingualism in developmental language disorder by Maryam Awawdeh (PhD Bilingualism), immersion education Gareth Caulfield (PhD Bilingualism), codeswitching in individuals with dementia by Laura Maguire (PhD Bilingualism), executive function and reading skills in emergent bilingual children by Bethan Collins, and more.

Eirini Sanoudaki, Child Bilingualism Lab director and Director of Postgraduate Research in the School of Arts, Culture and Language, said, “It was wonderful to be able to disseminate our research at this major conference. The success and contribution of our PhD researchers is particularly significant: Wales is at the forefront of bilingualism research and our excellent postgraduate researchers are leading the way.”

Postgraduate researchers in the Child Bilingualism Lab were supported in this conference by ESRC Welsh Graduate School for the Social Sciences and the �Թ�Ⱥ�� Fund. The �Թ�Ⱥ�� Fund is made up of donations from alumni and is administered by the Development and Alumni Relations Office.