A two-year study of learning disabilities found in association with French immersion programs indicates that children encountering difficulty in primary French immersion programs have a specific learning disability characterized by a pattern suggesting a maturational lag in the temporal lobe regions of the brain. (JMF)

A program for early identification of children who are a high risk for failure in a primary French immersion program was undertaken in Ontario, Canada. As the last year of a three-year project, the investigation was designed to identify a set of variables predictive of success or failure in the primary program. The predictive validity of measures…

Thirty-two children who experienced difficulty in primary French immersion were compared to seven other groups of children matched for age and sex on a wide variety of language, perceptual, academic achievement, memory, motor, sensory and other tests to determine if there was anything unique in the profile of this group. The comparison groups…

This follow-up study helped determine the predictive validity of parent and teacher ratings and scores from the Early Identification Assessment Battery. This assessment involved a random selection of 4-year-old children scheduled to enter a French immersion program in the Ottawa, Canada, school system. In the spring of grade 1, 63% of the original…

In the first study of this series, it was found that children who have difficulty in primary French immersion are distinct from children having a primary reading disability, minimal brain dysfunction, hyperactivity or primary emotional disturbance. The present study was undertaken in order to cross-validate the findings of the first study, to…

A two-year study of "Learning Disabilities Found in Association with French Immersion Programming" indicated that children who encounter difficulty in primary French immersion programs may have a specific learning disability characterized by a maturational lag in the temporal lobe regions of the brain. In addition, it was found that…