Toward a Model of Reciprocal Carryover: Learning From Communication Systems of Families of Nonspeaking Bilingual Children

Abstract

Purpose: Children at the intersections of language learning, racialization, and dis/ability status experience systems of power in a very particular way. This work amplifies the “voices” of bilingual nonspeaking children and their families to upend the notion of educational and medical professionals as the experts. It positions familial ways of being and knowing as central to learning and offers educators tools to actively collaborate with and follow the lead of children and families to engage in “reciprocal carryover.” Method: This clinical focus article is built on a series of semistructured interviews and observations with caregivers, young children, and educators—specifically, two case studies of bilingual nonspeaking young children in the United States and their transnational families. Circumventing school and medical spaces and going directly to young children and families was a methodological choice to identify the family as the epicenter of languaging and learning. Results: Each case study demonstrates a system that was created to bolster the communication of these historically subaltern families. From systems of social capital exchanges to intrafamilial nonverbal communication systems, the families in the study engage in and share systems they created to navigate the larger system of special education that so often positions multilingual, transnational families and their dis/abled children as nonknowers. The author offers strategies for educators to learn alongside children and families to engage in “reciprocal carryover.” Conclusions: This work highlights the communication and languaging systems children and families co-construct beyond the bounds of formal education and supports educators in following their lead. It offers a roadmap for educators, families, and children to co-construct communication practices together.