Student name: Kai Ian Leung Supervisor: Dr. Monika Molnar, Assistant Professor, Department of Speech-Language Pathology; Dr. Elizabeth Rochon, Professor, Department of Speech-Language Pathology
PhD thesis Language and Cognitive Development in Bilingual Children Post-Stroke:
In neurotypical development, bilingualism is thought to confer certain linguistic and cognitive advantages. However, research on whether this may affect development in bilingual pediatric stroke patients is scarce. Kai’s research seeks to evaluate the effects of bilingual vs. monolingual exposure on language and cognitive development in children following arterial ischemic stroke.
Kay Ian Leung is an alumna (2021) from the MSc program at the Rehabilation Sciences Institute.
In her Master’s research, Kai collaborated with the Hospital of Sick Children to explore the effects of bilingual exposure on children’s post-stroke language and cognition through a large-scale, retrospective study. Her findings showed that bilingualism may have a faciliatory effect on expressive language development post-stroke. This was also corroborated in comparative, exploratory case studies using neuropsychological measures in a monolingual-bilingual pair. Overall, the results found no negative consequences of a bilingual environment on post-stroke development. Her MSc work is currently being prepared for publication as two first-authored publications.
Kai was the recipient of a Canadian Graduate Scholarship – Master’s (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada). She has presented her work at many national and international conferences in developmental sciences and stroke, including the meeting for the Cognitive Neuroscience Society and the International Stroke Conference. In recognition of her achievements, she was awarded Best Poster at the 2021 RSI Research Day.
Outside of her studies, Kai is committed to improving student experiences. She leads the Student Awards Committee at Rehabilitation Sciences Institute and is also involved in various mentorship efforts of undergraduate and graduate students and teaching assistant activities at the Department of Linguistics. Kai is also the Data Collection and Analysis Lead at the SickKids Career Development Committee and PhD representative for the RSI Faculty and Staff Development Committee.
Following her studies, she hopes continue to hone her research skills to be applied in academia or industry.
