My research focuses on understanding how infants, toddlers and school-age children acquire their language(s). I am especially interested in why some children can become proficient bilinguals, while others seem to struggle. To test these questions, I use functional near-infrared spectroscopy to study the cognitive and neural networks that support bilingualism. I am also interested in how children come to learn and understand from their culture(s), and how culture supports language acquisition. Through all these mechanisms, I investigate what allows diverse and multilingual children to learn their languages and provides them with the skills to succeed academically.