Scholars and educators have studied the effects of bilingualism on cognitive and linguistic abilities for almost a century. The question has generally focused on how a child with more than one language mentally organizes language, and on the repercussions of bilingualism on cognitive and linguistic development. Both these questions grew out of what might be called the monolingual-norm assumption: the belief that monolingualism is the cognitive-linguistic norm and that the child's cognitive system is fragile and designed to cope with only one language. The monolingual-norm assumption gave rise to the negative myths surrounding bilingualism: bilingualism has been blamed for cognitive, social, and emotional damage to children (see Hakuta, 1986, for review).