The Role of Bilingualism in Autistic Children’s Development
Bilingualism in Autistic Children:
Bilingualism can be defined as the ability of a person to use two languages. In the United States, 12 million children primarily speak a language other than English at home. This represents about one in four autistic children with spectrum disorder (ASD) being raised in a bilingual environment. However, until today, there’s still an old notion that states bilingualism could “confuse” a child has long been refuted by a large body of research that suggests the opposite. Below are some reasons why bilingualism is essential to the development of an autistic child:
Parental Interaction is critical for language development in ASD.
Language acquisition in ASD is heavily influenced by parental interaction. However, a parent’s role would be disrupted if nonnative language is used with their child. Moreover, for a caregiver, the level of proficiency in the language directed at their child leads to increased opportunities for parent-child interactions and facilitation of language development in daily life. For example, when parents use nonnative language to communicate with their typically developing children, they interrupt more often and use shorter utterances. In addition, qualitative studies in ASD report that bilingual parents perceive greater intimacy, comfort, and competence when using their native language with their children.
Forcing Bilingual families to revert to monolingual language use can lead to negative effects.
Studies have found that for bilingual families, maintaining the parental native language as the home language facilitates cross-generational relationships, helps preserve cultural heritage, and supports a cohesive family relationship. As such, by limiting exposure to the parental native language in children with ASD, additional communication barriers could be created. These barriers could result in social and cultural effects when children with ASD are not fully integrated into their community and the weakening of child and family relationships due to language barriers.
For example, one US-based study with immigrant parents of autistic children who only used English at home showed a decline in parent-child interactions and the child’s participation in family conversations. Similarly, Non-fluent speakers of the majority language report difficulty and discomfort communicating with their child and worry about teaching a “wrong” way to speak the language, which can lead to reduced communication with their child. Lastly, when parents use nonnative language to communicate with their child, they interrupt more often and use shorter utterances which disturb the parent-child interaction.
Even though there is limited research addressing the effects of bilingualism for individuals with ASD, the existing literature suggests bilingual exposure does not lead to poorer development and includes some preliminary indications of positive effects. Children with ASD from ethnic minority populations benefit from immersion in the home language due to the positive benefits of close familial and cultural connections that their shared language affords.
References:
Beauchamp, M. L. H., & MacLeod, A. a. N. (2017). Bilingualism in autistic children spectrum disorder: Making evidence based recommendations. Canadian Psychology, 58(3), 250–262. https://doi.org/10.1037/cap0000122
Bialystok, E., Luk, G., Peets, K. F., & Yang, S. (2010). Receptive vocabulary differences in monolingual and bilingual children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13(4), 525–531. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728909990423
Davis, R., Fletcher-Watson, S., & Digard, B. G. (2021). Autistic People’s Access to Bilingualism and Additional Language Learning: Identifying the Barriers and Facilitators for Equal Opportunities. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.741182
Del Pilar Trelles, M., & Castro, K. L. (2019). Bilingualism in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Finding Meaning in Translation. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 58(11), 1035–1037. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2019.05.027
Digard, B. G., Sorace, A., Stanfield, A. C., & Fletcher-Watson, S. (2020). Bilingualism in autism: Language learning profiles and social experiences. Autism, 24(8), 2166–2177. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361320937845
Drysdale, H., Van Der Meer, L., & Kagohara, D. M. (2015). autistic children Spectrum Disorder from Bilingual Families: a Systematic Review. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2(1), 26–38. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40489-014-0032-7
Essex, J., & MacAskill, M. G. (2020). Modern foreign language education for learners with additional support needs in Scotland. Support for Learning. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9604.12325
By: Anh Ngo (she/her) a college student in Boston, MA. She likes to eat a kiwi everyday.
