Bilingual children with autism spectrum disorders: The impact of amount of language exposure on vocabulary and morphological skills at school age.
More bilingual input boosts vocabulary and grammar in school-age kids with autism, so keep both languages alive.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Gonzalez-Barrero et al. (2018) tracked how much bilingual input school-age kids with autism got at home. They then tested the same kids’ vocabulary and grammar skills.
The team used a quasi-experimental design. They did not teach anything new; they simply measured real-life language use and language scores.
What they found
More daily exposure to two languages predicted stronger vocabulary and better grammar. The autism diagnosis itself did not block this growth.
The pattern looked just like that seen in typically developing bilingual kids: more input, more words and word endings learned.
How this fits with other research
Cappadocia et al. (2012) and Griffith et al. (2012) saw no language gap between bilingual and monolingual preschoolers with autism. Maria’s 2018 school-age data extend that null harm finding upward in age and add a clear plus: extra bilingual input now links to higher scores.
Mas et al. (2019) ran a direct replication with the same sample and again found bilingual exposure safe. Skrimpa et al. (2022) pushed further, showing a small bilingual edge in pronoun understanding. Together these papers overturn the old advice to drop a language.
Giesbers et al. (2020) used a similar school-age sample but found no difference; their null result may reflect less precise input measures or a smaller group. The positive trend in Gonzalez-Barrero et al. (2018) is therefore the sharper signal.
Why it matters
You can now reassure families that continuing both languages will not slow their child’s progress. When you write goals, note the amount of bilingual input as a strength, not a risk. If a child hears 60 % Spanish and 40 % English, celebrate that ratio and plan vocabulary targets in both tongues.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Studies of bilingual children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have focused on early language development using parent report measures. However, the effect of bilingual exposure on more complex linguistic abilities is unknown. In the current study, we examined the impact of amount of language exposure on vocabulary and morphological skills in school-aged children with ASD who did not have intellectual disability. Forty-seven typically developing children and 30 children with ASD with varying exposure to French participated in the study. We investigated the impact of amount of language exposure, nonverbal IQ, age, and working memory on language abilities via regression analyses. Current amount of language exposure was the strongest predictor of both vocabulary skills (accounting for 62% of the variance) and morphological skills (accounting for 49% of the variance), for both typically-developing children and children with ASD. These findings highlight the central role amount of language exposure plays in vocabulary and morphological development for children with ASD, as it does for typically-developing children. In addition, they provide further evidence that, when provided with adequate language exposure, many children with ASD are capable of acquiring two languages. Autism Research 2018, 11: 1667-1678. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: We studied typically developing children and children with ASD living in a bilingual society who had varying exposure to French (ranging from bilinguals to monolinguals). We investigated the impact of amount of language exposure, nonverbal IQ, age, and working memory on their vocabulary and morphological skills. Current amount of language exposure was the strongest predictor of language skills in both groups of children. Findings indicate that when provided with adequate language exposure, many children with ASD are capable of acquiring two languages.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2018 · doi:10.1002/aur.2023