Bilingualism is steadily increasing in the United Kingdom, as in other developed countries. In 2010 16% of children aged 4-11 years were from homes that spoke languages other than English (Department for Education, 2011). In the UK parents often ask whether they should continue to use more than one language with their child with autism or limit language input to one language (usually English). Clinically, professionals vary greatly in their advice to families. Until recently there has been very little research to guide decisions of this nature.
Objectives:
To ascertain whether children from bilingual families and those from monolingual families: (a) reached language milestones at similar ages; (b) achieve similar scores on researcher-administered observations and standardized language tests; and (c) show similar levels of language understanding and use as reported by parents and teachers. Additionally, to establish whether children raised in bilingual homes use both languages with their family.
Methods:
Sample: Children recruited to the Pre-school Autism Communication Trial (PACT; see Green et al., 2010), aged 2 years to 4 years 11 months, with Autistic Disorder (ADOS>12; ADI positive in 2 from 3 domains), from three UK regions.
Group ascertainment: Structured parental interview identified 25 PACT families who spoke an additional language to English at home (home languages were diverse). The comparison group were 25 children from PACT families who spoke only English, pairwise matched on ethnicity. Groups were well-matched on child autism severity and developmental level and family SES.
Measures: Current child language level was triangulated from (a) researcher-administered direct observation (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule) and standardised assessment (Pre-school Language Scales), (b) parent report (MacArthur-Bates Communication Development Inventory, Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales), and (c) teacher report (Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales). Information on timing of early language milestones and dual language use was obtained from parental report.
Results:
Children from bilingual homes were remarkably similar to those from monolingual homes on researcher-administered observations of language use and on standardized assessment of receptive and expressive language. Their parents reported similar levels of vocabulary and functional language use. Groups reached early language milestones at similar points. Teachers also reported similar levels of language understanding and use. There was no clear suggestion that bilingualism was advantageous to the children in this cohort, although some parents reported that their child was able to use both home languages to some extent.
Conclusions:
The study offers consistent findings across all language measures: no evidence was found to suggest that bilingualism hinders language development, above and beyond the effects of autism and developmental delay. These results suggest that parents should be reassured about speaking the language that comes most naturally to them, even if it is not the dominant language of the culture. This is particularly important given the evidence that parental sensitivity is beneficial to child language development and that this might be compromised when speaking a language that does not come naturally. Furthermore, use of home languages makes it possible for the child with autism to benefit from familial and cultural forms of learning.
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