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The Linguistic and Cognitive Effects of Bilingualism on Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Objectives: In study 1, we investigated the lexical and morphological abilities of school-age bilingual children with ASD using standardized tests. In study 2, we examined the impact of bilingualism on executive functions (including set-shifting) using direct-testing and parent report of everyday executive functioning abilities.
Methods: Twenty 5- to 9-year-old children with ASD participated in the studies (10 monolinguals and 10 bilinguals) along with 20 typically-developing children. Bilingual status was confirmed by a combination of direct testing and parent report. Participants’ languages included English, French, and Spanish. Children were matched on chronological age and NVIQ. Language skills were assessed using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (Dunn & Dunn, 2007) and the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (Semel et al., 2003), or their French/Spanish equivalent. Set-shifting was measured using a computerized version of the Dimensional Change Card Sort Task (DCCS; Zelazo, 2006) along with a measure of executive functioning in daily life (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning - BRIEF; Gioia et al., 2000).
Results: LANGUAGE: Although both groups scored in the normal range, there was a significant difference in vocabulary (p = .04), where monolingual children with ASD exhibited higher scores relative to bilingual children with ASD. No significant differences were found on morphological skills (p = .33). DCCS: Bilingual participants with ASD showed better performance relative to their monolingual ASD counterparts (p = .026). BRIEF: The ASD group exhibited poorer set-shifting skills relative to the TYP group (p <.01). However, there where no significant differences related to bilingualism.
Conclusions: Although not presenting delays, bilinguals exhibited lower scores relative to their monolingual peers with ASD on standardized measures of vocabulary, which is likely explained by the relationship between language exposure and language proficiency (Thordardottir, 2011). We provide novel evidence that bilingualism may hold advantages for executive functioning in children with ASD, this was found for the DCCS task but not for parent report of set-shifting in daily life. These findings build on previous research suggesting that bilingualism is not detrimental for the language skills of children with ASD and in fact may provide some advantages.