How does being bilingual influence children with autism in the aspect of executive functions and social and communication competence

Abstract

Background Bilingual families with children with autism often struggle with the dilemma of their as they are usually advised by professionals to use only one language to avoid the risk of language delay and confusion. However, there is no scientific base to such advice. Two-way ANOVA was used to analyze the accuracy and latency of EF tasks and the score of questionnaires on social and communication competence. No significant differences were found between groups except between TD and ASD in the Japanese version of Stroop task and the scores of the social and communication competence questionnaires. Significant difference was found between the bilingual ASD and the Japanese monolingual ASD at the latency of the English version of Stroop task but stroop effect was not significantly different. study suggests that being bilingual for children with ASD does not impede their EF and social and communication competence. Professionals should consider the family cultural background and language use before suggesting the ‘one language only’ advice as it can scar the family dynamics and deprive the child’s opportunity to be fully involved in the family.