outcomes in children with autism in bilingual home
environments
Abstract
Little is known about outcomes of early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder
(ASD) reared in bilingual homes. There are concerns that social communication deficits among
children with ASD may reduce the developmental benefits of early intervention for children with
ASD raised in bilingual environments. We conducted an exploratory analysis of cross-sectional
and longitudinal data from a larger study to explore associations between home language
environment and language ability and social skills in response to early ASD intervention.
Participants, aged 12–26 months when recruited, were a subset of a larger two-year, randomized
intervention trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00698997). Children from bilingual homes
(BLH, n=13) began intervention with lower gesture use but otherwise demonstrated equal baseline
language and social abilities as compared with age and nonverbal IQ-matched children from
monolingual homes (MLH, n=24). Significant language growth was exhibited by children from
both language groups and there was no moderating effect of home language environment. The
BLH group demonstrated increased gesture use over the course of intervention as compared with
the MLH group. Preliminary data revealed no basis for concerns regarding negative impact of a
bilingual home environment on language or social development in young children with ASD
Little is known about outcomes of early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder
(ASD) reared in bilingual homes. There are concerns that social communication deficits among
children with ASD may reduce the developmental benefits of early intervention for children with
ASD raised in bilingual environments. We conducted an exploratory analysis of cross-sectional
and longitudinal data from a larger study to explore associations between home language
environment and language ability and social skills in response to early ASD intervention.
Participants, aged 12–26 months when recruited, were a subset of a larger two-year, randomized
intervention trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00698997). Children from bilingual homes
(BLH, n=13) began intervention with lower gesture use but otherwise demonstrated equal baseline
language and social abilities as compared with age and nonverbal IQ-matched children from
monolingual homes (MLH, n=24). Significant language growth was exhibited by children from
both language groups and there was no moderating effect of home language environment. The
BLH group demonstrated increased gesture use over the course of intervention as compared with
the MLH group. Preliminary data revealed no basis for concerns regarding negative impact of a
bilingual home environment on language or social development in young children with ASD