A Systematic Review of The Cognitive Correlates of Bilingualism: Extrapolating the Findings to the Study of Bilingual Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).
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1
University of Edinburgh, Psychology, Philosophy, and Language Sciences, United Kingdom
Growing empirical evidence demonstrates bilingual children’s advantage over their monolingual counterparts on cognitive tasks employing certain executive processes. However, the positive effect of bilingualism has been focused on non-clinical populations. There is no evidence, to date, about the impact of bilingual experience on the executive functioning of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
It is noteworthy to mention that bilingualism, however, has not been evidenced to negatively affect language development children with ASD. In fact, they have demonstrated the capacity to function successfully as bilinguals. The results of these studies are in line with research on bilingual exposure in children with specific language impairment and down syndrome that found no additional language delays for bilingually exposed participants.
The significance of this study is that bilingualism could be viewed as a kind of therapy for children with ASD. Evidence suggests that several executive processes (cognitive flexibility, working memory, and response inhibition) are highly related to the restrictive, repetitive symptoms of ASD (behavioural flexibility impairments. Therefore, a more robust and better retained executive function system can play a significant role in improving aspects of behavioural flexibility (i.e., restrictive, repetitive behaviour) and social skills (i.e., theory of mind) for individuals with ASD.
Even if bilingualism shows no advantage, identifying the abilities (verbal and non-verbal) that are affected by bilingualism has profound implications on the assessment and intervention of children with ASD. Parents, therapists, and educators make choices about language, treatment, and instruction for bilingual children with ASD every day without having sufficient research to support their decisions.
The current work attempts to synthesize existing research on bilingual cognitive development and extrapolate the findings to the domain of bilingual children with ASD to inform practice and future research.
References
1. Bialystok, E., Craik, F., Green, D., and Gollan, T. (2009). Bilingual Minds. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 10(3), 89-129. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/stable/41038805
2. Hambly, C., and Fombonne, E. (2012). The impact of bilingual environments on language development in children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 42(7), 1342-1352.
3. Lopez, B. R., Lincoln, A. J., Ozonoff, S., and Lai, Z. (2005). Examining the relationship between executive functions and restricted, repetitive symptoms of autistic disorder. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 35(4), 445-460.
4. Gutierrez-Clellen, V. F., Simon-Cereijido, G., and Wagner, C. (2008). Bilingual children with language impairment: A comparison with monolinguals and second language learners. Applied Psycholinguistics, 29(01), 3-19.
5. Feltmate, K., and Bird, E. (2008). Language Learning in Four Bilingual Children with Down Syndrome: A Detailed Analysis of Vocabulary and Morphosyntax L’apprentissage du langage chez quatre enfants bilingues atteints du syndrome de Down: une analyse. Revue canadienne d’orthophonie et d’audiologie-Vol, 32(1), 7.
Keywords:
bilingualism,
cognitive development,
Executive Function,
cognitive control,
Autism Spectrum Disorders,
Bilingual,
dual language learner,
Cognition,
Systematic review
Conference:
3rd International Conference on Educational Neuroscience, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 11 Mar - 12 Mar, 2018.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Educational Neuroscience
Citation:
Sharaan
S
(2018). A Systematic Review of The Cognitive Correlates of Bilingualism: Extrapolating the Findings to the Study of Bilingual Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)..
Conference Abstract:
3rd International Conference on Educational Neuroscience.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2018.225.00011
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Received:
14 Feb 2018;
Published Online:
14 Dec 2018.
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Correspondence:
Ms. Shereen Sharaan, University of Edinburgh, Psychology, Philosophy, and Language Sciences, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, Shereen.Sharaan@ed.ac.uk