Multilingualism impacts children's executive function and core autism symptoms.
Celia Romero, Zachary T Goodman, Lauren Kupis and 8 others
PMID 39508120WHAT IT FOUND
Multilingual children with autism showed better parent-reported inhibition and perspective-taking than monolingual peers.
These skills were linked to fewer social and repetitive symptoms. The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot prove that speaking multiple languages causes these improvements.
Key findings
01Multilingual children with autism had significantly lower reported inhibition difficulties than monolingual children with autism, while no such difference appeared in typically developing children.
02Multilingual children, both with and without autism, had better perspective-taking skills than monolingual children.
03Multilingualism was not directly associated with social communication skills or repetitive behaviors, but was indirectly associated with fewer symptoms in these areas through better executive function.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot determine if multilingualism causes better executive function or if children with better executive function are more likely to become multilingual. All measures were based on parent reports, which are subjective and may be influenced by the parents' own biases or expectations. The sample was drawn from Miami, a city with a high percentage of Spanish-speaking residents, which may limit how well the results apply to other populations or language pairs. Children with intellectual disabilities or ADHD were excluded, so the findings do not apply to the broader autism spectrum.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and other non-U.S. government sources.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the association between multilingualism and better executive function as proof that raising a child with autism bilingually will improve their symptoms. The study design cannot establish cause and effect.