Study title

The overall aim of this research is to ask how growing up in a bilingual environment affects the linguistic, cognitive and social development of children and, importantly, do these developmental effects differ for children with autism spectrum disorders. Here we collected data from autistic and non-autistic children at two timepoints, one year apart, (November 2018 - September 2020) in order to understand the influence of bilingual exposure on changes in cognitive development.Many children in the UK grow up in homes where more than one language is spoken. Understanding the effect of this 'bilingual exposure' on children's abilities is challenging, but research so far largely shows that learning more than one language does not hinder child development, and can be beneficial. As well as the obvious advantage of knowing two languages, bilingualism has been associated with better insight into the thoughts and feelings of others. Other skills are hotly contested by researchers but may include greater ability to switch between tasks and control behaviour. These skills are useful both in the classroom, and in the playground. We know much less about how hearing two languages affects the development of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD is associated with difficulties with communication, relating to other people and a desire for repetition and routine. Many practitioners and parents have reported that they are concerned that difficulties linked to autism, especially in communication, may be made worse if a child uses or hears more than one language. In addition, it is often assumed that speaking two languages is too taxing for a child who has an intellectual disability - which applies to about half of all children with ASD. However these assumptions are untested. Fifty years ago, it was also assumed that growing up in a bilingual home was a bad idea for all children, and yet we now know that that is untrue. Might it therefore also be the case that...