Bilingualism, Executive Function, and the Brain: Implications for Autism

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with marked heterogeneity with respect to the development of executive function abilities. The ‘bilingual advantage’ refers to the observation that individuals who speak two languages perform better on executive function tasks than monolinguals under some circumstances. There is not yet consensus, however, as to whether this advantage can be reliably demonstrated, nor is there consensus regarding under which conditions it emerges. Bilingual and monolingual children with ASD have comparable developmental outcomes, particularly in the areas of core ASD symptoms, cognitive function, and language. Still, despite the potential advantages that bilingualism may confer, clinicians commonly advise against providing a bilingual environment for children with ASD. The purpose of the present review is to provide an up-to-date assessment of the limited literature on bilingualism in children with ASD in order to inform evidence-based practice. Studies suggest a potential bilingual advantage in ASD in the areas of nonverbal intelligence quotient, adaptive functioning, and expressive vocabulary. A limited yet growing literature provides preliminary evidence for enhanced executive function ability in some children with ASD. Taken together, current evidence suggests that although a ‘bilingual advantage’ may not be universally present in typical development, it may manifest under specific circumstances, conferring advantage for populations in which executive function is compromised. Further work is needed to develop consistent, evidence-based guidelines around language recommendations for families of children with ASD and to better understand the cognitive and brain mechanisms giving rise to the bilingual advantage in clinical developmental populations.

Language and Cognition in Bilingual Neurodivergent Children: A Review of Recent Research

“…Earlier reviews on bilingualism in children with neurodevelopmental disorders focused primarily on one disorder, including Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), formerly known as Specific Language Impairment (SLI) [8][9][10][11][12][13] and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] , hearing impairment 22,23 , and preterm birth 24 . Two reviews compared a wider range of neurodevelopmental disorders.…”

Diálogo interdisciplinar sobre autismo

“…No caso de crianças com TEA, as habilidades executivas são prejudicadas, tanto em ambientes de laboratório, quanto em atividades do dia a dia (Demetriou et al, 2018apud Lai et al, 2017Romero;Uddin, 2021). Ainda, a função executiva no autismo é marcado por acentuada heterogeneidade, uma vez que, de acordo com a Associação Americana de determinadas circunstâncias, em comparação com crianças monolíngues com TEA (Ratto, 2021).…”

“…The debate about the impact of bilingualism on the linguistic development of autistic children is the focus of this study. Although some studies indicate that there are benefits, such asDavis, Fletcher-Watson and Digard (2021);Romero and Uddin (2021), others indicate specific challenges. We conducted a comprehensive survey of research in Brazil on the subject of bilingualism in children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.…”

Pesquisa bibliográfica sobre a relação bilinguismo e autismo: resultados preliminares

“…The debate about the impact of bilingualism on the linguistic development of autistic children is the focus of this study. Although some studies indicate that there are benefits, such as Davis, Fletcher-Watson and Digard (2021); Romero and Uddin (2021), others indicate specific challenges. We conducted a comprehensive survey of research in Brazil on the subject of bilingualism in children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.…”

“…Esse sistema pode ter implicações positivas para outras funções cognitivas, como a atenção, a memória e a resolução de problemas, mas também pode trazer desafios, como a dificuldade de acessar palavras ou a perda de fluência. No caso de crianças com TEA, as habilidades executivas são prejudicadas, tanto em ambientes de laboratório, quanto em atividades do dia a dia (Demetriou et al, 2018apud Lai et al, 2017Romero;Uddin, 2021). Ainda, a função executiva no autismo é marcado por acentuada heterogeneidade, uma vez que, de acordo com a Associação Americana de Psiquiatria (2014), pessoas com TEA demonstram disfunções executivas marcadas por comportamentos restritivos e repetitivos -em inglês Restricted and Repetitive Behavior (RRBs) -que, de modo geral, são marcados por "Movimentos motores, uso de objetos ou fala estereotipados ou repetitivos (p.…”