title: Language differences between monolingual English and bilingual English-Spanish young children with autism spectrum disorders.
abstract: Bilingualism is common worldwide and increasingly prevalent, but there is little information about bilingual children with autism spectrum disorder. The goal of the study was to compare expressive and receptive language skills in monolingual English and bilingual English-Spanish children with autism spectrum disorder. A review of the multidisciplinary evaluations done in toddlers who were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at a university-affiliated center between 2003 and 2010 was performed. Data included demographics, developmental testing, autistic characteristics, and expressive and receptive language skills, obtained from formal speech and language evaluation. A total of 80 toddlers were identified, 40 classified as bilingual English-Spanish. Compared with monolinguals, bilingual children were more likely to vocalize and utilize gestures, with no other differences in language skills. There were no differences in cognitive functioning and autistic features between the groups. In this study, bilingualism did not negatively affect language development in young children with autism spectrum disorder.
authors.affiliation: Children's Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center, R. F. Kennedy Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA. rvalicenti@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Valicenti-McDermott
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tarshis
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schouls
authors.forename: Molly
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galdston
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hottinger
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Seijo
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shulman
authors.forename: Shlomo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shinnar
mesh_terms: D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism