Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulty switching from one task to another. But bilingualism seems to bring certain benefits to these children, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Child Development.
Researchers at McGills University in Canada came to this conclusion after comparing how easily 40 children aged six to nine, with and without autism spectrum disorder, who were monolingual or bilingual, could switch between tasks in a computer test. There were ten children in each category.
Blue rabbits or red boats
The researchers first asked the children to sort a single object appearing on a computer screen by color (that is, sort blue rabbits and red boats by color) and shape them (blue rabbits and red boats by the shape regardless of their color).
Researchers found that bilingual children with TSA performed much better on the more complex part of the task transfer test compared to children with ASD who were monolingual. It’s a finding that has potentially important implications for families of children with ASD.
“Having more solid evidence for families to use when making important educational and educational decisions is critical, as they are often told that exposing a child with TSA more than one language will only worsen language difficulties, ”says Ana Maria Gonzalez-Barrero, author of the study.
Despite the small sample size, the researchers say there is a real benefit to bilingualism in children with autism and that it should be studied further. Scientists plan to follow these children with ASD over the next three to five years to see how they develop. Researchers want to understand if the benefits seen in the lab can also be verified in everyday life as children grow older.
Read also:
Autism: detecting the disease with the eyes?
Autism: discovery of a biomarker in cerebrospinal fluid
Autism: gaps in care
