Bilingualism in Autism: Language Learning Profiles and Social Experiences

Background: It is estimated that at least half the world’s population is bilingual or lives in a bilingual environment, and theoretically, so does half the world’s autistic population. This proportion may be reduced, due to the common belief among parents and practitioners that bilingualism may induce a cognitive overload for a child with autism. However, numbers may also be increased due to the many autistic people who adopt language-learning as a hobby.

Bilingualism impacts how our brain represents languages, but the influence of knowing several languages goes further, and changes the way people relate to others, and lead their lives. This is of particular interest in the case of autism, where social interaction presents many challenges. A better understanding of the overlap between the social variations of bilingualism and autism could unveil new ways to support the social experiences of autistic people.

Objectives: This research aims to understand the language learning and social experiences of autistic people who speak, one, two or more languages. We ask how people with autism become bilingual, and how this impacts their social life.

Methods: To address this question, we developed the Autism and Bilingualism Census (ABC), an online survey designed for monolingual, bilingual and multi-lingual adults with autism. The ABC consisted of:

1. General demographic questions;
2. Questions about social experiences including social life habits (such as the making and maintaining of friends, or the online and in-person engagement in social activities), and quality of life;
3. A language history section, to record how respondents had acquired and were using each of their languages.
4. Open-ended questions to gather qualitative data on the way language learning and knowledge had influenced respondents’ lives.

Results: A total of 294 autistic adults took part in the ABC, including 86 monolingual English speakers, 98 bilinguals, 56 trilinguals, and 54 respondents knowing 4 languages or more. Respondents collectively reported knowledge of 55 spoken or signed languages. By combining the quantitative and qualitative assessments, respondent profiles emerged including: being raised bilingually; learning languages at school; learning languages later in life out of a passion for languages. We will report further quantitative and qualitative data comparing social life habits and quality of life between these groups. Early emergent themes drawn from section (iv) of the survey suggest that autistic people feel that bilingualism offers employment and educational opportunities, strengthens their ability to communicate with others, and teaches new ways of thinking.

Conclusions: This is the first study describing the language history and social experiences of a substantial sample of bilingual and multilingual autistic adults. It provides valuable insight into how autistic people can encounter a new language, learn it, and use successfully it in their daily life.