Language abilities in bilingual children with Autism (CWA)

Abstract

Bilingual childre1i with Autism (CWA) have \1 general language deficiency that manifests in every language and evidence is towards a positive attitude toward dual language learning. This study aims at examining the similarities and differences in linguistic characteristics between bilingual and monolingua,l CWA in the age range of 4-10 years, with a diagnosis of mild-moderate severity of autism and normal range of IQ with no asso.ciated deficits. The participants used language productively at least at the one word level and had been exposed to the lang1iages since at least 15 months of age. Participants were matched based Oil socio-economic status Oil the NIM H SES Checklist (Venkatesan, 2009) and their language age on the Language Assessment Checklist (Swapna, Geetha, Prema & Jayaram, 2010). Phase I had consisted of collecting the social-demographic, educational and language proficiency by using a questionnaire developed for the purpose. Jn ·Plwse II, standardized tests, semantics and syntax sections of the Linguistic Profile Test - Hindi (Karanth, Pandit, & Gandhi, 1986) and English Language Testing for Indian Children (ELTIC) by Bhuvaneshwari (2009), were administered. Both monolingual and bilingual CWA showed similar patterns of language deficits, within and among the1i1selves. It was concluded that bilingualis;n had neither a positive nor negative effect on language abilities in CWA. This study supports the argument that parents' language practices are particularly influential in the case of CWA and that families should be encouraged to continue speaking their home-language, to ensure a high-quality social and language input during his/her language development.