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Second Language Exposure, Functional Communication, and Executive Function in Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

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Abstract

Parents and professionals are concerned that second language exposure may delay communication in children with ASD. In this study 174 youth (6–16 years) with and without ASD, exposed to a second language, were compared on executive function (EF) and functional communication (FC) with their peers without exposure. There were no significant differences between groups on age, IQ, and socioeconomic status. Parents reported on language exposure and rated EF and FC skills within everyday social contexts. The findings indicated that second language exposure in children with ASD is not associated with delay in cognitive and functional communication skills rather there was evidence of a reduced clinical impact as indexed by a lower percentage of children whose FC and EF ratings fell within the clinical range.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Social Science and Humanities Research Council and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research for their support. We are also grateful to the children and parents who participated and the many students who helped at various stages of this research.

Author Contributions

All authors were involved in the design of the study. G.I and S.H were involved in the analysis and interpretation of the results and the writing and editing of the manuscript.

Funding

This study was funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research grant (410-852396) and a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar Award (CI-SCH-061(05-01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada

    Grace Iarocci, Sarah M. Hutchison & Gillian O’Toole

  2. BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of British Columbia, 4480 Oak Street, Vancouver, BC, V6H 3V4, Canada

    Sarah M. Hutchison

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  1. Grace Iarocci
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Correspondence to Grace Iarocci.

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G. Iarocci, S. M. Hutchison, G. O’ Toole declares that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in this study that involved human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Iarocci, G., Hutchison, S.M. & O’Toole, G. Second Language Exposure, Functional Communication, and Executive Function in Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). J Autism Dev Disord 47, 1818–1829 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3103-7

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