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Bilingualism in School-Aged Children with ASD: A Pilot Study

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Abstract

Preschool-aged bilingual children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can keep pace with their monolingual peers with ASD. However, can older children with ASD continue to do so as language demands become greater? Also, can they reach language levels similar to those of neurotypically developing (ND) bilingual children? The current study compares the language abilities of 3 school-aged bilingual children with ASD to those of 2 monolingual peers, and 19 ND bilingual and 12 ND monolingual peers. Using cluster analyses, we found that bilingual children with ASD had similar language to those of monolingual children with ASD and neurotypically developing bilingual and monolingual children. Results suggest that bilingual children with ASD can keep pace with their peers with similar intellectual abilities.

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Funding

This study was funded through a doctoral grant by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Grant Number 767-2016-1749.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. École d’orthophonie et d’audiologie, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada

    Myriam L. H. Beauchamp, Stefano Rezzonico & Andrea A. N. MacLeod

  2. Centre de Recherche CHU Ste-Justine, Montréal, Canada

    Myriam L. H. Beauchamp & Andrea A. N. MacLeod

  3. Centre de Recherche Interdisciplinaire en Réadaptation du Montréal Métropolitain, Montréal, Canada

    Stefano Rezzonico

  4. Institut Universitaire sur la réadaptation en déficience Physique de Montréal – CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, Montréal, Canada

    Stefano Rezzonico

  5. Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

    Andrea A. N. MacLeod

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  1. Myriam L. H. Beauchamp
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  2. Stefano Rezzonico
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  3. Andrea A. N. MacLeod
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Correspondence to Myriam L. H. Beauchamp.

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Beauchamp, M.L.H., Rezzonico, S. & MacLeod, A.A.N. Bilingualism in School-Aged Children with ASD: A Pilot Study. J Autism Dev Disord 50, 4433–4448 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04501-8

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