There is a growing body of research on the effects of bilingualism in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Across studies, there is now broad consensus that exposure to two (or more) languages does not have detrimental effects on linguistic, cognitive or social development. Instead, bilingualism can even prove helpful in some domains. At the same time, research in this area faces important challenges, including how to capture the considerable heterogeneity within ASD, the wide range of bilingual experiences (e.g., simultaneous vs. sequential bilingualism, balanced vs. dominant language profiles), and the complex ways in which these two sources of variability intersect.
This workshop brings together researchers working on bilingualism in autism in order to address these challenges from multiple perspectives. We will discuss empirical findings on language development in autistic bilingual children across different language pairs and contexts. A special focus will be placed on emerging evidence of non-interactive bilingualism in autism: cases where language learning occurs with limited or no direct social interaction (e.g., learning from screens) and which challenge traditional assumptions that human interaction is a necessary condition for successful language acquisition.
We invite abstracts for poster presentations on any topic dealing with bilingualism in autism. We encourage submissions that involve innovative approaches and methods including, but not limited to, the study of non-interactive bilingualism in autism.