For more than a decade, researchers have been investigating and debating whether being bilingual improves a person’s executive function, that is, his or her ability to control thoughts and actions making them better at focusing, planning and switching tasks. The jury is still out on the link between bilingualism and executive function but a new study now shows that being bilingual may help children with autism spectrum disorders switch more easily from one task to another.
In the study which recently published in the journal Child Development researchers compared how easily 40 children between the ages of six and nine, with or without autism spectrum disorders and either monolingual or bilingual, were able to shift tasks in a computer-generated test. The children were asked to sort an object – either a blue rabbit or a red boat – that appeared on a computer screen by colour. They were then asked to sort the same objects instead by shape. The researchers found that bilingual children with autism spectrum disorders performed significantly better in the task-shifting test compared to to children with autism spectrum disorders who spoke only one language.
The finding is significant for families of children with autism spectrum disorders, adding to a body of evidence that can help these families make decisions when it comes to the children’s rearing and education. As the researchers point out, such families are often advised that exposing with autism spectrum disorders to more than one language will worsen their language difficulties.
The research team believes that this initial study holds promise but that further research needs to be done. They would also like to see whether the bilingual advantage they observed in the lab may also be observed in daily life as the children grow older.