FEATURES
If a bilingual upbringing is know
Bérengère Digard investigates h
Autism: the
A
utism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition
that involves difficulties navigating the social
world. Importantly, social understanding difficulties
are independent of potentially co-occurring language
difficulties. The language profiles of autistic people are
highly varied, ranging from minimally or non-speaking to
typical or enhanced language skills, with or without
irregular language or speech patterns, and independently
of their non-verbal cognitive abilities.
Until recently, our understanding of the communication
and language profiles of autistic people, and of autistic
people themselves, has been formed almost exclusively in
a monolingual context, which does not align with many
people's reality. Indeed, it is estimated that at least half the
world's population knows more than one language. While
research has shown that bilingualism
1
can be beneficial for
the cognitive skills and lived experiences of neurotypical
people, until recently no research had considered whether
it had equal benefits for autistic people.
