A Comparative Study of Language Development in Monolingual and Bilingual Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

This study sought to analyze how the process of language development differed between a group of monolingual and bilingual children with autism spectrum disorders (n = 201) who were aged between 5-8 years and hailed from different countries around the world. To achieve this objective, a self-designed five-point Likert scale covering six different language domains was developed to measure the level of difficulty experienced by the participants. The measurement of the level of these difficulties was conducted based on reliable statistical analysis methods. The participants in the two groups were then compared on the basis of these difficulties. No statistically significant differences between the two groups were observed in any language domain. While mild differences within the items of main domains were indeed observed, they were deemed to be statistically non-significant. The results of this study suggest that both monolingualism and bilingualism do not have any detrimental effects on the language development abilities of children with autism spectrum disorders. Both groups were observed to experience the same level of difficulty in their language development process. This study’s limitations, implications, and other research suggestions have been discussed in detail as well.