Is learning another language a good idea for my autistic kids?

Have you thought about whether it would or wouldn't benefit your child to learn a second language? For children with autism, a lot of people assume that it's better to avoid delving into foreign languages altogether.  I've heard from other parents, with autistic kids, that the weren't sure about speaking more than one language with their children.  Anthony an Jane have both recently have French lessons at school and I wondered - is it a good idea?

Like most people with autism, Anthony has difficulty with communication.  Anthony's also autistic younger brother, David, is pre-verbal.  He makes a good effort to say some words but the reality is that to most people he still sounds like a toddle and talks in single words.  We believe he has verbal dyspraxia, which is not uncommon for autistic kids either.  This means he actually as difficulty in forming shapes and sounds.

However, David is proof that communication is a lot more than language and a Radio 4 interview with the Curley Hair Project last month showed that the rest of society can learn plenty about communication from people of the autism spectrum.  But communication and language isn't the same thing.  Would using an additional language confuse David? I think so.

Anthony on the other hand speaks well.  Yes, he struggles with some things but he can converse in conversations just fine.  While the rationale for sticking to one language when you have difficulty with communication makes sense, I had a look online and found it difficult to find specific information to back this up.  I did, however, find some information that suggested autistic children can learn two languages just as effectively as they learn one, and that it does not hinder their progress. Some research indicates that they may even thrive in a multilingual environment.

Expert in bilingualism, Stefka Marinova-Todd, and her UBC colleagues carried our a really interesting piece of research.  Their small scale study involved comparing the vocabulary size of children with ASD who spoke English only with that of Chinese-English bilingual children with ASD.  Now I know that children with ASD can have large vocabularies but still have difficulty communicating.  What this studied concluded though was that bilingualism does not have a negative impact on the language development of autistic children, and that their contextual vocabularies were just as rich as monolingual children. 

I can see a real positive for multilingual families.  Words of affection, off hand remarks and vital instructions can end up lost in translation if some family members are ore or less fluent in one language than the other.  An autistic child who already find social situations difficult or confusing could end up feeling isolated when they can't speak like the rest of their family, particularly if it's of cultural significance.  Autistic kids in bilingual families are also more likely to use gesture and point early on to aid their communication. So that's another plus point. 

But what about monolingual families?  I guess it's like everything else - go with what works for your child.

Although David may benefit from practising the sounds in other languages, I'm unlikely to deliberately teach him another language.  Jane, on the other hand, at four years old is way past her older sibling and picked up half a dozen French sayings just on our trip to France.  She may well be a budding linguist.  

And what about Anthony?

Well he has difficulty in more areas than just communication which could actually be helped my learning another language.  He may experience the same benefits of say taking French or Spanish lessons, as other children.  it could help him with other things he struggles with like critical thinking skills or executive function, which includes mental flexibility, self-control and attention.  Let's face it, as Anthony also has ADHD, anything that helps him concentrate s a good thing.

There's also the continued benefit of having fun with his friends - at the moment the language classes are good fun for the class and that's good for him socially. 

So although he might not end up doing foreign languages much once in secondary school, I'm not sure limiting his options now would benefit him at all.  I guess while he's having fun, learning and we don't see any problems developing, then it's a good thing and we'll stick with it.  And like everything else, we'll do out best to support him in it.

What do you think?  Do your kids speak any other languages?