A recent study from UCLA Health strengthens the evidence supporting the cognitive advantages of multilingualism, revealing that speaking multiple languages not only improves general cognitive skills but may also lessen certain symptoms and enhance the management of everyday thoughts and actions in both autistic and non-autistic children.
A recent study from UCLA Health strengthens the evidence supporting the cognitive advantages of multilingualism, revealing that speaking multiple languages not only improves general cognitive skills but may also lessen certain symptoms and enhance the management of everyday thoughts and actions in both autistic and non-autistic children.
This study, published in the journal Autism Research, involved parents of children, both with and without autism, from multilingual households. These parents observed that their children exhibited better overall executive function, including improved focus, understanding of others’ views, communication skills, and fewer repetitive behaviors, when compared to children raised in monolingual homes.
“Our findings indicate that being multilingual, regardless of an autism diagnosis, is related to enhanced inhibition, greater flexibility, and improved perspective-taking abilities,” explained Dr. Lucina Uddin, the lead author of the study, who is a professor in UCLA Health’s Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and the director of the UCLA Brain Connectivity and Cognition Laboratory.
Originally conducted at the University of Miami, the study included over 100 children ages 7 to 12, both autistic and non-autistic, from monolingual and multilingual families. The majority of the multilingual families primarily spoke Spanish and English at home. Parents provided assessments of their children’s executive functioning skills, which are often impacted by autism spectrum disorder. The evaluated skills included:
- Inhibition: the capacity to refrain from irrelevant actions or distractions.
- Working memory: the ability to retain information temporarily, like remembering a phone number.
- Shifting: the skill of transitioning between multiple tasks, such as playing and cleaning up afterwards.
Additionally, parents rated some key abilities influenced by autism, such as understanding different viewpoints, social communication, and repetitive behaviors.
Survey results indicated that multilingualism is linked with enhanced inhibition, shifting, and perspective-taking abilities in children, regardless of whether they have autism.
“Managing two languages necessitates that one language is suppressed to use the other. This suggests that the skill of inhibition may improve with multilingualism,” said Uddin.
Moreover, knowing multiple languages also positively impacted fundamental autism symptoms, leading to better communication, decreased repetitive behaviors, and enhanced perspective-taking skills, according to Uddin.
Uddin noted that some parents of autistic children worry that multilingualism might hinder their child’s language development. Nevertheless, she emphasized that current evidence suggests no adverse effects and may indicate long-term advantages.
“The key takeaway is that we find no negative consequences of raising bilingual children,” Uddin pointed out. “In fact, it’s advantageous to cherish all languages that are part of your culture.”
Building on these insights, Uddin plans to expand the research and address its limitations. The new phase of the study will aim to include approximately 150 children with autism and will feature additional executive function and language assessments, along with brain imaging techniques.
For further information about the study and how to participate, please visit: UCLA Brain Connectivity and Cognition Laboratory.
