Bilingualism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The impact of bilingualism on the linguistic, social and cognitive development of children with neurodevelopmental disorders
IRAS ID
217349
Contact name
Jenny Gibson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
AHRC
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 30 days
Research summary
Speech and language therapists and other professionals in the NHS are working with increasing numbers of children from multilingual families. Previous research has shown that far from being a disadvantage, bilingualism is associated with multiple benefits, as long as the child has sufficient support to maintain all of his/her languages (Uljarević et al., 2016). The bilingual experience has been associated with higher educational achievement (Multilingual Britain, 2013), improved social use of language (Antoniou & Katsos, 2016), and enhanced cognitive flexibility (Bialystok et al., 2009) in typically developing children. Multilingualism also gives children opportunities to interact within a wider range of communities, increasing participation and inclusion in society.
However, the implications of multilingualism for a child with a neurodevelopmental disorder have not yet been established. A recent systematic review showed that there is very little evidence to inform clinical management of multilingual children who have language and communication needs (Uljarević et al., 2016). Our study uses a mixed-methods approach to begin to address some of the gaps in the research.
We will recruit multilingual children who have a diagnosis of a Neurodevelopmental Disorder such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder/Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD/ADD) and carry out detailed assessment of linguistic, social and executive functions. We will also recruit a monolingual comparison group and conduct statistical group comparisons to investigate evidence of a multilingual advantage or disadvantage in these areas. We will also investigate parental and professional views on maintaining multilingualism with children who have ASD or ADHD.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EE/0198
Date of REC Opinion
25 Jul 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion