Bilingual Environments and Children

The impact of bilingual environments on language development in children with autism spectrum disorders

Introduction

Autism is a neural development disorder that is characterized by repetitive behavior, impaired communication and social interaction. These are symptoms that are usually observed even before the child gets to three years of age. This disorder affects the way the brain processes information and this is by altering the ways in which nerve cells together with their synapses organize and connect. As cited by Dacey, Travers & Fiore (2008) one of the factors that mainly affect development in early childhood is the genetic element and autism is a disorder that has a strong genetic basis.

Summary

Studies have been carried out on the effects of bilingual exposure on language development. However, not a lot has been done on the effects of bilingual exposure on language development specifically in children who have autism spectrum disorders. This is what formed the basis for this research. The aim of the research was to identify how bilingual exposure affects the development of language in children with autism special disorders. Children with autism spectrum disorders normally show severe social impairment and this is also depended on the languages that they learn.

There is need to have an understanding of how bilingual exposure impacts on development of language in children suffering from ASDs (autism spectrum disorders). This is because in clinical settings, it is believed that bilingually exposed children with ASDs normally experience additional delays in the development of language. Children often learn language from social interactions. However, autism is characterized by impaired social interaction and this implies that those children suffering from ASDs will have difficulties in development of language since they will have limited social interactions.

According to Dacey, Travers & Fiore (2008) due to migrations, people are normally...