In bilingual autistic children, more English was not linked to poorer memory or self-control

A study of Cantonese-English bilingual children found no harmful association between English exposure and two key thinking skills.

Abstract editorial illustration accompanying the article: In bilingual autistic children, more English was not linked to poorer memory or self-control

Editorial illustration — not from the study.

Researchers compared 36 autistic and 40 neurotypical Cantonese-English bilingual children aged 6 to 10. The children completed tasks measuring working memory—the ability to hold and use information briefly—and inhibitory control, the ability to resist an automatic response.

Autistic children performed similarly to neurotypical children on working memory but had greater difficulties with inhibitory control. Within the autistic group, greater Cantonese exposure at home was associated with better performance on both measures, while English exposure in home and school settings was not associated with poorer performance.

What the children’s tests showed

The autistic children had working-memory performance similar to that of their neurotypical peers, but they showed greater difficulty with inhibitory control. Among autistic children, greater exposure to Cantonese at home was associated with improved working memory and inhibitory control. Exposure to English at home or school was not associated with poorer performance on either measure. Among neurotypical children, the researchers found no significant associations between language exposure and performance across the communication settings studied.

Why the language context matters

The findings provide evidence that additional English exposure was not linked to poorer working memory or inhibitory control in the bilingual autistic children studied. They also point to the importance of communication context: home exposure to Cantonese was associated with better performance, while English exposure was not associated with harm. This may help inform discussions of language use for bilingual autistic children without treating exposure to an additional language as inherently detrimental.

Evidence and caveats

This was a journal study involving 36 Cantonese-English bilingual autistic children and 40 bilingual neurotypical children, all aged 6 to 10. The researchers used backward digit span and Flanker tasks to assess working memory and inhibitory control. The reported links between language exposure and performance are associations, so the study does not show that Cantonese exposure caused better executive-function performance. The findings also come from one language pairing, age range and set of communicative contexts, and the abstract does not establish whether they apply to other bilingual children or settings.

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