Picking a Language to Teach to Children with Autism | Language and Bilingual Families

Dr. Mary Barbera talks about language and bilingual families and answers the question, “what language do I teach my child with autism?”

While research supports that young children can learn two or more languages efficiently, picking a language to teach to children with autism is the ideal move. Once one language is learned, it should be easier for the child to learn a second one. In today’s video, you’ll learn about teaching a language in bilingual families, language development in bilingual families, and why learning multiple languages for children with autism can be a challenging task. Through my own research and experiences, children with autism and language tend to have a different time learning language than children without autism. Hence, if your deciding on having your children learn Spanish and English, start with one language, preferably the one spoken at school.

If you enjoyed this video about speech therapy for kids with autism and children and therapy, make sure to subscribe to the channel, give this video a like, and visit my website below. If you have any further questions, leave them down below in the comments section, and I’ll try my best to get back to you with a response. Thank you for watching today’s video blog!

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Dr. Mary Barbera "fell" into the autism world in 1999 when her first-born son, Lucas, was diagnosed with autism one day before his third birthday. Over the past 2 decades, Mary has gone from knowing almost nothing about autism to becoming a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst, writing a best-selling book, The Verbal Behavior Approach (which is now translated in over 10 languages), and earning a PhD with a thorough understanding of some of the best autism ABA strategies. In 2015, Mary started her first autism online course which has already been purchased from parents and professionals from over 45 countries and now sells 3 online courses. With over 2 decades in the autism world, both as a parent and professional, Mary is in a unique position to help YOU, especially if you live or work with a child with autism who also has language delays or disorders. Her mission is to turn things around for 2 million children with autism (or signs of autism) by 2020 through online training and advocacy!

[Mr-Chris]

I respectfully disagree about sticking to one language. My son was diagnosed by Kennedy Kreiger at the age of three and we were told the same thing, to stick with English. My wife and I are bilingual with English being our stronger language, but we decided to teach our son Spanish to continue our culture tradition. We had already started to teach our son Spanish as an infant and couldn't allow ourselves to just stop and ignore teaching Spanish as it would leave my child at a huge cultural and family disadvantage in the future. In the US, most therapist are English speakers, and we couldn't find many who spoke Spanish. So we decided to give him therapy in English and when possible from time to time he would get some in Spanish (depending on availability of therapist). My wife and I would take turns sit in on every session. We would take lessons learned and reinforce them at home in Spanish. My son started to pick up English fast from all the therapy he got in Speech, OT, and ABA. He was accepted to infants and tots from our County school where he picked up more English. My wife and I would then reinforce everything back in Spanish.


Im not a Professional, but as a parent what we found what works is routine. He had many issues early on just speaking two or more words. We got an early diagnosis and where able to get therapy early on and commit to setting up an environment of routine (Therapy and school in mostly English, Home we would repeat/replay our his therapy Spanish) It took some time, but one day it's like a light bulb went on in his head. He started to pick up both languages quickly. He is 6 years old now and speaks both language. He is stronger in Spanish than in English at the moment, but speaks in full sentences in both languages and can easily switch form one to another. I feel there are other social benefits as he has become a very social kid. He still has speech issues which we are addressing in IEP and private therapy, but nevertheless he's making progress.

[jimslp]

Hi Mary,
I am also a professional that works with children with Autism. Like Chris, I would have to respectfully disagree about sticking to one language. As you mentioned there is a lot of research supporting children (developmentally disabilities or not) are able to learn more than one language. You mentioned a reason for primarily sticking to English was due to his providers in English or school. I think something to think about is their cultural or social needs as well. If a child goes to a party or event that most of the participants speak Spanish, the child can also participate as well in Spanish speaking environments. Being able to participate in their community is also important for that child. If a provider is unable to provide therapy or services in their home language, I think providing parent education and teaching parents how to support their language development in their home language would be key for those students. There are a lot of advantages to being bilingual, both for those with developmental disabilities or neurotypical. There is also research that demonstrates greater success in the second language if the concepts are learned in their home or primarily language first.

[bhumidoshi]

Thanks a lot mam. I was also confused for selecting medium in preschool as being Gujarati we have 2 streams in school- Gujarati and English. But now i can determine that Gujarati medium is best for my 2.5 year old mild autistic child who have language delay.. thanks again