Academic skills in children with spectrum disorders with monolingual or bilingual experience

This study examines the academic development of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who are bilingual. It is known that children with ASD have similar levels of academic achievement when included in settings with neurotypical children, but do bilingual language experiences affect academic achievement? The preliminary findings of this study suggest that bilingual language experiences do impact the basic academic achievement of bilingual children with ASD. Word reading skills developed more slowly among bilingual children with ASD. However, basic math skills appeared to be enhanced among bilingual children with ASD possibly due to other cognitive skills (e.g., executive functioning).