Language Adaptation of Young Bilingual Autistic Children During Semi-Naturalistic Interactions With Their Caregivers

Although bilingualism is now recognized as having no adverse effects on language outcomes in autistic children, little is known about how it manifests in early development, particularly in minimally speaking children who may show unique patterns of bilingual expression. The present study used naturalistic language sampling to characterize bilingual language use in minimally speaking autistic children and their caregivers. Video recordings of 31 minimally speaking autistic children interacting with their caregivers during two separate sessions of the Brief Observation of Symptoms of Autism (BOSA)-one in English and one in Spanish-were transcribed and analyzed for language skills (mean length of utterance in words, number of different words), speaking rate (utterances per minute), and use of English, Spanish, or mixed-language utterances. We found that children were slightly more proficient in English than in Spanish, especially in the number of different words. Both children and caregivers produced similar rates of speech across the English and Spanish BOSA sessions, suggesting that language choice did not quantitatively impact their interaction. Finally, children aligned with their caregivers' language use more consistently in English than in Spanish. Although they responded in Spanish when caregivers used Spanish, they also switched into English a lot during the Spanish BOSA. These findings suggest that minimally speaking autistic children flexibly adapt to their caregiver's language while showing an early advantage or preference for their societally dominant language.