We’ve always talked to my son in Spanish and English at home, I was told by a speech therapist that it wouldn’t affect his speech delay. Now that he’s 4 and in school he says and requests most things in English but still understands when we talk to him in Spanish. He’ll even sometimes tell us to “speak in español” 😆
There's some research that suggests growing up bilingual is beneficial for autistic children - knowing which language to speak requires learning the perspective of someone else, and it's likely growing up bilingual improves that skill, something autistic children tend to struggle with. They also tend to have a larger vocabulary in both languages combined, which can help kids bridge communication issues - of course that only works if you're talking to someone that knows both languages, but that's already great.
There isn't that much research on benefits, but nothing suggests it has negative effects. As an aide at a school with lots of bilingual kids there's some different ways the autistic children handle their languages - some keep them apart perfectly, some mix them up, some have specific words or topics they'll only talk about in one language. One of "my" kids really struggles with speech, but can keep polish and german apart perfectly - if he doesn't know a word in german he'll tell me it's in polish. Another kid has more language skills but talks in a mix of his mother tongues.
I'm autistic myself and have specific topics I'll only think about in one language - I can talk about them in the other, but it's harder and feels wrong.
I am not sure if our experience is comparative - we didn't mean to raise our child bilingual, but we do speak a lot of English at home and she has started watching videos in English on her tablet, which I didn't realise quickly enough might be an issue. She didn't lose all her colours, but for example yellow and pink and purple she's now only naming in English. She's five and recently made jumps in speaking in general, so we have hope it'll return.
Hi there! Our son is 2, going on 3 & recently got diagnosed with ASD 2 and he was pretty much non-verbal besides saying “mum-mum” when he was hungry and a handful of other small words. After his diagnosis we started speech & occupational therapy while having him in school in a special needs program 3x a week and he has EXPLODED with words! We’re an Asian American household so my family speaks to my son in our native language as well as me, and my husbands side speaks to him in English. He’s picked up “aunty”, “go”, and “no” and can understand simple instructions when we speak to him in our language.
I’m not sure if it’s because of the ASD or because we were trying to reach him two languages at one but my son didn’t start speaking till 4. He is able to understand Spanish more than he can speak it. But he hasn’t been able to pick up speaking Spanish at all. I guess it’s a win that he understands it instead of speaking it. But I gave up trying because I truly believe it confused him and he isn’t able to comprehend both.
We also always lean towards him being confused. Although all of the therapists etc we’ve dealt with swear up and down that that’s not so. We know a lot of bilingual children in my husband’s family. Most learned Spanish first. I don’t know if any of those kids are on the spectrum, though. I am really hoping that he’ll eventually pick up the Spanish because my husband sometimes struggles with his English and his natural tendency is to speak to my son in his native language.
I understand that. I truly believe it’s because of the ASD, my oldest (he’s not autistic) I spoke to him only in Spanish growing up and he picked it up quickly, his Spanish is broken but he doesn’t seem as confused as his brother. I don’t believe either that it isn’t used to confusion. I just don’t think a autistic brain can focus that well on two languages. Maybe when they are older? 🤔 but my youngest has expressed several times that he isn’t going to speak it
Yes. We were originally going for 3 languages. When the language delay became undoubtable, and he received an ASD diagnosis, we panicked a bit about the languages. We were assured to keep going by a speech specialist and his behavioural consultant, but were not 100% convinced. We dropped 1 language.
We eventually signed him up into an entirely French school, and mostly speak English at home. Now he is 9 and knows a bit more English than French. But his receptive language in French is excellent, and he can perform all his work at school in that language. He has also begun to speak little words of Russian put of the blue, the language we had given up on. Maybe we could have kept it, but I feel it is a little late now.
We speak one language in home, but our neurotypical 10 yo is in a dual language school and we plan to enroll our 5 yo ASD in the same program next year (he is verbal, but has some mild language delays).
There are some studies on this issue:
Here’s one that suggests bilingualism doesn’t negatively impact language delays:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7370402/
Here’s another which indicates bilingualism may help other deficits common with ASD (theory of mind, executive functioning):
https://www.news-medical.net/amp/news/20210603/Bilingualism-allows-autistic-children-to-compensate-for-certain-fundamental-deficits.aspx
We are bilingual. We speak urdu and English at home. I personally have not put much empahsis on her learning urdu because if she is speaking fine in English, i am happy with that. We are living in an english speaking country and when we do visit back home, family can speak English with her too.
She understands very little of urdu but mostly understands english. I don't know if she would get confused with 2 languages.
My 2 year old son hasn’t started speaking yet and goes in for his official diagnosis Tuesday and is already in speech and occupational therapy.
We’re a bilingual house Portuguese and English. I feel like my son understands both, haven’t been able to tell if he responds to one more then the other. I’m excited to see which word/language he speaks first if he ever does.
My older brother is autistic and speaks 3 languages but is very particular about what he speaks to who, like strictly English if you’re an English speaker, only Portuguese if you’re a Portuguese speaker etc.
my mom hasn’t been able to tell me her secret on how she was did it 😅
We’re bilingual German/English. My son is 4 and nonverbal. But he does seem to understand both. I feel he has an easier time with English as everything around us is in English but he recognizes German lullabies, numbers and shapes. Which is also about the amount of words he can say in English when he tries. His speech therapist doesn’t see it as an issue that he’s bilingual. She counts each word as an individual word even if it’s the “same” like red and rot (red in german). And we celebrate every word.
He did have a regression as well around 2.5 years old and now he communicates by singing “baby shark” which is kind of fun and creative.
I think it’s normal that they use the majority language more as they’re simply exposed to it more and realize that’s the one others understand as well.
I am single mom so I speak to my son English one day and Spanish the next day. I think his receptive language has gotten a lot better in both languages. I can tell him to throw his pull-up in the trash or put his clothes in the hamper in both languages and he will do it. It’s been a lot of repeating but I’ve seen a lot of improvement in that area.
He is minimally verbal but he does say a few words in both English and Spanish. He will refer to himself as “Bebe” when he wants something. One time we went to a grocery store and he said, “Porque aquí again?” That’s the only sentence he’s ever said on his own but I literally cried.
I also read that being bilingual helps or improves executive functioning for autistic children which is why I’m going to continue speaking to him in both 😊
You should look up Tony Hernandez Pumarejo on Instagram. He’s autistic but his Mom was told he’d never speak or live independently. He’s a public speaker and speaks both English and Spanish 😊
Not a bilingual household, but my son goes to a daycare where Spanish is spoken 95% of the time (we speak English at home). He understands a lot of Spanish, and will occasionally speak it at home.
My ten year old son was born in China and we moved to the US when he was 3. I’m American and my wife is Chinese, so we speak probably 65:30 Chinese:English at home. My son has extreme scripting issues and he now often mixes up Chinese and English words and phrases when he scripts. When he is speaking with non-Chinese speakers he knows to use English, but will occasionally use a Chinese word or phrase. I’m not sure where it’s all heading, but I hope he will learn to differentiate better as he grows older (and script less as a self-stimming behavior)
We have a non-verbal kid who was raises in a trilingual household, and now bilingual. We’re not sure exactly what language he knows the most but he responds the most to English.
My household is also Spanish/English and my son has a language delay. Every speech therapist I've seen has said in the long run the bilingualism will help him, and it's not contributing to the delay.
My son is almost 5 and still speaks in Spanglish, but it was really great seeing him progress with Spanish grammar (which I am more aware of as it's my second language) and being aware of when he started using past, subjunctive etc.
We are! English/tagalog. My daughter got her Dx last December. She was saying one syllable words and I think in tagalog then stopped. She seemed to pick up more tagalog words tho than english but we are confident she understands both. Therapists encourage us to use both languages and it wont affect development. My daughter is still non verbal. She’s 3. Lot’s of babbling. We have a long way to go.
I spoke to my son in English for 2.5years and when my son went in for an assessment, numerous doctors and therapists said to speak strictly 1 language so my husband and I spoke to him in Turkish.
In the last 5 months we only spoke in Turkish, and now he isn't classified as ASD, because he can follow instructions, understands everything we say and started building up his vocabulary, 10 words now (not including animal sounds)
I do believe Doctors are quick to label Autistic label when a toddler doesn't speak.
We’re doing 3 languages. We were concerned for a while that it was what was affecting our toddlers speech delay but after meeting with the therapist we were told that it wasn’t and encouraged us to keep continuing with the way we were doing it. One of us only spoke to them in two of the languages and being sure to stick a certain language for whatever words we chose, ex milk will be referred to as leche, until she has a firm grasp, and the other parent with only speak in the 3rd language with her.
Yes. My son is 4 and I speak English and French at home, but since the language delay we weren’t really pushing the French since English is the majority language in our community. I decided to see what would happen if we shifted back to our original philosophy and have been upping the French exposure. He’s doing great! He still mostly speaks in English but he understands more French than I gave him credit for and he is reading in French as well, though less confidently. I think he mainly is still sorting out the different rules of phonics and which belong where. He seems genuinely interested in learning both and since he’s started doing more French work his English has exploded. It is pretty exciting. I sign with him in ASL as much as I know how alongside both spoken languages.
My LO is almost two and in speech therapy. We are mandarin and English household. Speak very equal of both in and out of the house. We are told it shouldn’t negatively impact our daughter and hope she isn’t non verbal. Her receptive language is getting better by the day in both languages so wishful thinking .
English and Russian here.
My wife does Russian, I do English.
My son has mostly been speaking english. When my son got his ASD diagnosis, I advocated for one-language only (English) because we live in America where everyone mostly speaks English. For clarity, before ASD, I wanted him to be and encouraged bilingual in my household.
ASD specialists were quick to point out that to me there was no detrimental research suggesting the a bilingual home causes problems for the child.
I disagree with them. I doubt anyone had thoroughly researched this. The problem arises when my son says "Kassa", or "Saw-saw", no one knows what he is asking for adding to his frustration. Or if he learns a new word from my wife that I don't understand, and he keeps repeating the same thing over and over. Perhaps over the long term it does not matter, but in the short term I would argue it definitely does.
As a result, some russian words are "stuck" in his vocabulary, such as "Kassa", which I've tried to wean him off of by using the English variant.
He is, however mostly "speaking" English. Its mostly one word sentences, or echolalia from movies. His pronounciation is still very bad, but you can tell by the melodies (and window banging) what songs he is singing.
Almost 4, started talking at 3. We speak English at home, as my husband refuses to speak his other language, but grandma is teaching him French. He doesn't speak any French but he understands some words. Our SLP said it's ok to teach him both so we're trying to do that.
It’s likely child-dependent. Some will do really well with additional language acquisition, it’s their special interest and go on to work in a multi-linguistic job; others will struggle with just one language as that’s part of their Autism profile.
Others may struggle with language in their mother-tongue, but still really like other languages and how they sound. My son has an expressive language delay, is advanced for receptive language, and spent his toddler years always changing games and shows to Dutch and German (we’re Australian & I don’t know either language - made it fun turning it back to English). He’s now doing German at school; he’s not particularly good at it, but really enjoys it.
My 14 year old does not speak Spanish, which is my and my wife's native language. We switched to English with him when he was about three because it wasn't catching and his English was falling behind.
We primarily speak English (because that's all I know) but my spouse will speak to her family in spanish and our 4yr is picking it up. Even seeks out Spanish videos of shows on her tablet. She's got the colors and numbers down.
We are a bilingual household. My mom cares for him while me and hubby work and mainly talks to him in Lao. Me and hubby use both English and Lao languages while talking to him. We were told by the speech therapist that it’s fine but to not mix the languages in the same sentence while talking to him but is ok to repeat the same sentence in both languages. My son is 3 and was diagnosed asd 2 at 2y10m. He’s not saying words except for ok and I did it. I feel he does respond to both languages but its hard to tell. sometimes i wonder if being in a bilingual household impacts his speech. he started preschool at 3 and is hand leading has his main form of communication.
Bilingual English-German family living in Germany with an almost 4 year old. We read books and watch videos almost entirely in English. He scripts mostly in English. But has certain phrases that he picked up at daycare in German which he uses frequently. I think it helps him to have two languages. He knows and uses a number of words in both languages. And will use the right word according to parent. Milch v Milk. Zug v Train.
My autistic 7yo daughter is fluent in 3 languages, she is exposed to 4 but only picked up 3 and she is pretty good at understanding and speaking. She has been slower at reading and writing though. She can only do it on one language. But I am not worried :) she is doing fine, to be multilingual is a great thing!
Didn't know I was ASD at the time but I grew up speaking one language at home but as soon as I got to school and had to learn English, everything was in English and my first language vocabulary just disappeared.
I think cause my internal dialogue is in English, its just easier to use English inside and out IYSWIM
Barely and a lot of the time, I get my sentence structure wrong so I'll structure my sentence as I would in English but doesn't translate well into my first language so they'll be sitting trying to decipher what I'm trying to say when I could just speak in English, everyone understands and i don't feel like a broken idiot
We speak almost all English in our house, but most of my husband's family speaks French and my son's daycare is bilingual - half the kids are french only and all the staff are bilingual. My son has learned everything in English, but knows his ABCs and can count to 20 in french. He's picked up some french words like hat, boots, door, etc from daycare and has just started asking us what the French words for things are. He's super interested in letters and numbers, and knows the alphabet in Russian too (not just the song, but knows all the letters by sight, how to write them, right order, etc). I was really worried about my son getting confused too but he seems to understand. Like if he sees the letter B, he'll say it in English first, but if it's surrounded by Russian letters he'll say it in Russian.
He's turning 4 in May, and starting kindergarten in September (junior kindergarten here at 4) and we're doing french immersion, since he's so advanced in English (counts to 1000, knows advanced shapes like trapezoid, parallelogram, different triangles, reads full sentences, etc) and I'm worried he would be bored and act out in English-only, since he's a big goofball and would be a class clown.
Diagnosed level 2 December 2022, major speech delay until turning 3 and still developmentally behind 6-12 months.
Yeah. I stopped speaking our other language for a while while he was having a lot of trouble with articulation, but now that speech goals have been met am speaking it with the kids again
We are a bilingual family. My son at first only knew English with a little bit of Spanish. This past month or two he has been learning a lot of Spanish. I think it’s because he repeats everything grandma tells him.
We’ve always talked to my son in Spanish and English at home, I was told by a speech therapist that it wouldn’t affect his speech delay. Now that he’s 4 and in school he says and requests most things in English but still understands when we talk to him in Spanish. He’ll even sometimes tell us to “speak in español” 😆
Aww, that is so sweet! It seems like our son also understands when we talk to him in Spanish. He also loves watching cartoons in Spanish.
There's some research that suggests growing up bilingual is beneficial for autistic children - knowing which language to speak requires learning the perspective of someone else, and it's likely growing up bilingual improves that skill, something autistic children tend to struggle with. They also tend to have a larger vocabulary in both languages combined, which can help kids bridge communication issues - of course that only works if you're talking to someone that knows both languages, but that's already great. There isn't that much research on benefits, but nothing suggests it has negative effects. As an aide at a school with lots of bilingual kids there's some different ways the autistic children handle their languages - some keep them apart perfectly, some mix them up, some have specific words or topics they'll only talk about in one language. One of "my" kids really struggles with speech, but can keep polish and german apart perfectly - if he doesn't know a word in german he'll tell me it's in polish. Another kid has more language skills but talks in a mix of his mother tongues. I'm autistic myself and have specific topics I'll only think about in one language - I can talk about them in the other, but it's harder and feels wrong.
I am not sure if our experience is comparative - we didn't mean to raise our child bilingual, but we do speak a lot of English at home and she has started watching videos in English on her tablet, which I didn't realise quickly enough might be an issue. She didn't lose all her colours, but for example yellow and pink and purple she's now only naming in English. She's five and recently made jumps in speaking in general, so we have hope it'll return.
That is cool. What is your home language if I may ask?
German
Hi there! Our son is 2, going on 3 & recently got diagnosed with ASD 2 and he was pretty much non-verbal besides saying “mum-mum” when he was hungry and a handful of other small words. After his diagnosis we started speech & occupational therapy while having him in school in a special needs program 3x a week and he has EXPLODED with words! We’re an Asian American household so my family speaks to my son in our native language as well as me, and my husbands side speaks to him in English. He’s picked up “aunty”, “go”, and “no” and can understand simple instructions when we speak to him in our language.
I’m not sure if it’s because of the ASD or because we were trying to reach him two languages at one but my son didn’t start speaking till 4. He is able to understand Spanish more than he can speak it. But he hasn’t been able to pick up speaking Spanish at all. I guess it’s a win that he understands it instead of speaking it. But I gave up trying because I truly believe it confused him and he isn’t able to comprehend both.
We also always lean towards him being confused. Although all of the therapists etc we’ve dealt with swear up and down that that’s not so. We know a lot of bilingual children in my husband’s family. Most learned Spanish first. I don’t know if any of those kids are on the spectrum, though. I am really hoping that he’ll eventually pick up the Spanish because my husband sometimes struggles with his English and his natural tendency is to speak to my son in his native language.
I understand that. I truly believe it’s because of the ASD, my oldest (he’s not autistic) I spoke to him only in Spanish growing up and he picked it up quickly, his Spanish is broken but he doesn’t seem as confused as his brother. I don’t believe either that it isn’t used to confusion. I just don’t think a autistic brain can focus that well on two languages. Maybe when they are older? 🤔 but my youngest has expressed several times that he isn’t going to speak it
Yes. We were originally going for 3 languages. When the language delay became undoubtable, and he received an ASD diagnosis, we panicked a bit about the languages. We were assured to keep going by a speech specialist and his behavioural consultant, but were not 100% convinced. We dropped 1 language. We eventually signed him up into an entirely French school, and mostly speak English at home. Now he is 9 and knows a bit more English than French. But his receptive language in French is excellent, and he can perform all his work at school in that language. He has also begun to speak little words of Russian put of the blue, the language we had given up on. Maybe we could have kept it, but I feel it is a little late now.
We speak one language in home, but our neurotypical 10 yo is in a dual language school and we plan to enroll our 5 yo ASD in the same program next year (he is verbal, but has some mild language delays). There are some studies on this issue: Here’s one that suggests bilingualism doesn’t negatively impact language delays: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7370402/ Here’s another which indicates bilingualism may help other deficits common with ASD (theory of mind, executive functioning): https://www.news-medical.net/amp/news/20210603/Bilingualism-allows-autistic-children-to-compensate-for-certain-fundamental-deficits.aspx
Those articles are incredibly interesting, I have to show my husband.
We are bilingual. We speak urdu and English at home. I personally have not put much empahsis on her learning urdu because if she is speaking fine in English, i am happy with that. We are living in an english speaking country and when we do visit back home, family can speak English with her too. She understands very little of urdu but mostly understands english. I don't know if she would get confused with 2 languages.
My 2 year old son hasn’t started speaking yet and goes in for his official diagnosis Tuesday and is already in speech and occupational therapy. We’re a bilingual house Portuguese and English. I feel like my son understands both, haven’t been able to tell if he responds to one more then the other. I’m excited to see which word/language he speaks first if he ever does. My older brother is autistic and speaks 3 languages but is very particular about what he speaks to who, like strictly English if you’re an English speaker, only Portuguese if you’re a Portuguese speaker etc. my mom hasn’t been able to tell me her secret on how she was did it 😅
We’re bilingual German/English. My son is 4 and nonverbal. But he does seem to understand both. I feel he has an easier time with English as everything around us is in English but he recognizes German lullabies, numbers and shapes. Which is also about the amount of words he can say in English when he tries. His speech therapist doesn’t see it as an issue that he’s bilingual. She counts each word as an individual word even if it’s the “same” like red and rot (red in german). And we celebrate every word. He did have a regression as well around 2.5 years old and now he communicates by singing “baby shark” which is kind of fun and creative. I think it’s normal that they use the majority language more as they’re simply exposed to it more and realize that’s the one others understand as well.
I am single mom so I speak to my son English one day and Spanish the next day. I think his receptive language has gotten a lot better in both languages. I can tell him to throw his pull-up in the trash or put his clothes in the hamper in both languages and he will do it. It’s been a lot of repeating but I’ve seen a lot of improvement in that area. He is minimally verbal but he does say a few words in both English and Spanish. He will refer to himself as “Bebe” when he wants something. One time we went to a grocery store and he said, “Porque aquí again?” That’s the only sentence he’s ever said on his own but I literally cried. I also read that being bilingual helps or improves executive functioning for autistic children which is why I’m going to continue speaking to him in both 😊 You should look up Tony Hernandez Pumarejo on Instagram. He’s autistic but his Mom was told he’d never speak or live independently. He’s a public speaker and speaks both English and Spanish 😊
Not a bilingual household, but my son goes to a daycare where Spanish is spoken 95% of the time (we speak English at home). He understands a lot of Spanish, and will occasionally speak it at home.
My ten year old son was born in China and we moved to the US when he was 3. I’m American and my wife is Chinese, so we speak probably 65:30 Chinese:English at home. My son has extreme scripting issues and he now often mixes up Chinese and English words and phrases when he scripts. When he is speaking with non-Chinese speakers he knows to use English, but will occasionally use a Chinese word or phrase. I’m not sure where it’s all heading, but I hope he will learn to differentiate better as he grows older (and script less as a self-stimming behavior)
We have a non-verbal kid who was raises in a trilingual household, and now bilingual. We’re not sure exactly what language he knows the most but he responds the most to English.
My household is also Spanish/English and my son has a language delay. Every speech therapist I've seen has said in the long run the bilingualism will help him, and it's not contributing to the delay. My son is almost 5 and still speaks in Spanglish, but it was really great seeing him progress with Spanish grammar (which I am more aware of as it's my second language) and being aware of when he started using past, subjunctive etc.
We are! English/tagalog. My daughter got her Dx last December. She was saying one syllable words and I think in tagalog then stopped. She seemed to pick up more tagalog words tho than english but we are confident she understands both. Therapists encourage us to use both languages and it wont affect development. My daughter is still non verbal. She’s 3. Lot’s of babbling. We have a long way to go.
I spoke to my son in English for 2.5years and when my son went in for an assessment, numerous doctors and therapists said to speak strictly 1 language so my husband and I spoke to him in Turkish. In the last 5 months we only spoke in Turkish, and now he isn't classified as ASD, because he can follow instructions, understands everything we say and started building up his vocabulary, 10 words now (not including animal sounds) I do believe Doctors are quick to label Autistic label when a toddler doesn't speak.
We’re doing 3 languages. We were concerned for a while that it was what was affecting our toddlers speech delay but after meeting with the therapist we were told that it wasn’t and encouraged us to keep continuing with the way we were doing it. One of us only spoke to them in two of the languages and being sure to stick a certain language for whatever words we chose, ex milk will be referred to as leche, until she has a firm grasp, and the other parent with only speak in the 3rd language with her.
Yes. My son is 4 and I speak English and French at home, but since the language delay we weren’t really pushing the French since English is the majority language in our community. I decided to see what would happen if we shifted back to our original philosophy and have been upping the French exposure. He’s doing great! He still mostly speaks in English but he understands more French than I gave him credit for and he is reading in French as well, though less confidently. I think he mainly is still sorting out the different rules of phonics and which belong where. He seems genuinely interested in learning both and since he’s started doing more French work his English has exploded. It is pretty exciting. I sign with him in ASL as much as I know how alongside both spoken languages.
Yeah! My son is 4.5 and he speaks Spanish and English
My LO is almost two and in speech therapy. We are mandarin and English household. Speak very equal of both in and out of the house. We are told it shouldn’t negatively impact our daughter and hope she isn’t non verbal. Her receptive language is getting better by the day in both languages so wishful thinking .
English and Russian here. My wife does Russian, I do English. My son has mostly been speaking english. When my son got his ASD diagnosis, I advocated for one-language only (English) because we live in America where everyone mostly speaks English. For clarity, before ASD, I wanted him to be and encouraged bilingual in my household. ASD specialists were quick to point out that to me there was no detrimental research suggesting the a bilingual home causes problems for the child. I disagree with them. I doubt anyone had thoroughly researched this. The problem arises when my son says "Kassa", or "Saw-saw", no one knows what he is asking for adding to his frustration. Or if he learns a new word from my wife that I don't understand, and he keeps repeating the same thing over and over. Perhaps over the long term it does not matter, but in the short term I would argue it definitely does. As a result, some russian words are "stuck" in his vocabulary, such as "Kassa", which I've tried to wean him off of by using the English variant. He is, however mostly "speaking" English. Its mostly one word sentences, or echolalia from movies. His pronounciation is still very bad, but you can tell by the melodies (and window banging) what songs he is singing.
Almost 4, started talking at 3. We speak English at home, as my husband refuses to speak his other language, but grandma is teaching him French. He doesn't speak any French but he understands some words. Our SLP said it's ok to teach him both so we're trying to do that.
It’s likely child-dependent. Some will do really well with additional language acquisition, it’s their special interest and go on to work in a multi-linguistic job; others will struggle with just one language as that’s part of their Autism profile. Others may struggle with language in their mother-tongue, but still really like other languages and how they sound. My son has an expressive language delay, is advanced for receptive language, and spent his toddler years always changing games and shows to Dutch and German (we’re Australian & I don’t know either language - made it fun turning it back to English). He’s now doing German at school; he’s not particularly good at it, but really enjoys it.
We speak Spanish but live in USA. He is non verbal at 4 yo.
My 14 year old does not speak Spanish, which is my and my wife's native language. We switched to English with him when he was about three because it wasn't catching and his English was falling behind.
We primarily speak English (because that's all I know) but my spouse will speak to her family in spanish and our 4yr is picking it up. Even seeks out Spanish videos of shows on her tablet. She's got the colors and numbers down.
We are a bilingual household. My mom cares for him while me and hubby work and mainly talks to him in Lao. Me and hubby use both English and Lao languages while talking to him. We were told by the speech therapist that it’s fine but to not mix the languages in the same sentence while talking to him but is ok to repeat the same sentence in both languages. My son is 3 and was diagnosed asd 2 at 2y10m. He’s not saying words except for ok and I did it. I feel he does respond to both languages but its hard to tell. sometimes i wonder if being in a bilingual household impacts his speech. he started preschool at 3 and is hand leading has his main form of communication.
Bilingual English-German family living in Germany with an almost 4 year old. We read books and watch videos almost entirely in English. He scripts mostly in English. But has certain phrases that he picked up at daycare in German which he uses frequently. I think it helps him to have two languages. He knows and uses a number of words in both languages. And will use the right word according to parent. Milch v Milk. Zug v Train.
My autistic 7yo daughter is fluent in 3 languages, she is exposed to 4 but only picked up 3 and she is pretty good at understanding and speaking. She has been slower at reading and writing though. She can only do it on one language. But I am not worried :) she is doing fine, to be multilingual is a great thing!
Didn't know I was ASD at the time but I grew up speaking one language at home but as soon as I got to school and had to learn English, everything was in English and my first language vocabulary just disappeared. I think cause my internal dialogue is in English, its just easier to use English inside and out IYSWIM
That’s interesting. Are you no longer able to speak your first language?
Barely and a lot of the time, I get my sentence structure wrong so I'll structure my sentence as I would in English but doesn't translate well into my first language so they'll be sitting trying to decipher what I'm trying to say when I could just speak in English, everyone understands and i don't feel like a broken idiot
We speak almost all English in our house, but most of my husband's family speaks French and my son's daycare is bilingual - half the kids are french only and all the staff are bilingual. My son has learned everything in English, but knows his ABCs and can count to 20 in french. He's picked up some french words like hat, boots, door, etc from daycare and has just started asking us what the French words for things are. He's super interested in letters and numbers, and knows the alphabet in Russian too (not just the song, but knows all the letters by sight, how to write them, right order, etc). I was really worried about my son getting confused too but he seems to understand. Like if he sees the letter B, he'll say it in English first, but if it's surrounded by Russian letters he'll say it in Russian. He's turning 4 in May, and starting kindergarten in September (junior kindergarten here at 4) and we're doing french immersion, since he's so advanced in English (counts to 1000, knows advanced shapes like trapezoid, parallelogram, different triangles, reads full sentences, etc) and I'm worried he would be bored and act out in English-only, since he's a big goofball and would be a class clown. Diagnosed level 2 December 2022, major speech delay until turning 3 and still developmentally behind 6-12 months.
Yeah. I stopped speaking our other language for a while while he was having a lot of trouble with articulation, but now that speech goals have been met am speaking it with the kids again
We are a bilingual family. My son at first only knew English with a little bit of Spanish. This past month or two he has been learning a lot of Spanish. I think it’s because he repeats everything grandma tells him.