DOES IT MATTER WHICH LANGUAGE(S) YOU USE WITH YOUR FAMILY?

Many parents of autistic children are advised to use only one language when interacting with their child to simplify language acquisition and communication. Meanwhile, many countries have multilingual (social) environments and monolingualism becomes more and more difficult to implement. Previous research suggests that advising parents to monolingualism cannot be scientifically supported and that multilingualism is possibly even beneficial for (autistic) children. Especially regarding family interaction, parent mental health, and cultural transmission some research urges that forcing immigrant parents to omit their mother tongue with their child might be detrimental.

Thus, this research collects data from autistic and neurotypical self-advocates and guardians via an English online questionnaire to analyze how language use relates to family functioning, mental health, quality of life, and social skills. The questionnaire collects data for demographic data, autism diagnosis, social skills, family functioning, mental health, and quality of life. Data will be analysed statistically.

The results of this study aim to help guide stakeholders, families and specialists in language use recommendations and decisions, in hope to facilitate access to childcare, therapies and activities, and social interactions in multilingual societies.

For more information about this study or to participate, please contact us at autisme@uni.lu.