• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

Are many autistic people prevented from learning another language?

Aeolienne

Aeolienne

Well-Known Member
This description of one of the events at the recent British Science Festival got me thinking (emphasis added):

Autistic people & the languages nobody knows they speak​


Did you know that half the world’s population is bilingual? However, reports have shown that many autistic people are prevented from learning another language because of misconceptions that it will be “too much” for them. This is denying them access to multiple skills and opportunities, and the chance to enjoy the thinking skills and social benefits of bilingualism.

In this year’s Social Sciences Award Lecture, Bérengère Digard from the University of Edinburgh explains why these misconceptions are incorrect. Bérengère will share how being bilingual has helped many of the autistic people she works with, shaping their thinking skills and challenging the current theories of autism.

Original link

Is this really true?
 
Last edited:
I don't think it's true. Many autistics I've talked to online have expressed interest in learning another language and successfully have learnt to speak other languages.

I have always struggled at learning a language but I always thought it was due to ADHD and mild learning difficulties (lacking patience and struggling to grasp and memorise other languages).
 
I'm unilingual but I always say it's because of where I'm from

Growing up in western Canada and the vast geography here, I really only had to know one language, English of course...

There is very little French spoken here, even though it is one of our official languages in Canada... Other parts of the world where different people groups live much closer to each other people usually know more than one language... It's common for Europeans to know different languages because it's a small continent (relative to North America) and they are far more likely to interact with different cultural groups...

In short, I didn't feel held back from learning another language
 
As a kid I would randomly use French phrases or words I had learned in school or Canadian Sesame Street, and absolutely no clue that most English-speaking people in Canada hate that. I must have sounded so stupid and annoying and it fills me with cringe. I had zero clue about Canadian society and attitude in general until I was around 13 and heard my grandfather complaining constantly about Quebec people. And then there was the whole separation thing.
 
I'm bilingual. Could have done more maybe but I was always hampered by a fear of saying the wrong thing. At the time I cursed my stupid pride, but now know better, of course
 
My second language was German. In college I dabbled with Russian, but my academic load was too much to continue with it. I learned American Sign Language while I was in the Air Force, and served as an interpreter. I also created a language for a science fiction book I wrote.

Offhand, I would say autistic people can learn other languages.
 
I'd like to start my response by recognizing that the membership of this community is skewed towards those who received an adult diagnosis, and so the responses here likely reflect a set of experiences that may differ from what the writer/speaker is describing, which is almost certainly drawn from those who received their diagnosis early enough that they spent most of their primary and secondary education with a label.

Having a label assigned early can be good and bad.

The good is that you're aware of where you may face (more) challenges and may benefit significantly from programs and services that may assist you in overcoming them. Some teachers, assistants and classmates may be sympathetic and helpful.

The bad is that everyone else knows and may make assumptions about the extent of your abilities. This may result in some teachers, assistants, and classmates making erroneous assumptions (based on someone else, or just overall) about one's abilities. If those assumptions involve perceiving lesser abilities, they may very much end up holding the child back from things that they may think, in genuine, but misguided belief, to be too much for the student.

These erroneous assumptions may also arise in the autistic person themselves - when facing a challenge, they may end up, due to learned helplessness, more easily give up thinking that they can't do it, when in fact the challenge is one that most people will eventually get through, with perseverance.

I've also covered some of my thoughts in this book review:

https://www.autismforums.com/threads/the-loving-push.45084/#post-1020654

That brings me to the second part, about the benefit of languages.

I think it's well established that languages are much easier to learn as a child, and when one is regularly exposed to them. I recall reading a study noting that in Europe, English language skills tend to be stronger in areas where television channels regularly show non-dubbed English language programs.

The beauty of languages is that to understand one means not only to understand the words, but a different culture and way of thinking.

And the more languages one learns, the more connections they can see as well - in how ideas are constructed, in how people may approach things, the world, and one another.

Consider

* How many languages use "good day" as a standard greeting?

* How are the days of the week and the months of the year named in different languages?

* How many words does a given language have for a certain thing/idea?

* How does a given language introduce new ideas and concepts (including loanwords)?


And so to learn languages is a beautiful thing, and one which can bring many benefits, including different ways of thinking and living. And if someone is arbitrarily denied the opportunity to learn a second or further language as a child (and especially in a place where English is the default language, e.g. UK, US, CA, AU, NZ), then that may result very much in real losses for that child (and future adult), and for society as well.
 
Last edited:
I might add that my dad was Russian, but being married to a British wife (they met here in Alberta), only English was spoken in our house... So he never taught me or any of my other siblings the Russian language...
 
I think this is the part where they should have stated the level of ASD. It might be very true of more severe cases like ASD2 and ASD3. But don`t think very many people with ASD1 do not know a second language. Most americans with probably learn spanish, Most brits will probably learn French. Most none english european countries teach English, French or German.
I myself speak Dutch, English at a pretty decent level but because of dyslexia writing is a little more difficult. I understand German but cannot speak it very well. And I was thought French in school, but since the language makes my skin crawl I forgot everything I know about it as soon as my classes were done.
 
With my autism, language becomes a special interest. I hyperfocus, and learn a rudimentary form of communication in about a year. But if I have no one to practice it with, it all goes away rather quickly. And within another year or two, I've forgotten most of the vocabulary. I might retain a few phrases and simple words, but most of it just goes out the window.

In my life, I've learned Spanish, German, and Swedish. I also studied Russian spoken and cyrillic text. I've even studied Sanskrit and Hebrew. And i've forgotten nearly every word and phrase in all the languages.
 
Last edited:
This is going to sound like crunchy hippie new agey stuff, but there is another language I speak.

When I'm out in nature, I can make animals feel sort of safe with me. I know the right way to move, look, and to speak. They really like rhythmic soft whispery songs.

I know how to keep an owl's attention, and to try to keep the does from running away.

I grew up in the desert, and my family broke wild horses. There's a whole language in the wordless fashion of gaining the trust and love of a wild creature. A softness, a lowering of the head, a lowering of the ego.

There is a language in the way one walks in rattlesnake country.

There is a language in the land too. You see one type of grass growing and you know that if in the sunshiney place, one plant grows wild, then in the shadowy place, there is a high likelihood that another plant will be there. And if there are certain trees and low plants that grow in abundance, and that have a certain hue, you know there's water nearby.

Certain trees are homes to certain raptors. They are smart. And they remember you.

I don't know how to put all this without sounding hippie dippy. But it's true. And it's been how I've lived since I was small, and it's how I've tried to teach my daughter too.
 
We don't really have a choice here, everyone has to learn English in school. That starts in primary school, easier to learn language while very young, and then many learn another one in middle school, usually French, German or Spanish. It makes sense, if we only learned Norwegian it would be a little limiting. Most of the world do not speak that so learning at least English makes things easier. I was lucky and learning languages was easy.
 
Last edited:
VictorR said:
I'd like to start my response by recognizing that the membership of this community is skewed towards those who received an adult diagnosis, and so the responses here likely reflect a set of experiences that may differ from what the writer/speaker is describing, which is almost certainly drawn from those who received their diagnosis early enough that they spent most of their primary and secondary education with a label.

Having a label assigned early can be good and bad.

The good is that you're aware of where you may face (more) challenges and may benefit significantly from programs and services that may assist you in overcoming them. Some teachers, assistants and classmates may be sympathetic and helpful.
Click to expand...
Haha, not true for me. I know I would have been much better off socially without a label.
But I won't derail this thread.
 
Aeolienne said:
This description of one of the events at the recent British Science Festival got me thinking (emphasis added):

Autistic people & the languages nobody knows they speak​


Did you know that half the world’s population is bilingual? However, reports have shown that many autistic people are prevented from learning another language because of misconceptions that it will be “too much” for them. This is denying them access to multiple skills and opportunities, and the chance to enjoy the thinking skills and social benefits of bilingualism.

In this year’s Social Sciences Award Lecture, Bérengère Digard from the University of Edinburgh explains why these misconceptions are incorrect. Bérengère will share how being bilingual has helped many of the autistic people she works with, shaping their thinking skills and challenging the current theories of autism.

Original link

Is this really true?
Click to expand...

I love to learn different languages but haunted by an experience when learning French in my teens/Early 20's.:eek::eek:

I had learnt French so well in a short period of time that I completely forgotten English.

It was as if my brain had an ultimatum switch. English or Another Language? Not Both!! It took awhile for my brain to switch back to English and it was the most scariest thing ever!! Being trapped in my body that used to speak English but speaking French, with no one to understand me was scary.:sob::sob:

Being diagnosed with Autism at age 42, it all makes sense to me now. I spoke to my sister in Nigeria and she said that she has the same problem. We can mimic bits and pieces of other languages i.e read/listen/understand but if we put our wholesoul into it, it triggers the ultimatum switch.

I need a brain 'language switch upgrade' to handle all languages. Any available in the market, eBay, Amazon, temu, etc.?:tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy:
 
Last edited:
Aeolienne said:
This description of one of the events at the recent British Science Festival got me thinking (emphasis added):

Autistic people & the languages nobody knows they speak​


Did you know that half the world’s population is bilingual? However, reports have shown that many autistic people are prevented from learning another language because of misconceptions that it will be “too much” for them. This is denying them access to multiple skills and opportunities, and the chance to enjoy the thinking skills and social benefits of bilingualism.

In this year’s Social Sciences Award Lecture, Bérengère Digard from the University of Edinburgh explains why these misconceptions are incorrect. Bérengère will share how being bilingual has helped many of the autistic people she works with, shaping their thinking skills and challenging the current theories of autism.

Original link

Is this really true?
Click to expand...
I suspect this is the report that it was referring to: Autistic People's Access to Bilingualism and Additional Language Learning: Identifying the Barriers and Facilitators for Equal Opportunities

Quote: "...Yet parents of autistic children remain concerned that bilingualism will cause delays in both cognitive and language development and are still frequently advised by practitioners to raise their child monolingually...."
"...Many (educators) reported not recommending bilingualism for all autistic children, and this was predominantly based on the child's language abilities and autism profile. Educators believed that children with “high functioning autism” could choose the language they wanted to speak, but that for most autistic children bilingualism “is not helpful,” with potential confusion emerging as a major concern. Additionally, educators reported difficulty in effectively assessing and identifying the needs of autistic bilingual pupils...."
In summary, this article describes the misconceptions of both the family and educators with regards to the intellectual limitations associated with autism. It then proposes the potential benefits of bilingualism and solutions for families and educators in this regard.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Threads

Top Bottom