“Tengo que habla español. Yo no entiendo ingles!”: A qualitative case study on a bilingual child with Autism Spectrum

Language differences in children with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) often lead professionals to believe that children with ASC cannot or should not become bilingual, thus advising parents with a child with ASC raised in a bilingual household to adhere to English only. Emerging studies, however, attest that children with ASC can become bilingual, and that there are no language differences between bilingual and monolingual children with ASC. Although these findings are promising, very few studies investigated external factors, such as cultural expectations, school practices and other pertinent factors involved in raising and educating children with ASC bilingually. Drawing from video-and audio-taped data from spontaneous interactions among family members, interviews and field notes, this qualitative case study describes one family’s cultural beliefs and practices that influenced raising their child with ASC bilingually. Implications for educators and other professionals are also described