Yes, Neurodivergent Children Can Be Multilingual!

Neurodivergence is a widely discussed topic today, and efforts are underway to adapt social and educational environments – traditionally designed for neurotypical children – to be more inclusive. One of the key goals of inclusive education is to adjust tasks and activities so that neurodivergent children can fully participate. However, embracing neurodiversity goes beyond accommodation; it means accepting, celebrating, and supporting neurodivergent children as they are. Their differences are part of natural human variation and do not need to be fixed or changed.

Who are neurodivergent kids?

Neurodivergence refers to people who process information in a way that is not typical for their age. About 1 in 5 children have variations in their brain development. These variations include those seen in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), developmental language disorders (DLD) and learning disorders such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia.

Early diagnosis of neurodivergence is not always easy to make and it partly depends on the place where you live. In France, for example, dyslexia and ADHD assessments are generally carried out around the age of 7, but early signs can be seen as early as 3 years old. In Italy, autism can be roughly detected as early as 18 months old, but diagnosis is officially made from around 3-4 years old, while in the UK the average age of assessment is around the age of 5. DLD assessments are generally made around 5 years old, even though some signs of it can be recognizable before that age.

When multilingual parents suspect their child might be neurodivergent, they often worry that speaking two or more languages could negatively affect language development. While many neurodivergent profiles involve challenges with language or learning, research in recent decades has explored whether growing up with multiple languages could be harmful, and the evidence increasingly suggests it is not.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

Language acquisition is generally challenging for autistic children. But recent studies show that multilingualism does not harm the development of autistic children. A recent study (Petersen et al., 2012) found that bilingual autistic children had similar English vocabulary to monolingual peers. Another study (Ohashi et al., 2012) found that multilingualism does not hinder social or pragmatic skills.

In fact, multilingualism may even provide some cognitive benefits. Autistic children growing up with two languages demonstrate better inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and perspective-taking, which are key skills for social interaction (Romero et al., 2024). For multilingual families, using the heritage language also helps maintain family connections and prevents social isolation of autistic children.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Weaknesses in executive function have consistently been associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), whereas bilinguals have often been found to demonstrate advantages in executive functioning. Although some research has explored how bilingualism affects cognitive skills and behavior in individuals with attention deficits, the question remains far from settled.

Both bilingualism and ADHD are generally linked to weaker vocabulary knowledge. However, they tend to have opposite effects on executive control. ADHD appears to interfere more with executive functioning in bilinguals than in monolinguals, suggesting a greater cognitive burden for bilingual individuals with ADHD (Bialystok et al., 2017). Bilingualism may pose an additional challenge for adults with ADHD, potentially leading to reduced executive functioning (Mor, Yitzhaki-Amsalem, & Prior, 2015).

Recent studies have shown no clear negative effects of bilingualism on children with ADHD, though researchers acknowledge that further investigation is needed to determine which, if any, aspects of bilingualism contribute to individual variability (Sharma et al., 2022).

The limited number of available studies offers no consistent evidence that bilingualism either alleviates or worsens attention-related difficulties in adults or children with ADHD. Given the current state of research, individuals with ADHD and their families should not be concerned that learning multiple languages negatively impacts cognitive functioning or performance (Köder et al., 2022).

Development Language Disorders (DLD) & Dyslexia

A child with DLD manifests difficulties both in comprehension and in production of complex syntactic structures, with weaker phonological, morphological and lexical skills (Leonard, 2014). To date, there is no evidence that multilingualism may worsen DLD difficulties in acquiring languages. Bilinguals with DLD do not have difficulties separating languages and do not show confusion (Gutiérrez-Clellen, Simon-Cereijido, Wagner, 2008). Bilingual children with DLD show difficulties in both languages. Those difficulties are manifested in different ways depending on the language. For example, Italian DLD children have problems mastering pronouns also around the age of 5-6 (Bortolini et al., 2006). A DLD child would answer to the question “cosa fa la bambina al nonno?” (what does the girl do to the grandfather?) “bacia” (she kisses) or “bacia il nonno” (she kisses the grandfather) just to avoid the use of the pronoun “lo” (him). Instead, English DLD children do have more problems to master verb inflections. For example, they may say “she sing” instead of “she sings”.

One in ten people are dyslexic, and dyslexia is considered the most common of all neurodevelopmental disorders. For both DLD and dyslexia, more and more studies show that bilingualism doesn’t exacerbate speech and the learning disorder. On the contrary, some research suggests that bilingualism can be beneficial by promoting compensatory strategies that support language learning.

Does Bilingualism Harm Neurodivergence? NO!

Studies show that depriving a neurodivergent child of one of their languages does not negatively affect their majority language. On the contrary, the psychological consequences of depriving a child of their mother or father tongue could impact all the family harmony. Growing up with two or more languages may not only offer cognitive advantages such as improved flexibility in thinking, but also social benefits, such as stronger family and extended family bonds and cultural connections with the parent’s country of origin.

Multilingualism is not a risk factor for neurodivergent children. With appropriate support, they can thrive in multilingual environments just like neurotypical children.

Brief conclusions

• Yes, neurodivergent children can absolutely learn two or more languages. Research over the past two decades has consistently shown that being neurodivergent does not prevent a child from becoming bilingual or multilingual.
• Neurodivergent children may experience delays or differences in language development, but these are related to their neurodevelopmental condition, not to the number of languages they are exposed to.
• What’s most important is consistent and rich exposure to both (or all) languages, as well as tailored support that respects the child’s learning profile.
• Parents and educators should not feel pressured to drop a home language. Maintaining it is often crucial for family connection and emotional wellbeing.

Bibliography:

Bialystok, Ellen, et al. “Interaction of bilingualism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in young adults.” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 20.3 (2017): 588-601.

Bortolini, Umberta, et al. “Clinical markers for specific language impairment in Italian: the contribution of clitics and non‐word repetition.” International journal of language & communication disorders 41.6 (2006): 695-712.

Gutiérrez-Clellen, Vera F., Gabriela Simon-Cereijido, and Christine Wagner. “Bilingual children with language impairment: A comparison with monolinguals and second language learners.” Applied psycholinguistics 29.1 (2008): 3-19.

Köder, Franziska, et al. “The effects of bilingualism on cognition and behaviour in individuals with attention deficits: A scoping review.” Frontiers in Psychology 13 (2022): 1057501.

Leonard, Laurence B. “Children with specific language impairment and their contribution to the study of language development.” Journal of child language 41.S1 (2014): 38-47.

Mor, Billy, Sarin Yitzhaki-Amsalem, and Anat Prior. “The joint effect of bilingualism and ADHD on executive functions.” Journal of attention disorders 19.6 (2015): 527-541.

Ohashi, J. Kaori, et al. “Comparing early language development in monolingual-and bilingual-exposed young children with autism spectrum disorders.” Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders 6.2 (2012): 890-897.

Raineri, Alessia. Un bambino multilingue. Studio longitudinale sull’acquisizione dell’italiano, del neerlandese e del francese di un bambino dislessico a contatto con più di tre lingue dalla nascita. Diss. University of Zurich, 2023.

Romero, Celia, et al. “Multilingualism impacts children’s executive function and core autism symptoms.” Autism research 17.12 (2024): 2645-2661.

Sharma, Curtis JM, Napoleon Katsos, and Jenny L. Gibson. “Associations between bilingualism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-related behavior in a community sample of primary school children.” Applied psycholinguistics 43.3 (2022): 707-725.

Petersen, Jill M., Stefka H. Marinova-Todd, and Pat Mirenda. “Brief report: An exploratory study of lexical skills in bilingual children with autism spectrum disorder.” Journal of autism and Developmental Disorders 42 (2012): 1499-1503.

We invite you to watch the interview with Alessia Raineri PhD, about Developmental Language Disorders and Dyslexia in Multilingual Children: