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Description
There is a great need for research on the topic of bilingualism of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), especially in the Hispanic/Latino community, which numerically comprises the largest growing minority group in the United States. Little is known about how young culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children with ASD use their native language(s) and English as their second language. The families for this study were recruited from Imperial Valley in California, a rural community area where 80.6% of the population is of Hispanic/Latino origin and 72.8% speak a Language Other Than English (LOTE). The purpose of this study is twofold: (a) to obtain information about language usage/exposure and challenges faced by parents, teachers, and speech-language pathologists when working with 5- to 6 year-old children with ASD in Imperial Valley; and (b) to analyze information on language usage and exposure between children with ASD and their families in the home. For Study 1, surveys were provided to 9 of the school districts in Imperial Valley. For Study 2, data were collected from six families with children with ASD where both Spanish and English are used in the home. Using LENA analysis software, data from each family was quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed to identify differences related to language usage and exposure among the participants. The quantitative findings obtained from the Study 1 revealed that the majority of parents (61%) reported that they speak more in Spanish as a family at home but their child with ASD (66%) speaks in English at home. Language delay and bilingualism were two of the final categories for challenges identified by parents and education professionals. In Study 2, the quantitative results of the t test used to evaluate the mean of time of the language(s) recorded by the LENA software and the mean of the estimates reported by the parents showed no significant difference. These results confirmed the data obtained in Study 1 expressing that the majority of the families speak more English to their child with ASD at home. The qualitative results showed that parents usually communicate with their 5-to 6-year-old child with ASD when providing instructions.
