Autism and bilingual socialisation: parents’ perspectives and youth language practices in three bilingual (Japanese–English) families

ABSTRACT

This study of three bilingual families with autistic children in the U.S. examines parents’ perspectives on bilingual socialisation and analyzes language practices in everyday family interactions. When their children were diagnosed with autism in early childhood, parents in all three families were advised by professionals to speak exclusively in English at home. One set of parents attempted to adhere to the clinician recommendation, while the other two families disregarded this advice. Data collection for this study included questionnaires, open-ended interviews, and 30–32 h of naturally occurring interactions per family. The study employs discourse analysis to explore parents’ stances toward the monolingual recommendation, their discussions about past decisions, and their assessments of their present-day, adolescent children’s language practices. The micro-analytic study of the organisation of family interactions provides a supplemental perspective and highlights the agency of the autistic youth in navigating bilingual conversations. The findings reveal the tensions between institutional and family language policies and detail how youth draw from their respective linguistic repertoires in everyday interactions.

KEYWORDS:

• Autism
• bilingualism
• family language policy
• youth
• socialisation

Acknowledgements

I am deeply grateful to the families who participated in this study. I would also like to thank Ema Parker and Mayumi Hiraku, two student research assistants at California State University, Long Beach, for their feedback on transcription and translation. Any remaining errors are my own. This study was supported in part through Research, Scholarly, and Creativity Activities (RSCA) reassigned time awards from California State University, Long Beach.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).