Multilingual Development in Children with Autism: Perspectives of South Asian Muslim Immigrant Parents on Raising a Child with a Communicative Disorder in Multilingual Contexts

Abstract

This study examined the perceptions of three Muslim families on multilingual development in their children with autism. Findings indicate that the families' goal of maintaining normalcy in their children's life could not be attained without immersion in multiple languages. They believe that immersion in multilingual contexts helped their children acquire and expand their linguistic repertoire and enriched their familial and social relationships. Parents experienced hardships with professionals in receiving support in maintaining native-language use at home. Children who demonstrated language impairments during initial ethnographic observations showed significant progress in their multiple-language development toward the end of the study.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This study was partially supported by the graduate school and the Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. The author would like to thank the families who participated in this research.