Browsing by Person "Fletcher-Watson, Sue"

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Autistic people's access to bilingualism and additional language learning: Identifying the barriers and facilitators for equal opportunities
(Frontiers, 2021-09-22) Davis, Rachael; Fletcher-Watson, Sue; Digard, Bérengère G.; Pearson, Amy
Bilingualism is a valuable tool that enriches and facilitates cultural, social and lived experiences for autistic and non-autistic people alike. Research consistently finds no negative effects of bilingualism and highlights the potential for positive effects across cognitive and socio-cultural domains for autistic and non-autistic children. Yet parents of autistic children remain concerned that bilingualism will cause delays in both cognitive and language development and are still frequently advised by practitioners to raise their child monolingually. Evidently, findings from research are not reflected in practice or subsequent advice, and it is essential to identify ways to ensure equal access to additional language learning. We briefly summarise the existing literature on bilingualism and autism, considering perspectives from the bilingual autistic community, and experimental research. We identify the most pertinent barriers to participation for autistic bilingual children in terms of familial, clinical and educational perspectives. We propose novel solutions to promote additional language learning and suggest changes to practice that will contribute to an evidence base for families and practitioners. This commentary makes innovative recommendations at both the individual and societal level to ensure that autistic bilingual people have equal rights and opportunities to language learning and are optimally supported in accessing them.
Helping Autistic Children
(Wiley-Blackwell, 2022-03-18) Davis, Rachael; den Houting, Jacquiline; Nordahl-Hansen, Anders; Fletcher-Watson, Sue; Smith, Peter K.; Hart, Craig H.
Given the emphasis on social and communication difficulties in the diagnostic criteria of autism, and the pivotal role they play in development generally, these domains are commonly key targets for autism interventions. This chapter provides an overview of different types of traditional social interventions, and evaluate their effectiveness and validity. It also presents some of the possible risks associated with such interventions, and suggests a number of means for autistic children to develop social and communication capacities on their own terms, in both family and educational settings. There are well-established racial disparities in autism diagnosis: Black and Hispanic children have historically been less likely to receive an autism diagnosis, compared to White children. The chapter concludes by considering some other factors essential for understanding the social development of autistic children in context, and informing development and delivery of supports.
Measuring the impact of bilingualism on executive functioning via inhibitory control abilities in autistic children
(Springer, 2021-08-18) Montgomery, Lewis; Chondrogianni, Vicky; Fletcher-Watson, Sue; Rabagliati, Hugh; Sorace, Antonella; Davis, Rachael
One factor that may influence how executive functions develop is exposure to more than one language in childhood. This study explored the impact of bilingualism on inhibitory control in autistic (n = 38) and non-autistic children (n = 51). Bilingualism was measured on a continuum of exposure to investigate the effects of language environment on two facets of inhibitory control. Behavioural control of motor impulses was modulated positively through increased bilingual exposure, irrespective of diagnostic status, but bilingual exposure did not significantly affect inhibition involving visual attention. The results partially support the hypothesis that bilingual exposure differentially affects components of inhibitory control and provides important evidence for families that bilingualism is not detrimental to their development.
Measuring the relationship between bilingual exposure and social attentional preferences in autistic children
(MDPI, 2023-01-16) Davis, Rachael; Montgomery, Lewis; Rabagliati, Hugh; Sorace, Antonella; Fletcher-Watson, Sue
Background: Autistic children show reduced attentional preferences to social stimuli early in development, and these differences have consequences on a range of social domains. One factor that could influence development in those processes is bilingualism. Parents and practitioners frequently have unfounded concerns that bilingualism could cause delays in autistic children, yet there is little evidence to dispute this idea. While there are studies focusing on the impact of bilingualism on cognition in autistic children, no research has focused on the relationship between bilingualism and social attention. Aims: This study therefore investigated the impact of bilingual exposure on social attention in autistic (n=33) and neurotypical children (n=42) aged 6-13 years. Rather than a monolingual/bilingual comparison, participants had varying degrees of bilingual exposure, and exposure was treated as a continuous variable. Participants completed an eye-tracking task measuring visual attention to interacting versus non-interacting human figures. Results: Bilingual exposure did not affect dwell time to interacting or non-interacting figures for the neurotypical or autistic groups. However, there was a 3-way interaction between diagnosis, figure type and vocabulary scores on dwell time. Conclusions: Higher vocabulary scores in neurotypical participants was associated with significantly less dwell time to non-interacting stimuli. This is the first study to assess the effects of bilingualism on social attention; here, concerns of bilingualism are not upheld.
Social gaze in preterm infants may act as an early indicator of atypical lateralisation
(The Society for Research in Child Development, 2022-02-03) Davis, Rachael; Donati, Georgina; Finnegan, Kier; Boardman, James P.; Dean, Bethan; Fletcher-Watson, Sue; Forrester, Gillian S.
Visual field biases have been identified as markers of atypical lateralisation in children with developmental conditions, but this is the first investigation to consider early lateralised gaze behaviours for social stimuli in preterm infants. Eyetracking methods with 51 preterm (33 male, 92.1% White) and 61 term-born (31 male, 90.1% White) infants aged 8-10 months from Edinburgh, UK, captured the development of visual field biases, comparing gaze behaviour to social and non-social stimuli on the left versus right of the screen. Preterm infants showed a significantly reduced interest to social stimuli on the left versus right compared to term children (d =.58). Preterm children exhibit early differential orienting preferences that may be an early indicator of atypical lateralised function.
“The Languages That You Know Draw the Boundary of Your World”: A Thematic Analysis of the Experiences of Autistic Bilingual Adults Living in the United Kingdom
(Mary Ann Liebert Inc, 2022-08-22) Digard, Bérengère G.; Davis, Rachael; Stanfield, Andrew; Sorace, Antonella; Fletcher-Watson, Sue
Why study bilingualism in autistic people?
(SAGE, 2022-09-15) Davis, Rachael; Hampton, Sarah C; Fletcher-Watson, Sue