TY - JOUR

T1 - Brief Report

T2 - Unexpected Bilingualism: A Case of a Russian Child With ASD

AU - Zhukova, Marina A.

AU - Talantseva, Oksana I.

AU - An, Iuliia

AU - Grigorenko, Elena L.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

PY - 2021/7/8

Y1 - 2021/7/8

N2 - Some children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) demonstrate unusual islets of abilities or “splinter skills” that represent relative strengths in their development. In this paper we present a clinical case of an 11-year-old Russian boy with ASD who spontaneously acquired the English language. While the child demonstrated language deficits in both English and Russian, the discrepancy between the languages was paradoxical given the lack of exposure to English language. This case study brings into question the importance of a language environment for children with ASD. Alternative pathway to language acquisition is discussed. We hypothesize that that incidental second language acquisition in children with ASD resulting from media exposure could become more frequent with the availability of the Internet.

AB - Some children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) demonstrate unusual islets of abilities or “splinter skills” that represent relative strengths in their development. In this paper we present a clinical case of an 11-year-old Russian boy with ASD who spontaneously acquired the English language. While the child demonstrated language deficits in both English and Russian, the discrepancy between the languages was paradoxical given the lack of exposure to English language. This case study brings into question the importance of a language environment for children with ASD. Alternative pathway to language acquisition is discussed. We hypothesize that that incidental second language acquisition in children with ASD resulting from media exposure could become more frequent with the availability of the Internet.

KW - ASD

KW - Bilingualism

KW - Incidental language acquisition

KW - Splinter skills

KW - LANGUAGE

KW - AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

KW - ARACHNOID CYST

KW - MEDIA

KW - YOUNG-CHILDREN

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85109821461&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/9051a1f7-16d3-3037-8d05-55777883ee5a/

U2 - 10.1007/s10803-021-05161-y

DO - 10.1007/s10803-021-05161-y

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85109821461

JO - Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

JF - Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

SN - 0162-3257

ER -