'Mind the Kids': an ACAMH podcast · The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Mind the Kids -When language surprises: unexpected bilingualism in autism

·46 min·1 clip

Art Tebbs opens the conversation with a question that sounds almost backwards. He asks how autistic children can spontaneously use language they do not hear at home or in their wider social circles. Dr Alexia Ostrilenk and David Gognon join him to unpack that finding in a JCPB paper and the questions behind it. They explain that they were looking at minimally verbal autistic children aged two to six, a stage where language is still emerging. Earlier work had shown that interest in letters, numbers, and alphabet-singing appears early, often before age three. With that in mind, the study looked for unexpected bilingualism in the children’s limited vocabulary, not just ordinary speech delay. The researchers also point to unexpected bilingualism in fully speaking children as a useful comparison. Their sample found that more than 30 percent of autistic children showed this unexpected language use, and for some children the language was not spoken by their parents at all. That rate was more than twice what they observed in non-autistic children. The episode stays close to the paper and what it suggests about language acquisition and social interaction in autism. The episode invites listeners to leave comments, reviews, and suggestions and to use a free ACAM Learn account for CPD or CME certificates. Next week, the show moves on to a new topic at the Max Planck Institute of Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands.

As heard by us

A careful look at a surprising finding, with enough caveats to keep it honest.

This episode follows a careful interview around a finding that sounds improbable at first: some autistic children can use letters, numbers, or even a language not spoken at home or in their social circles.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

For when language in autism refuses to stay ordinary.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from 'Mind the Kids': an ACAMH podcast