Network
NW 31. Language and Education
Title
Autism in/with Languages in Education: Rethinking Language (Education), Communication and Inclusion
Abstract
Autistic learners increasingly grow up in multilingual environments. While current evidence does not support the assumption that multilingualism harms autistic learners, families, educators and other professionals continue to face uncertainty about language use and support (Gilhuber et al., 2023; Davis et al., 2024). Recent research also challenges narrow understandings of language and communication by drawing attention to non-interactive language learning, neurodiversity, Crip Linguistics and autistic joy (Hindi & Meir, 2026; Henner & Robinson, 2023; Wassell, 2026). The call invites research on multilingual and multimodal repertoires, participation, critical perspectives on assessment and inclusive educational practice.
The Call
Autistic children and young people grow up in multilingual and culturally diverse environments. Across these contexts, they may encounter and use different languages or ways of communicating at home, at school, with friends, in therapy, online and in their communities. Against this backdrop, available research does not support the general assumption that multilingualism is harmful for autistic children (Gilhuber et al., 2023).
Nevertheless, parents report concerns about bilingual exposure and difficult decisions around maintaining family languages (Hampton et al., 2017; Yu, 2013), while speech and language therapists describe uncertainty about how best to advise and support multilingual autistic children and their families (Davis et al., 2024). Recent research also challenges conventional ideas about how languages are learned. This raises an important question: what happens to migration and heritage languages when families are encouraged to use mainly the majority language?
Recent research also points to different pathways into multilingualism. Hindi and Meir (2026), for example, document autistic children who acquired English predominantly through non-interactive input. Similarly, Gagnon et al. (2026) describe early forms of “unexpected bilingualism”, in which autistic children use a language that is not spoken in their family or immediate social environment.
Neurodiversity research also challenges an exclusive focus on individual deficits and directs greater attention to context and autistic perspectives (Pellicano & den Houting, 2022). Crip Linguistics asks why some ways of speaking, communicating and languaging are treated as more legitimate than others (Henner & Robinson, 2023). Translanguaging and trans-semiotizing further draw attention to meaning-making across linguistic, visual, gestural, bodily and other semiotic resources (Lin, 2019). Research on autistic joy opens another question for multilingual education: might multilingual practices themselves become sources of interest, connection and joy (Wassell, 2026)?
The Call also encourages reflection on how autism itself is described and understood across languages and cultural contexts. The contemporary Māori term “takiwātanga”, developed by Keri Opai, refers to being in “one’s own time and space” and reflects a strengths-based approach to disability terminology (Opai, 2022). Research with Māori communities shows that understandings of autism are culturally situated and that Western perspectives continue to shape research, diagnosis and support (Tupou et al., 2021).
These findings raise important questions that are relevant for education:
- What counts as language learning for autistic learners?
- How can we understand scripting, repetition and echolalia across languages?
- What happens to migration and heritage languages when the majority language is prioritized?
- How do monolingual and neurotypical expectations shape assessment and support?
- How can education support autistic learners’ different languages and ways of communicating?
- How does language shape how we understand autism itself?
We welcome theoretical, empirical and methodological contributions on multilingual development, family language practices, educational/institutional participation and belonging, assessment, multimodal communication, media-based language learning, linguistic discrimination, teacher/language education and culturally situated understandings of autism. At its core, the Call asks how education in Europe can better recognize and support the diverse linguistic and communicative repertoires through which autistic learners communicate, learn, participate and build relationships.
Contact Person(s)
Tatjana Atanasoska (tatjana.atanasoska(at)ph-ooe.at)
Erkan Gürsoy (erkan.guersoy(at)uni-due.de)
References
Davis, R., Zaki, F. B. M., & Sargent, L. (2024). Autism and bilingualism: A thematic analysis of practitioner perspectives in the United Kingdom. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 59(1), 205–222. https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12939
Gagnon, D., Ostrolenk, A., & Mottron, L. (2026). Early manifestations of unexpected bilingualism in minimally verbal autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 67(5), 652–662. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.70032
Gilhuber, C. S., Raulston, T. J., & Galley, K. (2023). Language and communication skills in multilingual children on the autism spectrum: A systematic review. Autism, 27(6), 1516–1531. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613221147780
Hampton, S., Rabagliati, H., Sorace, A., & Fletcher-Watson, S. (2017). Autism and bilingualism: A qualitative interview study of parents’ perspectives and experiences. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 60(2), 435–446. https://doi.org/10.1044/2016_JSLHR-L-15-0348
Henner, J., & Robinson, O. (2023). Unsettling languages, unruly bodyminds: A Crip Linguistics manifesto. Journal of Critical Study of Communication and Disability, 1(1), 7–37. https://doi.org/10.18061/jcscd.7119
Hindi, I., & Meir, N. (2026). Different paths to multilingualism in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Naturalistic and non-interactive. Journal of Child Language, 53(2), 343–364. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000924000540
Lin, A. M. Y. (2019). Theories of trans/languaging and trans-semiotizing: Implications for content-based education classrooms. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 22(1), 5–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2018.1515175
Opai, K. (2022). Words have great power: Creating Māori concepts of disability. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 64(10), 1182. https://doi.org/10.1111/dmcn.15266
Pellicano, E., & den Houting, J. (2022). Annual Research Review: Shifting from “normal science” to neurodiversity in autism science. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 63(4), 381–396. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13534
Tupou, J., Curtis, S., Taare-Smith, D., Glasgow, A., & Waddington, H. (2021). Māori and autism: A scoping review. Autism, 25(7), 1844–1858. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613211018649
Wassell, E. (2026). Experiences of autistic joy. Disability & Society, 41(1), 236–261. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2025.2498417
Yu, B. (2013). Issues in bilingualism and heritage language maintenance: Perspectives of minority-language mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 22(1), 10–24. https://doi.org/10.1044/1058-0360(2012/10-0078)