When two spectrums meet: a preliminary glance at the interaction between multilingualism and autism in an adult population

This study was set up to investigate the relationship multilingualism shares with traits such as empathy and systemising, in a cohort of autistic adults. Empathy and systemising were measured using the Empathy Quotient (EQ) and Systemising Quotient (SQ). Other studies have found there to be a significant relationship between empathy and multilingualism in non-autistic adults whereby higher levels of multilingualism corresponded with better empathy; no studies have so far investigated the relationship between systemising and multilingualism. Other hypothesises that were tested in this study included whether autistic adults who had lived abroad had better EQ scores than autistic adults who had only lived in one country and whether linguistic developmental issues, such as speech delay, could predict multilingual attainment. The data for this study was collected using an online survey that was made easily accessible via an URL link. Fifty- three people completed the survey and only four of them had to be excluded, due to either not being actually eligible to take part or because they were found to be outliers during the analysis. Overall, the results found no significant relationship between empathy and systemising in multilingual autistic adults. What the findings did show, however, was that the more countries a participant reported having lived the higher empathy scores were. It was also found that early stage developmental issues with language did not predict multilingual attainment of participants. The last two findings have very interesting implications for families raising autistic children, as these families are often counselled that monolingualism and monoculturalism are the best way forward. The main conclusion of this study is that being exposed to multiple diverse cultural environments and therefore more opportunities for diverse linguistic experiences has a positive effect on an autistic person’s outcome. It is also suggested that early difficulties with language should not become a barrier for multilingual attainment. Finally, this study advises that more qualitative research on the experience of multilingualism and growing up with multiple cultures needs to be conducted in order for there to be more knowledge available on the true diversity of the autism spectrum.