Cristina Mellado
El bilingüismo puede proporcionar numerosos beneficios cognitivos, pero los niños con trastorno del espectro autista (TEA) pueden tener dificultades en el uso del lenguaje debido a la afectación de áreas cerebrales específicas. Sin embargo, algunos niños con TEA tienen menor afectación del lenguaje y cognición, lo que significa que podrían beneficiarse del bilingüismo. Este estudio pretende evaluar si niños bilingües con TEA tienen mejorías cognitivas específicas en comparación con niños monolingües con TEA y niños bilingües con desarrollo típico, para validar o no la hipótesis principal y proponer un enfoque de investigación sobre el uso del bilingüismo en esta población.
Bilingualism is a phenomenon known as the ability to speak two languages fluently for communication. This skill has been shown to bring a number of cognitive benefits, especially in the area of the prefrontal cortex, where executive functions (EF) and language functions are located. However, children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have difficulties in using language due to the involvement of these brain areas. Within the ASD spectrum, there are different profiles ranging from mild to verysevere impairment, which is why some children with ASD have less impairment in language and cognition, meaning that they could benefit from bilingualism to enhance these skills. Therefore, this study aims to assess whether bilingual children with ASD (ASD-B) have specific cognitive improvements in language use and cognitive skills in comparison with monolingual children with ASD (ASD-M) and typically developing bilingual children (TD-B). The aim is to validate or not the main hypothesis and to propose a research approach on how bilingualism could be beneficial for this population.