Effects of bilingualism on executive function of children with neurodevelopmental disorders : a scoping review

Abstract

Background: Children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) commonly experience executive function (EF) impairments that impact daily life and academics. While bilingualism has generally been associated with cognitive advantages in typically developing (TD) children, its relationship with EF in children with NDDs remains unclear and represents a critical knowledge gap for families and clinicians considering bilingual exposure in these populations. Methods: For this scoping review, we searched PubMed, ProQuest, CogNet, PsycINFO, Scopus, ERIC, Embase, CINAHL, Linguistics Abstracts Online, and Google Scholar for studies published between database inception and December 2024, without language restrictions. We included quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies that (i) involved participants aged 4–12 years with diagnosed NDDs; (ii) examined children with bilingual language exposure; (iii) employed validated instruments for measuring cognitive or executive function; (iv) presented original empirical findings; and (v) were published in English. We excluded studies lacking comparisons between groups and longitudinal studies. Data on study characteristics, participants, EF assessments, and main findings were extracted. This study is registered with OSF Registries. Findings: Fifteen cross-sectional studies met the inclusion criteria, all of which focused exclusively on children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with no studies examining other NDDs. The studies involved 982 children with ASD (463 monolingual; 404 bilingual) and 644 TD children. Most studies (n = 11) revealed that, compared with monolingual children with ASD, bilingual children with ASD demonstrated advantages in working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control on performance-based tasks. However, findings were inconsistent for spatial inhibition tasks, and parent-reported measures sometimes failed to detect bilingual-related differences. Interpretation: Bilingualism is associated with specific EF benefits for children with ASD, adding to evidence that questions longstanding concerns about the negative impacts of bilingual exposure in NDD populations. The evidence suggests that bilingual exposure could potentially serve as a complementary approach to traditional interventions for addressing EF impairments in children with ASD, although this evidence is limited to cross-sectional designs and requires further studies. However, the exclusive focus on ASD limits generalisability across the broader spectrum of NDDs. Further research is needed across diverse NDD populations employing comprehensive, multi-method EF assessments that combine performance-based tasks with parent-reported measures to better inform parenting, clinical, and educational practices.