Promoting bilingualism in children with neurodevelopmental disorders: State of the art and research avenues

The aim of this article is to dispel, moving from a solid scientific basis, the false myth that bilingualism can exacerbate a vulnerable condition due to the presence of a neurodevelopmental disorder. We will present the results of the most recent studies that have explored the interaction between bilingualism and neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., language disorder, developmental dyslexia, and autism spectrum disorder), addressing the issue of early identification of such disorders in bilinguals. Results indicate that bilingualism does not worsen the difficulties of children with neurodevelopmental disorders, on the contrary it can be beneficial to their cognitive and social development. Starting from the observation that the advantages of bilingualism are found regardless of the nature and prestige of the languages taken into consideration, the importance of maintaining the family language will be emphasized, especially in relation to families with Italian as a second language and with a migrant background