36.3602, Confs: Bilingualism in Autism: Language Acquisition in Interactive and Non-interactive Contexts (Switzerland)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-3602. Mon Nov 24 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.3602, Confs: Bilingualism in Autism: Language Acquisition in Interactive and Non-interactive Contexts (Switzerland)

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Date: 20-Nov-2025
From: Anamaria Bentea [anamaria.jekerbentea at unifr.ch]
Subject: Bilingualism in Autism: Language Acquisition in Interactive and Non-interactive Contexts


Bilingualism in Autism: Language Acquisition in Interactive and
Non-interactive Contexts
Short Title: BilingualAutism

Date: 07-Mar-2026 - 07-Mar-2026
Location: Fribourg, Switzerland
Contact Email: bilingual-autism at unifr.ch
Meeting URL: https://events.unifr.ch/bilingual-autism

Linguistic Field(s): Clinical Linguistics; Language Acquisition

Submission Deadline: 09-Jan-2026

There is a growing body of research on the effects of bilingualism in
children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Across studies, there is
now broad consensus that exposure to two (or more) languages does not
have detrimental effects on either language development or core
autistic traits. Instead, bilingualism can even prove helpful in some
domains. At the same time, research in this area faces important
challenges, including how to capture the considerable heterogeneity
within ASD, the wide range of bilingual experiences (e.g.,
simultaneous vs. sequential bilingualism, balanced vs. dominant
language profiles), and the complex ways in which these two sources of
variability intersect.
This workshop brings together researchers working on bilingualism in
autism in order to address these challenges from multiple
perspectives. We will discuss empirical findings on language
development in autistic bilingual children across different language
pairs and contexts. A special focus will be placed on emerging
evidence of non-interactive bilingualism in autism, cases where
language learning occurs with limited or no direct social interaction
(e.g., learning from screens) and which challenge traditional
assumptions that human interaction is a necessary condition for
successful language acquisition.
We are very pleased to have Prof. Dr. Laurent Mottron (Université de
Montréal), Prof. Dr. Mila Vulchanova (Norwegian University of Science
and Technology), Prof. Dr. Natalia Meir (Bar-Ilan University),  Dr.
David Gagnon (Université de Montréal), and Prof. Dr. Stephanie
Durrleman (University of Fribourg) as keynote speakers.
The workshop, hosted by the Autism, Bilingualism, Cognitive and
Communicative Development (ABCCD) lab at the University of Fribourg,
Switzerland, will take place in person on 7th March 2026. It will be
followed by an outreach event on bilingualism in autism at the Korso
cinema in Fribourg, allowing for interaction with the autistic
community.
We invite abstracts for poster presentations on any topic dealing with
bilingualism in autism. We encourage submissions that involve
innovative approaches and methods including, but not limited to, the
study of non-interactive bilingualism in autism.
Submission Guidelines:
Abstracts should be fully anonymous and no longer than 500 words
maximum (Times New Roman size 12). One additional page can be used for
examples, figures, tables, and references. Each author may submit
several abstracts, however we will accept for presentation only a
maximum of one first-authored poster per submitter. There is no limit
on the number of accepted poster presentations for which the author is
listed in a non–first-author role.
Abstracts can be submitted at this link:
https://easyabs.linguistlist.org/conference/BilingualAutism/
Important Dates:
Abstracts opens for submission: 24th November 2025
Abstract deadline: 9th January 2026
Notification of acceptance: 23rd January 2026
Workshop: 7th March 2026
All questions about submissions should be emailed to:
bilingual-autism at unifr.ch



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