Texana Health Expert Contribute to The Effects of English and Spanish Instructional Sequences on the Acquisition of Conditional Discriminations

For Immediate Release:

April 11, 2025

Texana Health Expert Contribute to The Effects of English and Spanish Instructional Sequences on the Acquisition of Conditional Discriminations

(ROSENBERG, TX) – Christine Romo, alongside her colleagues, conducted a study to explore how different language instruction sequences affect learning in bilingual children with autism.

Recognizing the limited research in this area, the team focused on teaching English and Spanish nouns through receptive identification tasks to three Spanish-English bilingual children.

They tested three instructional approaches: English-to-Spanish, Spanish-to-English, and a mixed language format.

The findings revealed that no single approach worked best for all participants. One child learned most efficiently through mixed language instruction, while the other two showed faster progress with the Spanish-to-English sequence.

Interestingly, language preference did not significantly influence how quickly the children learned, suggesting that other factors may play a larger role in bilingual learning for children with autism.

Romo emphasizes the importance of culturally responsive care when designing interventions for bilingual learners.

She notes that understanding how language instruction methods impact learning can help behavior analysts better support bilingual children with autism.

The study supports continued research in this area and highlights the value of personalized, culturally sensitive teaching strategies.

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