Non-interactive and naturalistic language exposure in autism: An investigation of narrative production in bilingual children

PURPOSE: This study examines narrative production in autistic bilingual children who acquired English through either naturalistic (interactive) input or non-interactive (screen-based) exposure. Non-interactive language acquisition, often termed "unexpected bilingualism", is a growing but underexplored phenomenon in autism research, especially at the group level. METHOD: We analyzed English and Hebrew narratives from 54 bilingual children aged 4-12, divided into three groups: autistic children with non-interactive English exposure (ASD-NI), autistic children with naturalistic English exposure (ASD-Nat), and typically developing bilingual peers with naturalistic English exposure (TLD-Nat). Narrative samples were assessed for general narrative productivity measures (e.g., type and token counts, lexical diversity, syntactic complexity) and referential expression use (e.g., referential choice, referential ambiguity, and definiteness marking). RESULTS: No significant group differences were found in narrative productivity in either language. As for referential expressions, all groups used more lexical NPs during the character's introduction and more reduced forms (null/overt pronouns) during subsequent mentions of the character, reflecting typical discourse strategies. However, the ASD-Nat group produced more ambiguous pronouns than the TLD group, while no evidence of elevated ambiguity was observed in the ASD-NI group. No significant differences were observed in definiteness marking. Cross-language convergence was observed in ambiguous pronoun use. Higher verbal Theory of Mind was associated with greater lexical noun use and reduced referential ambiguity, linking clearer discourse marking to stronger socio-cognitive abilities. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the linguistic competence of autistic children acquiring language through non-interactive screen-based input and highlight the importance of recognizing alternative pathways to bilingual development in autism.