Bilingual exposure and theory of mind in children’s narrative coherence

Abstract

This mixed-methods study investigates how bilingual exposure and Theory of Mind (ToM) in autistic and neurotypical children relate to two dimensions of narrative coherence (i.e., referential and causal coherence). Study 1 analysed oral narratives from 34 children (7 autistic, 27 neurotypical) using regression modelling. Results indicated that diagnostic group predicted referential coherence, with autistic children scoring lower after controlling for age and vocabulary. Both first- and second-order ToM were associated with referential coherence in autistic children but not neurotypical peers. No group difference emerged for causal coherence, which was predicted by age, vocabulary, and heritage language exposure. An exploratory follow-up of eight children approximately one year later found that all four children who improved in causal coherence were bilingual, a pattern descriptively consistent with the results of Study 1. These findings highlight the value of examining referential and causal coherence as distinct dimensions with different predictor profiles, and of modelling bilingual exposure as a continuous construct in research on children’s narrative development.