Me.
Hello! مرحبا! こんにちは!
Thank you for stopping by this page.
My name is Shereen, I’m from Egypt, born and raised in the United Arab Emirates. In 2006, I started a journey of higher education. During this journey, I resided in several countries through which I acquired several multilingual and multicultural experiences. Along the way, I was introduced to a course named ‘The Psychology of Bilingualism’ which opened my eyes to the dearth of research investigating the impact of experiences like mine. I gained research experience as a psychology research assistant for the next two years working on bilingualism projects.
Moreover, throughout my entire life, I have been actively involved in the field of autism spectrum disorders as I grew up with an inspirational younger autistic brother who became the first autistic child in the UAE to attend mainstream school and receive a high school diploma. Therefore, when the time came to select my dissertation topic, it seemed clear that I should focus on the one that directly grew out of my personal experience: bilingualism and autism. To my surprise, I found this interface received little attention in the scientific community.
What do we know?
Speaking two languages has been shown to have a broad impact on human cognition, especially in the area of executive functions. “Executive functions” allow people to plan, organize, and complete basic activities. For example, walking down the street while talking requires a person to pay attention to his surroundings, follow pedestrian signs, formulate language, and listen/process what the conversational partner says. Coordination of all these various actions is accomplished through executive functions.
While some studies debate the existence of any cognitive advantages for bilinguals, we can all agree that findings have been focused on typically developing population. There is minimal evidence about the impact of bilingual experience on the executive functioning (EF) of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
There is a widespread belief that children with ASD will be “overloaded” by a second language because they have an already-impaired first language. However, there is no evidence that bilingualism negatively affects language (verbal) development children with ASD. On the contrary, they have demonstrated the capacity to function successfully as bilinguals.
What do we need to know?
Can speaking a second language improve the executive functions of children with ASD? We don’t know. It may produce an advantage, no advantage, or disadvantage for these children. The point is we need to investigate because parents, therapists, and educators make choices about language, treatment, and instruction for bilingual children with ASD every day without having sufficient research to support their decisions. These choices hold consequences for the treatment, education and formation of ethnic identities of the increasing number of bilingual children with ASD.
What are the possibilities?
If a bilingual advantage is found for executive functions in ASD, bilingualism could be viewed as a kind of therapy (potential intervention) for children with ASD. This is because executive functions are impaired in ASD and are highly related to the restrictive repetitive symptoms of ASD. Therefore, a more robust and better retained executive function system can play a significant role in improving the symptoms of ASD. If no advantage is found (equivalent performance scores between bilingual and monolingual children with ASD), this demonstrates children with ASD have the capacity to function successfully as bilinguals. If a disadvantage is found, our findings will add new information that advances evidence-based best practices for the assessment and intervention of bilingual children with ASD.
But why would speaking a second language impact our cognitive skills in the first place?
It has been proposed that people who speak two languages have two active language systems which causes them to constantly have to focus on one language, inhibit another language, or switch between the languages. Such practice creates a situation where bilinguals exercise critical cognitive skills, which makes the executive function system more robust. This is the central aspect of the bilingual experience.
What does our project aim to do?
Our study will investigate the impact of bilingualism on the executive function skills of children with autism. We will recruit two groups (bilingual children with autism and their typically developing peers, monolingual children with autism and their typically developing peers) and compare performance on computerized executive function (EF) tasks to investigate whether there are any differences between bilingual and monolingual groups.
We are interested in exploring the relationship between EF performance and autism symptoms, in addition to the factors associated with bilingualism that could impact our findings (language proficiency, language switching, etc.).
Our participants are residents of the United Arab Emirates, a unique country that presents multilinguals in a large variety of cultural and linguistic variations. A pilot study is set to take place first in the United Kingdom to pilot appropriate measures to test executive functions in children with ASD.
Where are we now?
We completed our pilot study in Edinburgh on December 21st, 2017 received UAE ethics early February 2018, and launched data collection across the United Arab Emirates in March 2018, working with several leading autism centers and mainstream schools. Please see the ‘get involved’ tab (next) to find out how you can help! We are collecting data in the UAE till early April 2019, send your good vibes my way! 🙂
Who is working on this project?
This project is led by me, Shereen Sharaan, Doctoral Researcher at the University of Edinburgh, as my PhD project. I work under the fab supervision of Sue Fletcher-Watson (Psychiatry) and Sarah MacPherson (Psychology)!
The proposed research thus benefits from the collaboration of two leading academic departments within the University of Edinburgh. The Department of Psychology is a leading research centre, with its research considered the best in Scotland and 4th best in the UK and is internationally renowned for its postgraduate programmes in psychology. The Patrick Wild Centre in the Division of Psychiatry is a multidisciplinary research centre aimed at understanding the pathophysiology of neurodevelopmental disorders at multiple levels, with the ultimate goal of translating this understanding into clinical practice.
Don’t hesitate to contact me at Shereen.Sharaan@ed.ac.uk for any questions about this work!
نحو ممارسات قائمة على الأدلة لأطفال التوحد ثنائي اللغة بحث مقترح لرؤیة الإمارات العربیة المتحدة ٢٠٢١
رؤیتنا = رؤیة وطن
یسرنا تقدیم بحثنا الجدید الرائد عالمیا للمساھمة في التمیز التعلیمي لفئة التوحد في الأمارات العربیة المتحدة والمساعدة في تحقیق عناصر رؤیة الأمارات العربیة المتحدة لعام ٢٠٢١ . سیكشف بحثنا المقترح، للمرة الأولى في العالم، عن تأثیر ثنائیة اللغة على المھارات المعرفیة لدى الاطفال المصابین بالتوحد. تحظى ھذه الجوانب الیوم باھتمام عالمي متزاید حیث تم تحدیدھا ضمن الاتجاھات الرئیسیة في السیاسات العلاجیة والتعلیمیة للأطفال المصابین بالتوحد في العدید من البلدان المتقدمة. ستضع نتائج البحث قاعدة من الأدلة للمعلمین والمھنیین الصحیین الذین یعملون مع أطفال التوحد وأسرھم والتي سیكون لھا تأثیر مباشر في المجالات ذات الأولویة في التعلیم والصحة العامة للأطفال المصابین بالتوحد وأسرھم.
ما أھمیة البحث؟
لدي الأمارات العربیة المتحدة الفرصة لقیادة التعلیم في مجال التوحد إلى الأمام مما یؤدي في نھایة المطاف إلى مساعدة مصابي التوحد في تحقیق أعلي جودة حیاتیھ ممكنة ولیكونوا أكثر قیمة كأفراد ناتجیین في مجتمعنا. كما أن ھناك تأثیرا اقتصادیا كبیرا على المحك، حیث ان تطویر الممارسات والتطبیقات العلمیة القائمة على أفضل الأدلة لمصابي التوحد (بتأثیر فوري على فرصھم التعلیمیة والوظیفیة) یمكن بدوره ان یقلل من التكالیف الباھظة المتكبدة من قبل المجتمع (الحكومة والأفراد) لحالات التوحد.
لماذا دعم البحث المقدم بقیادة جامعة أدنبره؟
من المقرر اجراء البحث المقترح من يناير – يونيو ٢٠١٨ بدولة الأمارات العربیة المتحدة، وھي دولة فریدة بتقدیمھا لثنائي اللغة بتعددات لغویة وثقافیة كبیرة. و تعد جامعة أدنبره واحدة من أفضل ٢٠ جامعة على مستوى العالم، و هي من الجامعات البحثیة الرائدة في العالم وتحتل المرتبة الرابعة على مستوى المملكة المتحدة في قوة البحث والمرتبة الأولى في اسكتلندا استنادا علي جودة أبحاثنا واتساع نطاقھا. وقد * تم التأكید على ذلك من خلال نتائج إطار التمیز البحثي لعام ٢٠١٤ الذي أظھر أن ٨٣ ٪ من نشاطنا البحثي في أعلى الفئات ٣ * و ٤ والتي تصنف على أنھا “رائدة عالمیا” أو “ممتازة دولیا”. ومن ثم، فإن التدریب البحثي من جامعة أدنبره سیضع فریقنا في مكانة قویة جدا لتقدیم أبحاث عالمیة رائدة على أرض دولة الأمارات العربیة المتحدة وترجمة ھذه النتائج إلى توصیات عملیة تفید الأشخاص المصابین بالتوحد وأسرھم.
یتألف فریق البحث من مشرفین من الطب النفسي و علم النفس و هما العالمة الدكتورة سارة مكفيرسون و العالمة الدكتورة سو فليتشر واتسون.
Sarah MacPherson ، Sue Fletcher-Watson
والباحث الرئیسي، شیرین شرعان (باحثة الدكتوراه في عل النفس السریري ومقیمة في الامارات منذ ٢٨ عاما) ویجمع فریق البحوث الخبرة الفنیة في مجال الإشراف على المشاریع العلمیة والمعرفة المتعمقة في أسالیب البحث، والتوحد، وبحوث التدخل.
We need participants!
If you like what you’ve read so far, and you’re interested in making a difference to this new research, spread the word, circulate this page or any information on it that you like. One share has the power to make a big difference to our recruitment progress!
For our UK Pilot Study (December 7 – December 20, 2017)
We need autistic children, 5-12 years, in Edinburgh, monolingual or bilingual. Learning games. Flexible time & location. Compensation available. Contact details below!
For our UAE Main Study (January 1 – June 28, 2018)
We need both autistic and typically developing children, 5-12 years, in any of the 7 Emirates, monolingual and bilingual. Learning games. Flexible time & location. Compensation available. Contact details below!
We need funding!
We are currently on the lookout for sources of funding! If you think this research is of interest to you and you would like to share any funding related details or get involved with funding, kindly get in touch with me at Shereen.Sharaan@ed.ac.uk (boy, would I be happy to hear from you!)
Project Relevant Experience
2014 – 2016, Emirates Autism Center (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
Autism Specialist
2010 – 2011 The American University of Sharjah (Sharjah, UAE)
Psychology Research Assistant
Education
2016 – 2019 University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
School of Psychology, Philosophy, and Language Sciences (PPLS)
PhD in Psychology
2016 – 2018 University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Clinical Psychology, School of Health in Social Sciences (SHSS)
PG Certificate in Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Psychological Practice
2013 – 2014 Newcastle University, United Kingdom
School of Education, Communication, and Language Sciences
Master of Science in Clinical Linguistics and Evidence-Based Practice
Merit Grade
2006 – 2011 The American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
School of Business and Management
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration
Minor in Psychology, 3.47 GPA
Speaker Talks
Sharaan,S (2017). Towards Evidence-Based Practices for Bilingual and Multilingual Children with Autism. Polyglot Conference, Reykjavik, Iceland. 27-29 October. [Abstract]
Sharaan, S (2017). 10th Annual Autism Awareness Campaign. Press Conference, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. 19-25 April. [Campaign]
Poster Presentations
Sharaan,S (2017). A Systemic Review of the Cognitive Correlates of Bilingualism: Extrapolating The Results To The Domain of Autism Spectrum Disorders. The 11th International Symposium on Bilingualism, Limerick, Iceland. 11-15 June.
We are launching a new initiative! A 2-day workshop followed by a platform for researchers, clinicians, and families with autism interested in research at the interface of bilingualism and autism. This will be the first workshop / platform dedicated to this niche area of research.
We aim to pool our resources, build a community, extrapolate findings and address gaps in current research at the interface of bilingualism, autism, and cognition, into the workshop frame, to meet a genuine need for clinicians and families with autism.
If you are interested in seeing this initiative happen and would like to support it in any way (resources, agenda, funding, etc.), please get in touch with me at Shereen.Sharaan@ed.ac.uk!