Many clinicians tell bilingual families to stick to one language. The data tells a different story.

Join us for a free CEU that challenges one of the most common clinical assumptions in ABA and gives you the evidence-based tools to serve bilingual families with confidence.

Teaching Bilingual Repertoires to Children with Autism: Evidence, Strategies, and Clinical Implications

Wednesday, September 16, 2026
3:30 - 4:30 p.m. EST
1 Learning CEU
Cost: Free

Presenter: Mirela Cengher, PhD, BCBA-D, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Associate Editor, Behavior Analysis in Practice and The Analysis of Verbal Behavior

What This Session Covers

Families of children with ASD are increasingly bilingual, yet concerns about dual-language exposure persist across clinical settings. Dr. Cengher's research puts those concerns to the test.

The findings are clear: bilingual instruction is effective. It can be slightly less efficient than monolingual instruction, but that gap closes quickly with repeated, systematic teaching. More importantly, the research identifies specific strategies that make bilingual instruction work better, and they are practical enough to apply immediately.

What You'll Learn

• Why bilingualism is best understood as a distinct verbal repertoire rather than simply two monolingual systems layered together
• How simultaneous instruction compares to sequential instruction, and which approach the data favors
• Why one-person-one-language reduces language confusion and supports better learning outcomes
• How tact training drives stronger acquisition and transfer than listener training across verbal operants
• Practical recommendations for culturally responsive, caregiver-informed bilingual programming

About Dr. Cengher

Mirela Cengher began working with children with developmental disabilities as an undergraduate student in Romania before moving to the United States for graduate training in behavior analysis. She earned her PhD from The Graduate Center, City University of New York, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research integrates verbal behavior and stimulus control, with a focus on bilingual language acquisition in individuals with developmental disabilities. Her work has been supported by the Organization for Autism Research, the Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, and the Sherman Center for Early Learning in Urban Communities.

This session is designed for intermediate-level BCBAs who work with or are likely to work with bilingual families.

Disclosure: Dr. Cengher has no financial relationships with any companies, products, or services related to the content of this event. Bierman Autism Centers is the ACE Provider for this event.

Publish Date: August 3, 2026