Cognitive predictors of social communication (Gangopadhyay et al., 2026)

<b>Purpose: </b>Executive function (EF) and theory of mind (ToM) form the cognitive scaffolding necessary for navigating complex social contexts and for developing pragmatic language skills. Despite the recognized importance of these cognitive predictors, their influence on social communication is not well understood in young preschool children. The current study examined the relationship between these cognitive variables and social communication in monolingual and bilingual preschoolers.<b>Method: </b>Participants included 5-year-old English-speaking monolingual children and Spanish-English–speaking bilingual children. Parents completed assessments of their children’s social communication through the Children's Communication Checklist–2 (CCC-2) and EF using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function–Second Edition. Children completed an experimental ToM task.<b>Results: </b>Broad EF skills and ToM did not predict social communication skills in monolingual children. However, EF, but not ToM, significantly predicted social communication abilities in bilingual children. Monolingual children outperformed bilingual children in both structural and pragmatic aspects of social communication.<b>Conclusions: </b>The absence of a relationship between EF and ToM with social communication skills, as measured by the CCC-2, in monolingual children suggests that they may rely minimally on these specific cognitive abilities for social communication. In contrast, bilingual children may rely more on EFs to support social communication. Thus, the cognitive underpinnings of social communication may differ based on language experience.<b>Supplemental Material S1.</b> Regression models: the effect of bilingualism on social communication.Gangopadhyay, I., Banerjee, S., &amp; Johnson, R. E. (2026). An exploratory investigation of cognitive predictors of social communication skills in monolingual and bilingual children. <i>Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups</i>. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2026_PERSP-25-00283