Accent...

[ooopsupsideyourhead]

Hello! Hoping some people from the home Ed community have some thoughts to share, this is largely a professional interest question, as obviously, a persons accent doesn’t matter!

I’m a secondary school SENDCO and I work with quite a lot of students that have been home educated for a lot of their primary/KS3 time - often because their SEN hadn’t been well catered for or they struggled to be themselves “in the system”.

I’ve noticed that a large proportion of them speak with an American accent - is this because lots of the online schools/tutorials etc. are from the US? Or is it an anomaly at my school?! If your children do do it, does it bother you as parents? Or do people comment on it? Or assume they are American/have lived in North America?

I suppose, my professional interest is piqued because I’m aware that lots of students on the autistic spectrum are often prone to an Americanisation of their accents too - which could be a correlation I suppose due to the high numbers of SEN previously home schooled students I work with, but it certainly doesn’t account for all the previously home educated students I work with (of course, autistic spectrum conditions are very under diagnosed, but even so...) so, I am just curious!

Is this common?! Or is it an anomaly to my local area?!

I've known lots of neurotypical children in mainstream school who have done this for a period of time, usually through having a favourite US tv show. Never known any home ed children with a US accent here.

It's interesting though, why is it more common in children with ASD do you know?

My asd kiddo speaks with a fairly posh accent which sounds odd next to our very northern way of talking. When he was 4 and obsessed with fireman Sam he developed a welsh lilt and if he's been watching an American box set he will pick that up also. 😂 we have had him with an American southern drawl and a full on bronx kind of rat a tat accent. Its ace he doesn't know he's doing it but we never know who we will get next.

It'll be TV. I'm 24, strong Yorkshire accent (though well spoken and have Canadian brothers) and there are words I've noticed that I say Americanised much like my two best friends (one American/french another English but Aus raised) such as closet, gonna etc.

I think when the majority of what we watch for several hours a day since we were 5/6 is American and people don't say the words much in the UK we pick them up.

I don't think it's bad, I've certainly been discriminated for sounding Yorkshire more than my American colleagues.

Globalisation isn't always bad

Toodle there’s a small study here (but lots more if you google!) about young people with ASD and accents :) adc.bmj.com/content/98/Suppl_1/A36.1
And Mucky seems to have first hand experience of the phenomenon!
aqua having lived in Canada myself for several years I definitely pronounce some words more like someone from North America than Britain. My brain gets confused on leisure and schedule all the time - sometimes I’m British, sometimes I’m not but, these young people aren’t just occasionally saying words that sounds American. It’s how they talk, all the time. And since we all watch a lot of American TV that can’t be the only explanation!

Mine speak with an interesting mix of British and American accent - likely because while they have spent their entire lives in the UK and their father is British, I am American so they hear me talking all the time.

Dd (ASD) had a cut glass accent as a child now as a teen she has an American accent as does her friend whose entire family have very strong Northern Irish accents and have never been to America in their life. Dd doesn't watch tv so assume her accent is from copying her friend.