MATLAB is a very useful engineering calculator. It wouldn’t be where I’d start though. I’d have her do a free online Python course like CodeAcademy. It will teach the basics of if/then architecture that most languages use. From there it’s an easy jump into other stuff like C, C+, MATLAB, etc.
I wouldn’t stress it too much though. She’ll be exposed to what she needs to learn. Spending a bunch of time learning to code is sort of like learning a foreign language. She won’t know if she needs it until she needs it. Have her get the gist with something, and then call it good.
If she wants to do it in context of something she could use Python with Raspberry Pi, or choose C++ instead and program an Arduino.