Reading comprehension differences between children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and low cognitive abilities and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and intact cognitive skills: the roles of decoding, fluency and morphosyntax

Introduction

Reading comprehension is one of the most important skills learned in school and it has an important contribution to the academic success of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Though previous studies have investigated reading comprehension difficulties in ASD and highlighted factors that contribute to these difficulties, this evidence has mainly stemmed from children with ASD and intact cognitive skills. Also, much emphasis has been placed on the relation between reading comprehension and word recognition skills, while the role of other skills, including fluency and morphosyntax, remains underexplored. This study addresses these gaps by investigating reading comprehension in two groups of school-aged children with ASD, one with intact and one with low cognitive abilities, also exploring the roles of word decoding, fluency and morphosyntax in each group's reading comprehension performance.

Methods

The study recruited 16 children with ASD and low cognitive abilities, and 22 age-matched children with ASD and intact cognitive skills. The children were assessed on four reading subdomains, namely, decoding, fluency, morphosyntax, and reading comprehension.

Results

The children with ASD and low cognitive abilities scored significantly lower than their peers with intact cognitive abilities in all reading subdomains, except for decoding, verb production and compound word formation. Regression analyses showed that reading comprehension in the group with ASD and intact cognitive abilities was independently driven by their decoding and fluency skills, and to a lesser extent, by morphosyntax. On the other hand, the children with ASD and low cognitive abilities mainly drew on their decoding, and to a lesser extent, their morphosyntactic skills to perform in reading comprehension.

Discussion

The results suggest that reading comprehension was more strongly affected in the children with ASD and low cognitive abilities as compared to those with intact cognitive skills. About half of the children with ASD and intact cognitive skills also exhibited mild-to-moderate reading comprehension difficulties, further implying that ASD may influence reading comprehension regardless of cognitive functioning. Finally, strengths in decoding seemed to predominantly drive cognitively-impaired children's reading performance, while the group with ASD and intact cognitive skills mainly recruited fluency and metalinguistic lexical skills to cope with reading comprehension demands, further suggesting that metalinguistic awareness may be a viable way to enhance reading comprehension in ASD.

Reading comprehension improvement in autism

Introduction

A subset of autistic children excel at word decoding but have difficulty with reading comprehension (i.e., the discrepant poor comprehender reading profile). Prior research suggests the Visualizing and Verbalizing (V/V) for language comprehension and thinking intervention helps improve reading comprehension in autistic children with this reading profile. Previous studies have demonstrated the role of vocabulary, memory, and social functioning in reading comprehension; however, predictors and moderators of reading comprehension within this specific profile of autistic readers have not been thoroughly explored.

Methods

In this study, we examined the effectiveness of the V/V intervention by comparing reading comprehension scores between groups and across time. Participants included a sample of autistic children (AUT-EXP; n=22) and a waitlist control group of autistic children (AUT-WLC; n=17) with reading comprehension difficulties, as well as a sample of non-autistic children (Non-AUT; n=26) (all age 8-13 years). AUT-EXP and AUT-WLC groups completed a battery of cognitive assessments during pre and post tests. We also analyzed whether cognitive assessment scores predicted reading comprehension, and examined the moderating effects of group (AUT-EXP vs. AUT-WLC) on these relationships.

Results

The AUT-EXP group significantly improved in their pre to post reading comprehension scores (t(21)=4.19, p<.001, d=.89), whereas the AUT-WLC group did not. Verbal memory significantly predicted reading comprehension, though group did not moderate relationships between cognitive test performance and reading comprehension.

Discussion

Results suggest that the V/V intervention may help improve reading comprehension for autistic children with the discrepant poor comprehender reading profile. Additionally, strategies for improving verbal memory may indirectly enhance reading comprehension in autistic children with this reading profile.

Disentangling Language Disorder and Bilingualism in Children with Developmental Language Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from Writing

Twenty-eight Albanian-Greek bilingual children with Developmental Language Disorder and 28 children with Autism Spectrum Disorder but no language impairment, along with 28 typically-developing, age-, Performance IQ- and socioeconomic status-matched bilingual children were asked to produce two expository texts which were coded for spelling (phonological, grammatical, orthographic) errors, stress and punctuation use. The children's expressive vocabulary, current language use and home language history were also measured. The results show that the bilingual children with Developmental Language Disorder were particularly vulnerable to spelling errors, while their bilingual peers with Autism Spectrum Disorder were rather challenged by stress and punctuation. The evidence speaks in favor of distinct patterns of writing impairment across the bilingual children with Developmental Language Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Increasing Vocabulary and Listening Comprehension During Adapted Shared Reading: An Intervention for Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder

PURPOSE

This study examined the improvement in vocabulary and listening skills of children with ASD through adapted shared reading. It also investigated the generalisation effect of this increase to new books and social validity.

METHODS

A multiple probe across participants design was used to investigate the effect of ASR (adapted shared reading) on the vocabulary and listening comprehension skills of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The participants were Turkish-speaking children diagnosed with ASD attending a preschool special education institution in Turkey. The researcher analysed the data obtained from the baseline, intervention, generalization and mastery phases using the visual analysis method.

RESULTS

Following the intervention, all three participating children gradually improved their vocabulary and listening comprehension skills. The findings suggest that young children with ASD can participate in and benefit from shared reading interventions with support.

CONCLUSION

The adapted shared reading method (ASR) is an effective method for increasing the vocabulary and listening comprehension skills of young children with ASD.

Story Comprehension Monitoring Across Visual, Listening, and Written Modalities in Children with and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder

Visual, as compared to verbal, tasks are often assumed to be easier for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but is this true for story comprehension? This study evaluated story comprehension monitoring across visual, listening, and written modalities and assessed predictors in two closely matched groups (age, socioeconomic status, language, nonverbal cognition, and word reading) of children and adolescents (8-14 years) with ASD (n = 20) and typical development (typically developing [TD]; n = 20). The results of mixed-effects models indicated that story comprehension monitoring was low overall, and performance was comparable across visual, listening, and written modalities for participants with ASD. Age, vocabulary, nonverbal working memory, response and distractor inhibition, and social communication significantly predicted comprehension monitoring.

Behavioral and neurobiological evidence for the effects of reading interventions on autistic children: A systematic review

This study systematically reviewed the literature on reading interventions for autistic children. Peer-reviewed articles that reported behavioral and/or neurobiological effects of reading intervention were identified in five online databases. After screening, 15 studies met the inclusion criteria for this review. These studies focus on interventions targeted towards improving specific reading skills: comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, and phonological awareness. Studied interventions included interactive and shared reading, visualization strategies, vocabulary and main idea instruction, video modeling, and interventions supported by tablet-based technology. Overall, the studies identified in this review reported improvements to each of the targeted reading skills and changes to neural activation and connectivity. In addition, changes at the brain level were associated with improvements in reading. Specifically, frontal, temporal, and occipital regions associated with visual and language processing showed increased activation and functional connectivity following intervention. This review provides important insights into the landscape of reading intervention studies in autism and into the neurobiological underpinnings of reading skills and how interventions affect those processes.

Autismus: Ein Überblick über Lernvoraussetzungen und Fördermaßnahmen

Zusammenfassung. Autistische Schülerinnen und Schüler besitzen häufig geringere schulische Kompetenzen als nicht-autistische Schülerinnen und Schüler. Zugleich bestehen große Unterschiede in den schulischen Kompetenzen zwischen autistischen Schülerinnen und Schülern. Nicht selten weisen sie schulische Kompetenzen auf, die niedriger sind, als es aufgrund ihrer kognitiven Fähigkeiten zu erwarten wäre. Um zu verstehen, welche Faktoren das Lernen autistischer Schülerinnen und Schüler beeinflussen, wird in diesem Artikel ein Überblick über die Lernvoraussetzungen autistischer Schülerinnen und Schüler gegeben. Der Überblick zeigt, dass es autistischen Schülerinnen und Schülern schwerfallen kann, Vorwissen abzurufen und in Lernsituationen aktiv anzuwenden, Lernprozesse aufgrund von Einschränkungen in den exekutiven Funktionen angemessen zu steuern, verbale und visuelle Informationen im Arbeitsgedächtnis zu verarbeiten, kognitive und metakognitive Lernstrategien spontan anzuwenden, sich mit Lerninhalten auseinanderzusetzen, die nicht ihren eigenen Interessen entsprechen, und lernabträgliche Emotionen mittels geeigneter Strategien zu regulieren. Um autistische Schülerinnen und Schüler im Lernen zu unterstützen, werden Fördermaßnahmen zu den einzelnen Lernvoraussetzungen vorgestellt. Implikationen für Forschung und Praxis werden diskutiert.

Model Teachers or Model Students? A Comparison of Video Modelling Interventions for Improving Reading Fluency and Comprehension in Children with Autism

Video modelling (VM) interventions have been used to improve the fluency of individuals with learning disabilities and reading difficulties; this study aimed to replicate these findings with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) students. Four children with ASD (aged between 8 and 15) experienced two VM interventions, across 10 sessions, during an alternating treatments design: VM using a teacher model, and feedforward video self-modelling (FFVSM) where the student acted as the model. For two participants, FFVSM was found to be an effective intervention but overall, results for both interventions were inconsistent with previous research. Talking Mats Interviews were used to include these individuals within the social validation process of behavioural research.

Introduction to the Forum: Literacy in Autism-Across the Spectrum

Purpose The purpose of this article is to introduce the LSHSS Forum: Literacy in Autism-Across the Spectrum. The articles in this forum provide an overview of the current evidence related to literacy in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from preschool to adolescence and highlight the high literacy needs of this population. Method This introduction provides an overview of some of the reasons why children with ASD are at risk of persistent literacy difficulties and a summary of the six articles included in this forum. Conclusion More research is clearly needed to better understand which factors contribute to the high literacy needs in this population. For now, based on the best available evidence, the authors in this forum provide clear clinical implications that should be highly useful for speech-language pathologists and other professionals involved in literacy assessment and intervention for children and adolescents on the autism spectrum.