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Testing Sensory and Multisensory Function in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Published on: April 22, 2015
Advantage in Character Recognition Among Chinese Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Jing Zhao1, Si Chen2, Xiuli Tong3
1Department of English, School of Foreign Languages, Sun Yat-sen University, 135 Xingangxi Road, Guangzhou, China. zhaoj67@mail.sysu.edu.cn.
Preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrated strong Chinese character recognition. Unlike typically developing peers, their recognition was linked to rapid naming and phonological awareness, suggesting these skills predict emergent literacy in ASD.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) presents diverse developmental trajectories.
- Understanding cognitive and linguistic factors in early literacy for children with ASD is crucial.
- Chinese character recognition offers a unique lens to study emergent literacy in ASD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate Chinese character recognition abilities in preschool children with ASD.
- To identify the cognitive and linguistic correlates of character recognition in children with ASD.
- To compare these correlates with those in typically developing (TD) children.
Main Methods:
- Comparative study design involving 47 children with ASD and 51 IQ-matched TD children.
- Assessment of Chinese character recognition, rapid automatized naming, inhibitory control, digit span, IQ, vocabulary, phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and listening comprehension.
- Correlational analyses to examine relationships between character recognition and cognitive/linguistic skills.
Main Results:
- Children with ASD exhibited strong Chinese character recognition skills.
- Character recognition in TD children correlated with all assessed cognitive and linguistic skills.
- Character recognition in children with ASD significantly correlated only with rapid automatized naming, inhibitory control, and phonological awareness.
Conclusions:
- Phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming are key predictors of emergent literacy in Chinese children with ASD.
- Cognitive and linguistic profiles supporting character recognition differ between children with ASD and TD children.
- Targeted interventions focusing on phonological awareness and rapid naming may enhance literacy acquisition in young children with ASD.
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