Word Learning With Orthographic Support in Nonspeaking and Minimally Speaking School-Age Autistic Children

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Special Education
• Speech-Language Pathology

Background:

• Previous studies confirm orthographic support aids word learning in various child populations.
• The efficacy of orthographic support for minimally or nonspeaking autistic children remains under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the orthographic facilitation effect in word learning for minimally or nonspeaking autistic children.
• To assess if computer-based remote learning can elicit this effect in the target population.

Main Methods:

• Twenty-two school-age autistic children with limited spoken language participated.
• A computer-based remote word learning task involved learning novel words with and without orthographic support.
• Parent reports on language, autism, and reading skills were collected.

Main Results:

• No difference in learning during exposure, but significantly better posttest performance with orthographic support.
• Orthography improved accuracy and aided more participants in reaching the learning criterion.
• The benefit was more pronounced for children with lower expressive language skills.

Conclusions:

• Minimally speaking or nonspeaking autistic children benefit from orthographic support for new word acquisition.
• Further research is needed to explore this effect in face-to-face settings using augmentative and alternative communication.