Reading comprehension improvement in autism
Meagan Beckerson1, Courtney Paisley2, Donna Murdaugh3
1Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
|April 2, 2024
Summary
The Visualizing and Verbalizing (V/V) intervention improved reading comprehension in autistic children with poor comprehension skills. Verbal memory also emerged as a key factor in reading success for this population.
Area of Science:
- Neurodevelopmental disorders
- Educational psychology
- Language and literacy research
Background:
- Autistic children often exhibit a 'discrepant poor comprehender' profile, excelling at decoding but struggling with reading comprehension.
- Previous research highlights vocabulary, memory, and social functioning's role in reading comprehension.
- Predictors and moderators of reading comprehension in autistic children with this profile require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of the Visualizing and Verbalizing (V/V) intervention for autistic children with the discrepant poor comprehender reading profile.
- To compare reading comprehension gains between an intervention group and a waitlist control group.
- To explore cognitive predictors and moderators of reading comprehension in autistic children.
Main Methods:
- A quasi-experimental design comparing an intervention group (AUT-EXP, n=22) with a waitlist control group (AUT-WLC, n=17) of autistic children (ages 8-13) with reading comprehension difficulties.
- A non-autistic control group (Non-AUT, n=26) was included for comparison.
- Cognitive assessments were administered pre- and post-intervention to analyze predictors and moderators of reading comprehension.
Main Results:
- The intervention group (AUT-EXP) showed significant improvements in reading comprehension from pre- to post-test (t(21)=4.19, p<.001, d=.89).
- The waitlist control group (AUT-WLC) did not show significant reading comprehension gains.
- Verbal memory significantly predicted reading comprehension, but the group status did not moderate this relationship.
Conclusions:
- The Visualizing and Verbalizing (V/V) intervention shows promise for enhancing reading comprehension in autistic children with the discrepant poor comprehender profile.
- Improving verbal memory may offer an indirect pathway to enhance reading comprehension for autistic children with this profile.
- Further research should explore targeted interventions for verbal memory to support reading comprehension in autistic learners.
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