Predictors of Basic Reading Skills in High-Functioning Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Role of Cognitive Flexibility.

The number of high-functioning children identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has greatly increased in recent years. The academic skills of these children show considerable variation, and some children struggle with basic reading. It is important to update and expand our understanding of factors contributing to the development of word reading skills in this population because revised diagnostic criteria, small samples, large age and ability ranges, a narrow selection of variables, and varying outcome measures limit the generalizability of older results. The purpose of this study was to document systematically the literacy, cognitive, language, and executive function skills of high-functioning children with ASD in the early grades, and identify predictors of basic reading skills. Although restrictive behaviors and communication and social deficits define ASD, cognitive inflexibility is also a life-long challenge. Since cognitive flexibility may facilitate the acquisition of reading, measures of this skill were included as possible additional predictors. Assessments were conducted with a diverse sample of 63 children with ASD, ages 6 through 9. All participants had nonverbal ability above 80, were enrolled in grades 1 - 4, and participated in the general curriculum. Group performance on all measures was reviewed to determine patterns of strength or weakness. A series of regression analyses was conducted to identify predictors of basic reading and to determine whether cognitive flexibility explained additional variance. Basic reading skills varied greatly, with many children, especially first-graders, exhibiting above-average skills. Verbal, nonverbal, language, phonemic awareness, and word reading skills were average, but weaknesses were found in cognitive flexibility, working memory, visual processing speed, listening comprehension, and retrieval fluency. As is the case for typically developing children, measures of nonverbal ability, language, and phonemic awareness had strong relationships with the basic reading measures, and were able to predict 55 percent of the variance, but cognitive flexibility did not contribute significantly after controlling for these factors. Results support the importance of specialized instruction and accommodations for children with ASD, even those with above-average ability, in order to address deficits in language and executive functions.PhDEducational StudiesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102473/1/pkittel_1.pd