Reading comprehension improvement in autism

Meagan Beckerson; Courtney Paisley; Donna Murdaugh; Haley Holm; Amy Lemelman; Alyssa Spencer; Sarah O'Kelley; Rajesh Kana

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1292018

Reading comprehension improvement in autism

Front Psychiatry. 2024 Mar 18:15:1292018. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1292018. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Meagan Beckerson¹, Courtney Paisley², Donna Murdaugh³, Haley Holm⁴, Amy Lemelman⁵, Alyssa Spencer⁶, Sarah O'Kelley¹, Rajesh Kana¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States.
² Department of Developmental Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora, CO, United States.
³ Department of Pediatrics, University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB), Birmingham, AL, United States.
⁴ Department of Neuropsychology, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, United States.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York, NY, United States.
⁶ Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, United States.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: autism; intervention; reading comprehension; verbal memory; visualizing/verbalizing.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The authors would like to thank Lindamood–Bell Learning Processes for providing financial support for this study. Authors of this manuscript did not participate in the development of the V/V intervention, are not employed by or affiliated with LBLP or any entity that provides V/V as a clinical service. Authors are also not employed by an institution that trains others to use the V/V and no author receives monetary compensation from V/V in any way. The funder was not involved in the study design, analysis, interpretation of data, the writing of this article or the decision to submit it for publication.