Feasibility and Initial Efficacy of an Adapted Telepractice Listening Comprehension Intervention for School-Aged Children with Autism.

This study evaluates the feasibility and initial efficacy of an 11-week listening comprehension intervention, Building Vocabulary and Early Reading Strategies (BVERS) that was delivered remotely to 14 elementary-aged children with autism spectrum disorder. Children were randomly assigned to one of two groups: BVERS only, or BVERS with a parent instructional component (BVERS + PC). Results indicate that the intervention was feasible to implement. All parents were satisfied with intervention implementation, and 8 of 10 stated that they were satisfied with their child's outcomes following the intervention. Results of a Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed growth in listening comprehension following the intervention, but no growth in narrative retell or vocabulary. There were no group differences in change scores from pre- to post-test.

Examining fidelity reporting within studies of foundational reading interventions for elementary students with or at risk for dyslexia.

Early access to evidence-based reading intervention improves outcomes for students with or at risk for reading difficulties. Additionally, teacher implementation of reading interventions plays a key role in the efficacy of reading interventions. Previous research suggests the influence of intervention implementation fidelity on student language and literacy outcomes is more significant for lower-performing students and students with disabilities, such as dyslexia. However, recent syntheses have suggested that less than half of reading intervention studies report treatment fidelity data. This meta-analysis examined fidelity reporting within reading intervention studies for students with or at risk for dyslexia in Grades K-5. We aimed to record the frequency and extent of fidelity reporting, explore associations between study or intervention features and fidelity reporting, and compare mean intervention effect sizes for studies reporting fidelity and those that did not. A total of 51 studies were included. Results indicated that 75% of studies reported fidelity data. Studies reporting fidelity primarily focused on adherence and dosage data with little to no information reported for other dimensions of fidelity (i.e., quality, responsiveness, differentiation). Suggestions for improving reporting of treatment fidelity data are discussed.

An Exploration of the Heterogeneous Nature of Reading Comprehension Development in First Grade: The Impact of Word and Meaning Skills.

This exploratory study builds upon extant reading development studies by identifying discrete groups based on reading comprehension trajectories across first grade. The main goal of this study was to enhance the field's understanding of early reading comprehension development and its underlying subcomponent skills, with the intent of better understanding the development of comprehension in students who display risk for reading difficulties and disabilities. A sample of first-grade readers (N = 314) were assessed at three timepoints across the first-grade year. These data were utilized to derive empirical latent classes based on reading comprehension performance across the first-grade year. Reading subcomponent skill assessments (phonological awareness, word reading, decoding, linguistic comprehension, and reading fluency), measured in the fall of first grade, were compared across latent classes to examine how they related to growth across the first-grade year. Results suggest that there were four distinct latent classes with differential reading comprehension development, each of which could also be distinguished by the subskill assessments. These findings are presented within the context of the broader reading research base, and implications for practice are discussed.

Conducting oral and written language adapted tele-assessments with early elementary-age children with autism spectrum disorder.

Background and aims: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, tele-health has gained popularity for both providing services and delivering assessments to children with disabilities. In this manuscript, we discuss the process of collecting standardized oral language, reading, and writing tele-assessment data with early elementary children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and offer preliminary findings related to child and parent engagement and technology issues. Methods: The data presented are from pretest assessments during an efficacy study examining the electronic delivery of a listening comprehension intervention for children with ASD. Pretest sessions included a battery of standardized language, reading, and writing assessments, conducted over Zoom. The authors operationalized and developed a behavioral codebook of three overarching behavioral categories (parent involvement, child disengagement, and technology issues). Researchers coded videos offline to record frequencies of indicated behaviors across participants and assessment subtests. Results: Involvement from parents accounted for the highest number of codes. Children showed some disengagement during assessment sessions. Technology issues were minimal. Behavioral categories appeared overall limited but varied across participants and assessments. Conclusions: Parent involvement behaviors made up approximately two-thirds of the coded behaviors. Child disengagement behaviors made up approximately one-fourth of the coded behaviors, and these behaviors occurred more frequently across many different participants (with lower frequencies but greater coverage across children). Technology problems specific to responding to assessment items were relatively uncommon. Implications: Clear guidelines including assessment preparation, modification of directions, and guidelines for parents who remain present are among the implications discussed. We also provide practical implications for continued successful adapted tele-assessments for children with ASD.

Code-related literacy profiles of kindergarten students with autism.

LAY ABSTRACT: Many children and young students with autism have difficulties learning how to read. This study investigated early literacy development in children with autism spectrum disorder during their first year of formal schooling. The study found that children with autism spectrum disorder differ greatly on their early literacy skills, with some showing strengths in their understanding of the alphabet, spelling, and reading words. Other students in the sample had difficulties with these early reading skills. The findings of this study are important to better understand the most effective way to teach early literacy skills to children with autism spectrum disorder.

Print Knowledge in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Do Child and Family Variables Play a Role?

Purpose This study aimed to examine the print knowledge of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in comparison to children who have developmental language disorder (DLD) and typically developing (TD) children as well as examine the child and family predictors of print knowledge. Method A total of 629 preschool children, including 33 children with ASD, 93 children with DLD, and 503 TD children, were the focus of the current study. Teachers completed direct assessments with the children in the fall and spring of the academic year on print knowledge using the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screener. Results Analyses of covariance were used to compare the print knowledge skills (uppercase and lowercase letter identification, print and word awareness, name writing) in the fall and spring for each of the three groups. The groups were significantly different for the Print and Word Awareness and Name Writing subtests in both the fall and spring. A Tukey's honestly significant difference further indicated that, for these subtests, the children with ASD had significantly lower scores than both the children with DLD and TD children. When examining the child and family predictors of residualized gain in print knowledge for the children with ASD, the only significant predictor for any outcome was fall scores. When examining the predictors for the full sample, fall scores, age, ASD status, and mothers' education level were significant predictors of print and word awareness and name writing scores. Conclusions None of the child and family characteristics seemed to be related to residualized gain in print knowledge for children with ASD. However, when examining predictors of residualized gain in print knowledge for the full sample, ASD status was related to lower scores for both print and word awareness and name writing.

Observing Visual Attention and Writing Behaviors During a Writing Assessment: Comparing Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder to Peers with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Typically Developing Peers.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate heterogeneous writing skills that are generally lower than their typically developing (TD) peers and similar to peers with attention difficulties like attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Recent evidence suggests children with ASD spend less time engaging in writing tasks compared to their peers, but previous studies have not examined engagement specifically within the writing task environment. This study used video observation data collected from 121 school-age children (60 children with ASD, 32 children with ADHD, and 29 TD children) to compare differences in visual attention and writing task behaviors and relationships between task behaviors and age, cognitive skills, and ASD and ADHD symptom severity. Findings indicated that groups mostly spent time looking at and writing on the draft, though this was lowest in the ASD group. No differences were found between the ASD and ADHD groups after accounting for task behavior durations as percentages of total used task time. Groups spent little time looking at their outlines and looking away from the task, with all groups spending relatively more time looking at the task picture. Time spent engaged with the draft showed a positive relationship with writing performance across groups, but a negative relationship between time spent looking at the task picture and writing performance only appeared for the ADHD group. The ASD and ADHD groups showed negative associations between draft engagement and ASD symptom severity but not ADHD symptom severity. Implications are discussed for understanding writing task engagement in research and instructional contexts. LAY SUMMARY: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate variable writing skills. Here, we examine how children with ASD engage during a writing task by using video observation data to compare their engagement to peers with and without attention difficulties. Findings indicate (a) lower draft engagement and similar task disengagement in children with ASD compared to their peers and (b) moderate-to-strong relationships between writing scores and ASD symptom severity with within-task engagement in children with ASD and their peers with attention difficulties.

A Yoga Intervention for Young Children: Self-Regulation and Emotion Regulation.

Yoga-based interventions have been implemented in schools and demonstrated promising results on students' self-regulation outcomes. Nevertheless, there is limited literature on the effects that yoga may have for children in the early primary grades, despite the evidence demonstrating that this is an opportune period in development for early self-regulation. Few studies have focused on young children living in the context of economic difficulty, which can hinder children's development of self-regulatory skills and educational trajectories. The effects of an eight-week yoga intervention on economically disadvantaged pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children's self-regulation and emotion regulation were examined via a paired within-subjects comparison study. Nine classrooms were assigned to the yoga intervention (Treatment First, TxFirst; n = 90) or a wait-list control group (Treatment Second, TxSecond; n = 64). All children were assessed at pre-intervention (Time 1), post-intervention assessment for TxFirst (Time 2), and post-intervention assessment for TxSecond (Time 3). Children demonstrated significant predicted gains on a behavioral task of self-regulation and declines in teacher-rated submissive venting and total behavior problems. Implications for future research are discussed, with a focus on including follow-up assessments and multiple dimensions of fidelity of implementation.

Targeting Oral Language and Listening Comprehension Development for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A School-Based Pilot Study.

This study investigates the effects of an integrated oral language and listening comprehension intervention for early elementary students with ASD. Students (n = 43) were randomly assigned to intervention or control comparison conditions, with intervention students receiving instruction in small groups of 3 or 4. Groups were led by special education classroom teachers 4 days per week across 20 weeks in the school year. Significant group differences were detected on measures of expressive vocabulary, narrative ability, and listening comprehension. This study provides preliminary evidence of the intervention's feasibility and effectiveness for intervening in language and early reading skills for students with ASD.

Overt planning behaviors during writing in school-age children with autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

BACKGROUND: The planning behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) during writing remain overlooked. Targeted examination of planning behaviors may help to better understand their heterogeneous writing skills. AIMS: This study examined overt planning behaviors of three groups of school-age children (ASD, ADHD, and typically developing [TD]) during the planning stage of a standardized narrative writing assessment. Aims explored group differences in time spent planning, between- and within-group differences in overt planning behaviors, and relationships between planning behaviors and writing performance as well as age, cognitive skills, and diagnostic symptom severity. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: This study included 121 9-17-year-old children (60 ASD, 32 ADHD, and 29 TD). Video recordings captured overt planning behaviors during a two-minute prewriting planning stage. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Not all participants planned, but group membership overwhelmingly did not influence planning likelihood. Groups differed in time spent engaging with the outline (29 %-70 %), with the TD group spending the most time. Groups spent similar amounts of time looking away from the task (< 10 %) and looking at the task picture (20 %-33 %). The TD and ASD groups demonstrated more similar within-group-level differences in planning behavior s, while the ADHD group appeared more variable. The ADHD and TD groups but not the ASD group showed stronger associations between planning behaviors and writing performance. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Children with ASD and ADHD differed relative to each other and to TD peers in specific planning behaviors. Implications are discussed regarding instructional practices and needed future research to examine planning during writing in children with developmental disabilities.

Secondary Analysis of Reading-Based Activities Utilizing a Scripted Language Approach: Evaluating Interactions Between Students With Autism and Their Interventionists.

Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit challenges with reading development. Evidence-based interventions and specialized approaches to reading instruction are currently being implemented across educational contexts for learners with ASD (Machalicek et al., 2008), yet there is limited understanding of how core ASD features may impact effective delivery of instruction and student participation. We begin to address this need by evaluating the reciprocity between instructional talk and student participation within a reading intervention utilizing a scripted language approach that was being piloted on students with ASD. Method This study used archival video-recorded observations from the beginning of a reading intervention to examine the interactions between 20 students (18 boys, two girls) with ASD (7-11 years old, M = 9.10, SD = 1.74) and their interventionists (n = 7). Lag sequential analysis was used to examine the frequency of student initiations and responses following the interventionists' use of responsive, open-ended, closed-ended, and directive language. Results Findings describe the types of and illustrate the variability in interactions between students and their interventionists, as well as highlight language categories that are linked to student participation. Conclusions These data provide a snapshot of the nature and quality of interactions between students with ASD and their interventionists. Findings suggest that delivery of instruction, including the language that interventionists use, may be an important area of focus when evaluating the effectiveness of reading-based practices across educational settings for learners with ASD, even within the confines of highly structured interventions.

Growth in narrative retelling and inference abilities and relations with reading comprehension in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.

Background and aims: Extant research indicates that children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) without an intellectual disability (ID) often experience difficulty comprehending written texts that is unexpected in comparison with their cognitive abilities. This study investigated the development of two key skills, narrative and inference abilities, that support higher level text comprehension and their relation to lexical-semantic knowledge, ASD symptomatology, and age. Three questions were addressed: 1.) What was the nature of narrative and inference skill development over time? 2.) What was the relation between narrative or inference development and lexical-semantic knowledge, ASD symptomatology, and age? 3.) Did initial narrative and inferencing skills, and the development of these skills, predict reading comprehension outcomes? Methods: Data from 81 children and adolescents with ASD without ID (FIQ ≥ 75) between the ages of 8-16-years-old at timepoint 1 were collected at 15-month intervals across three timepoints. ASD symptomatology was assessed with the ADOS-2. Standardized narrative retelling, inference, reading comprehension, lexical-semantic knowledge and cognitive assessments were administered. Latent growth curve models were conducted to examine narrative and inference skill development, and conditional growth models were fit to examine the relation between growth trajectories and covariates (lexical-semantic knowledge, ASD symptomatology, age) as well as with the reading comprehension distal outcome. Results: Narrative retelling skills followed a linear trajectory of growth and were a relative strength in this sample, while inference skills were well below average and declined over time relative to age-normed standard scores. Lexical-semantic knowledge explained significant heterogeneity in initial narrative and inference skills, whereas ASD symptomatology was only related to initial narrative retelling abilities and age was only related to initial inference abilities. Timepoint 3 reading comprehension skill (in the below average range) was significantly explained by initial narrative retelling and inference abilities. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that narrative retelling and inference skills are important for successful reading comprehension for individuals with ASD without ID and that lexical-semantic knowledge underpins these skills. Furthermore, the observation that ASD symptom severity was associated with narrative retelling skills is consistent with the hypothesis that problems in narrative reading skills are associated with the autism phenotype. Finally, inference skill was a particular challenge for individuals in this sample, although age was positively associated with better performance on the assessment.Implications: These findings suggest that narrative and inference skills, in addition to lexical-semantic knowledge, are important to target beginning in elementary grades to improve reading comprehension outcomes for children and adolescents with ASD without ID.

Conditional Longitudinal Relations of Elementary Literacy Skills to High School Reading Comprehension.

The present study explores the longitudinal development between Grade 3 word level reading skills and higher level semantic skills to Grade 10 reading comprehension for 3,157 students. In particular, this work focused on how the developmental relations varied for subsamples of students who are English learners (EL; N = 308), students identified as specific learning disability (SLD; N = 133), and general education (Gen Ed; N = 2,716) students who have no formal classification or diagnoses. Multiple group structural equation modeling showed that the relation between Grade 3 vocabulary and Grade 10 reading comprehension did not vary across three student subgroups when accounting for Grade 3 fluency and that when controlling for students' vocabulary, the unique effect of oral reading fluency ranged from a standardized effect of γ = .22 to γ = .39 across the three subgroups. Quantile regression using estimated factor scores revealed heterogeneous relations of component skills to reading comprehension across each subgroup.

Longitudinal stability of reading profiles in individuals with higher functioning autism.

The reading difficulties of individuals with autism spectrum disorders have been established in the literature, with particular attention drawn toward reading comprehension difficulties. Recent papers have highlighted the heterogeneous nature of reading abilities in this population by utilizing statistical methods that allow for investigations of unique reading profiles. This article extends this literature by investigating reading profiles longitudinally, to investigate the stability of reader profiles across time. Latent profile and transition analyses were conducted to establish categorically distinct reading profiles at two time points, 30 months apart. This study also examined whether age and autism symptom severity were related to the profiles at each time point. Finally, transitions between profiles at each time point were identified. Age did not predict profile membership, but there were significant differences in symptom severity that were largely stable over time. Results indicate that heterogeneous reading profiles exist within the autism population, ranging from average reading ability to severe difficulties across different reading subskills. The data from this study demonstrate that reading profiles of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders shift when examined across time.

Use of a Measure of Reading Comprehension to Enhance Prediction on the State High Stakes Assessment.

The current study examined the diagnostic accuracy of two screening measures of risk for future difficulties in reading comprehension, as well as the degree to which adding a screening measure of reading comprehension enhanced the prediction of Oral Reading Fluency to outcomes of student reading performance on the state high stakes assessment for grades 3 through 5. Data from fall and winter assessments of the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (DORF) and 4Sight Benchmark Assessment (4Sight) measures along with outcomes on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) across a total of 1000 students from 6 schools were examined using indices of diagnostic efficiency, ROC curve, and logistic regression analyses. Results showed that the addition of a measure of reading comprehension (4Sight) to DORF enhanced the decision making process for identifying students at risk for reading difficulties, especially for those students at higher elementary grades and those who achieved benchmark levels on the DORF. Although DORF alone showed a good level of prediction to the statewide assessment, the combination of the DORF plus 4Sight measures resulted consistently in the best predictive outcomes. Suggestions are made to consider alternative cut points for the DORF and 4Sight measures.

Early reading skill profiles in typically developing and at-risk first grade readers to inform targeted early reading instruction.

This study identified distinct, homogeneous latent profiles of at-risk (n = 141) and not at-risk (n = 149) first grade readers. Separate latent profile analyses were conducted with each subgroup using measures of phonological awareness, decoding, linguistic comprehension, and oral reading fluency. This study also examined which measures best differentiated the latent profiles. Finally, we examined differences on two measures of reading comprehension as a function of profile membership. Results showed two latent profiles of at-risk students and three latent profiles of not at-risk students. Latent profiles were generally rank ordered with regard to achievement across measures. However, the higher performing at-risk profile and the lowest performing not at-risk profile were nearly identical across measures. Phonological awareness and decoding measures were best at differentiating latent profiles, but linguistic comprehension was also important for the lowest performing students. Oral reading fluency was limited to distinguishing the highest achieving students from the other profiles, and did not perform well with the lower achieving profiles. Most of the pairwise comparisons of reading comprehension scores were consistent across measures, but the nearly identical profiles showed a significant difference on only one reading comprehension measure. Implications for identifying at-risk first grade readers and designing targeted early reading interventions for at-risk students are discussed.

Comparing growth in linguistic comprehension and reading comprehension in school-aged children with autism versus typically developing children.

Many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) struggle with reading comprehension. Linguistic comprehension is an important predictor of reading comprehension, especially as children progress through elementary school and later grades. Yet, there is a dearth of research examining longitudinal relations between linguistic comprehensions in school-age children with ASD compared to typically-developing peers (TD). This study compared the developmental trajectories of linguistic and reading comprehension in samples of children with ASD and age-matched TD peers. Both groups were administered measures of linguistic and reading comprehension multiple times over a 30-month period. Latent growth curve modeling demonstrated children with ASD performed at significantly lower levels on both measures at the first timepoint and these deficits persisted across time. Children with ASD exhibited growth in both skills comparable to their TD peers, but this was not sufficient to enable them to eventually achieve at a level similar to the TD group. Due to the wide age range of the sample, age was controlled and displayed significant effects. Findings suggest linguistic comprehension skills are related to reading comprehension in children with ASD, similar to TD peers. Further, intervention in linguistic comprehension skills for children with ASD should begin early and there may be a finite window in which these skills are malleable, in terms of improving reading comprehension skills. Autism Res 2018, 11: 624-635. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: There is relatively little research concerning reading comprehension development in children with ASD and how they compare to TD peers. This study found children with ASD began at lower achievement levels of linguistic comprehension and reading comprehension than TD peers, but the skills developed at a similar rate. Intervening early and raising initial levels of linguistic and reading comprehension may enable children with ASD to perform similarly to TD peers over time.

A Comprehensive Examination of Reading Heterogeneity in Students with High Functioning Autism: Distinct Reading Profiles and Their Relation to Autism Symptom Severity.

The goal of this study was to identify unique profiles of readers in a sample of 8-16 year olds with higher functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASD) and examine the profiles in relation to ASD symptom severity. Eighty-one students were assessed utilizing a comprehensive reading battery that included basic word reading, language, and comprehension. Using Latent Profile Analysis, four empirically distinct profiles of readers emerged. Next, using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (Lord et al., Autism diagnostic observation schedule, 2nd edn, Western Psychological Services, Torrance, CA, 2012), analyses were conducted to determine if significant differences existed between profiles as a result of ASD symptomatology. Findings demonstrate the heterogeneous nature of reading profiles in students with HFASD and significant differences between the reading profiles and ASD symptom severity.

The Scope and Nature of Reading Comprehension Impairments in School-Aged Children with Higher-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder.

This study of 8-16-year-olds was designed to test the hypothesis that reading comprehension impairments are part of the social communication phenotype for many higher-functioning students with autism spectrum disorder (HFASD). Students with HFASD (n = 81) were compared to those with high attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptomatology (ADHD; n = 39), or typical development (TD; n = 44), on a comprehensive battery of oral language, word recognition, and reading comprehension measures. Results indicated that students with HFASD performed significantly lower on the majority of the reading and language tasks as compared to TD and ADHD groups. Structural equation models suggested that greater ASD symptomatology was related to poorer reading comprehension outcomes; further analyses suggested that this relation was mediated by oral language skills.

Differentiating literacy growth of ELL students with LD from other high-risk subgroups and general education peers: evidence from grades 3-10.

The authors used a large data set (N = 1,011,549) to examine literacy growth over a single school year comparing general education (GenEd) students to three high-risk subgroups: English language learners (ELL), those with a specific learning disability (LD), and those identified as both LD and ELL (LD-ELL) in students in Grades 3-10. The authors were particularly interested in whether variability existed between initial status and the growth trajectories of the three high-risk groups on measures of spelling, fluency, and reading comprehension across the school year and whether this variability was differentiated because of socioeconomic status (SES) as defined by free and reduced lunch (FRL) status. Results indicate that all high-risk groups began the year at substantially lower levels than their GenEd peers, with the largest differences seen between the LD-ELL students and the other subgroups. Further results suggest that students who are in the high-risk subgroups and also qualify for FRL perform significantly worse than their peers in similar risk status groups who do not qualify for FRL, demonstrating the significant impact of SES on academic outcomes for all groups.