Literature Review: Reading Comprehension Strategies for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder
By: Nicole Martinez
This issue of NASET’s Autism Spectrum Disorder series was written by Nicole Martinez. Over the past few decades, the number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has increased. Teachers face the demands to meet the needs of students with ASD. “About 1 in 36 children has been identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) according to estimates from CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network” (Maenner et al., 2023) “autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact with others, communicate, learn, and behave. Although autism can be diagnosed at any age, it is described as a “developmental disorder” because symptoms appear in the first 2 years of life” (Autism Spectrum Disorder, n.d.-b). Students with ASD usually have additional comorbid disorders that can significantly impact their daily lives. One of the coexisting disorders is difficulties in reading comprehension. Reading comprehension is crucial to not only understand the elements of a story, but to also access any other content areas in school. Reading comprehension is the ability to read, understand, embody, and interact with the text. This article presents a literature review of reading comprehension strategies for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Introduction
Over the past few decades, the number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has increased. Teachers face the demands to meet the needs of students with ASD. “About 1 in 36 children has been identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) according to estimates from CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network” (Maenner et al., 2023) “autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact with others, communicate, learn, and behave. Although autism can be diagnosed at any age, it is described as a “developmental disorder” because symptoms appear in the first 2 years of life” (Autism Spectrum Disorder, n.d.-b).
Students with ASD usually have additional comorbid disorders that can significantly impact their daily lives. One of the coexisting disorders is difficulties in reading comprehension. Reading comprehension is crucial to not only understand the elements of a story, but to also access any other content areas in school. Reading comprehension is the ability to read, understand, embody, and interact with the text. “Reading comprehension is the foundation for all other academic skills. It helps children build vocabulary, learn about the world, and understand complex concepts” (Elizabeth, 2022). Decoding or reading the actual words in the text is not a major issue with students with ASD. Special and general education teachers need training in evidence-based strategies and utilize evidence-based strategies when instructing students with ASD. This instruction helps the students compensate for their reading comprehension difficulties.
Purpose
The purpose of this literature review is to evaluate reading comprehension interventions used for students with ASD and the effectiveness of those interventions. I conducted a search for scientific articles published from 2000 to 2023 using the key phrase reading comprehension and ASD. The search engines used were ERIC, SAGE, and FIU Library. The FIU Library led me to additional sites which are in the references. Students with ASD benefit from the instruction they receive when specific interventions and reading comprehension strategies are used. However, the students must utilize the strategies when actively reading. It is important to note that one must look carefully at these studies before making conclusions. According to Brown et al. (2012) the amount of the difference in reading comprehension scores compared between the groups with ASD and controls seemed to vary within two standard deviations throughout the studies in which there were reading comprehension shortfalls. This suggests that additional variabilities may be the cause of reading comprehension challenges for these students. “This large variability in the magnitude of reading comprehension deficits in individuals with ASD across studies suggests that there may be factors beyond a diagnosis of ASD that influence the degree of the reading comprehension difficulties in a given sample” (Brown et al., 2012).
Theories
A few theories have tried to explain why ASD students may have challenges comprehending the text. The first theory is Theory of Mind which refers to the ability to understand others’ point of view. This deficit would make it challenging for students with ASD to identify the characters feelings, motivations, and development within a story. This theory explains how social challenges may impact reading comprehension. The second is Executive Functioning which looks at the ability to self-monitor activities and its effect on comprehension. Self-monitoring is an important skill to have for reading comprehension. Students are expected to sequence a story, organize their thoughts, and monitor their thinking when reading a story which may be challenging for students with ASD. The third is Central coherence, “the ability to perceive and connect salient information in a context such as a narrative text. Individuals with autism exhibit a detail-focused cognitive style of processing information that overlooks connections and shows weak central coherence” (Engel & Ehri, 2020). Students need to put together details from the story to produce a theme which may be hard for students with ASD. A research review was done to analyze the following: To determine effective strategies for teaching reading comprehension strategies to students with ASD.
Priming
Priming is one effective way to prepare ASD students for new content or reading comprehension strategies. Priming is a technique used to prepare a student with ASD for an activity that they will have to complete by having the student to preview an activity before it is given to the student. The students preview materials with a teacher or peer before the classroom use of content. “Reported benefits of priming include increased academic responding and decreased disruptive behaviors” (Carnahan et al., 2009; Koegel et al., 2003). Priming may be a beneficial support to use for reading comprehension for students with ASD since activating background knowledge for these students has its challenges. According to Gately, 2008, language deficits in ASD students has an effect their general knowledge or background knowledge. “This deficit has been shown to cause difficulty in accessing relevant knowledge and integrating it with what is in the text” (Westby, 2004; Gately 2008). It is important for teachers to provide background knowledge that helps the students make connections with the text to help with comprehension. Without background knowledge students will have a tough time making connections which will hinder their ability to comprehend the text.
Semantics
Semantic knowledge is another essential concept needed to comprehend the text. Understanding the meaning of vocabulary words is important to comprehend the text. “Knowledge of word meanings, along with the richness and quality of those representations, is central to comprehension” (Nation 2005; Perfetti et al. 2005; Stothers and Oram Cardy 2012; Brown et al., 2012). Interestingly, impaired semantic knowledge does not appear to be universal according to studies. According to Brown et al. 2012, studies have shown that students with ASD have weak semantic knowledge. More studies need to be reviewed to determine this belief.
Visual Supports
Another important skill for reading comprehension is to have the ability to create mental images. Due to a weak central coherence, making mental images may be challenging for ASD students. “Visual supports, such as creating mental images, are crucial for assisting students with ASD to understand both literal and nonliteral constructs” (Nguyen et al., 2015; Styslinger, 2012).
According to Omar and Bidin (2015) providing visual supports are instrumental for individuals with autism, but getting the correct combination of the strategy and creativity is especially important. However, the studies which looked at the effect of sequencing with text and pictures on a laptop, the choice of the order was dependent on the learner’s background knowledge too. According to Omar & Bidin (2015), it was found that it is better to use fonts between 10-14 when the text is used alongside the pictures. According to Bethune and Wood (2013), a method suggested for increasing reading comprehension skills for struggling readers (e.g., students with learning disabilities) is graphic organizers (Jiang & Grabe, 2007). Studies have also suggested that graphic organizers should help students with ASD comprehend the text. Graphic organizers are visuals that help students organize important points from the text. The students can use the graphic organizers digitally or on paper. The organizers help the students organize their thoughts about the text as well as key details from the text that relate to a specific reading skill such as main idea and details. “Visually cued instruction, including graphics, story/visual maps, and goal structure mapping, can help students with ASD focus on key information, increase independence and memory” (Gately, 2008; Bethune & Wood, 2013).
Direct Instruction
Shortfalls in oral language are distinctive in students with ASD which may impact deficits in reading comprehension. “Nation and Norbury (2005) remarked that deficits in oral language are a hallmark of ASD, which likely contributes to impairments in reading comprehension” (Flores, & Ganz, J. B., 2007). Research suggests that these oral language skills be dealt with first when providing interventions for comprehension. Direct instruction (DI) is structured, scripted, and explicit instruction. ASD students diagnosed with language deficits receive services from a Speech Language Pathologist to address these concerns. Typically, language interventions include reading comprehension goals. “DI reading comprehension programs have resulted in improved reading comprehension when used with children at risk for school failure” (Carlson & Francis, 2002; Grossen, 2004; Flores & Ganz, 2007). Researchers conducted studies with high functioning ASD students. “In this study, we examined the relevance of offering explicit reading comprehension instruction to students with high functioning ASD. Compared with their peers who did not receive this instruction, students in the intervention condition made important gains in vocabulary knowledge and identification of main ideas” (Roux et al., 2014). These studies did not compare direct instruction to other reading comprehension strategies, so the study has a limitation.
Parent Collaboration
Research studies show that parental involvement and collaboration have a positive impact on student progress. According to Roberts, when parents are shown how to model their own use of comprehension skills and support their kids to use the same skills at home, it helps children improve their comprehension of narrative fictional texts (Roberts, 2013). In another study by Patell and Robinson, “a meta-analysis of 14 studies that manipulated parent training for homework involvement reveals that training parents to be involved in their child’s homework results in (a) higher rates of homework completion, (b) fewer homework problems, and (c) possibly, improved academic performance among elementary school children” (Patall et al., 2008). These studies show that it would be helpful if parents were informed on the research behind the use of comprehension strategies. This would not only help their ASD child with reading comprehension, but these graphic organizers could also be used for other skills or tasks at home. This would require parent education on the research behind the use of the strategies and training them on how to use the strategies. Graphic organizers could be provided to the parents along with instructions on how to use them. The graphic organizers can be used to help their child outline a chapter of science to prepare for a test to study. A prewriting graphic organizer can help the parents assist their child in the writing process when they are assigned an essay. These prewriting graphic organizers include a writing web and beginning, middle, and end (BME). Get the Gist graphic organizers could be used to help the student summarize a text at home. The 5 W’s Graphic organizer could be used for the student to identify the who, what, where, when and why of a story read at home. Perspective taking graphic organizers can be used for social scenarios to help the parents assist the child in understanding other perspectives. Parents can use a chart for multiple perspectives (CHAMP) when their child is reading a story at home or discussing a situation that entails different perspectives. This is an important aspect to understand when reading and comprehending narrative texts. All the above can help the student comprehend a story read or study at home to prepare for a quiz or test.
Conclusion
In conclusion, students with ASD may struggle with comprehending the text due to coexisting conditions such as language impairment, oral language deficits, challenges to make mental images, and inability to see others’ perspectives. Providing proper reading comprehension strategies along with direct instruction have a positive impact on the comprehension of students with ASD. Four reading comprehension strategies that have shown a positive impact on comprehension are priming, graphic organizers, direct instruction, and vocabulary instruction. In addition, training parents on how to use these same strategies at home and providing them with the necessary resources may have a positive impact on the ASD student’s ability to comprehend text.
References
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