Relationships between reading profiles and narrative writing abilities in school-age children with autism spectrum disorder

This study adopted a reading-to-writing framework to examine if school-age children differ in their narrative writing performance based on their categorically heterogeneous, empirically derived latent reading profiles. Sixty-four school-age (10 –18 years old) children with ASD without co-occurring intellectual or severe communication difficulties completed a battery of reading and writing assessments, and reading profiles were examined using latent profile analysis with narrative writing skills, ASD symptom severity, and age included as auxiliary outcome variables.Average readers demonstrated significantly higher narrative writing performance compared toBelow Average/Intact Receptive Vocabulary,Comprehension Disturbance, andGlobal Disturbance readers. Subgroups of readers with reading difficulties did not significantly differ on writing outcomes. While findings support that stronger readers appeared to be also stronger writers, questions remain about differences in the writing skills of individuals with ASD with specific or broad reading difficulties. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed regarding the need for continued examination into the reading and writing abilities of children with ASD.
Source: Reading and Writing - Category: Child Development Source Type: research