Journal Article

The Relationship Between Parent Report of Adaptive Behavior and Direct Assessment of Reading Ability in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Simpson, Ian Craig, Arciuli, Joanne, Stevens, Kirsten, Trembath, David

2013

Overview

Purpose: This study was designed to shed light on the profile of reading ability in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A key aim was to examine the relationship between parent report of adaptive behavior and direct assessment of reading ability in these children. Method: The authors investigated children's reading ability using the Wide Range Achievement Test-Fourth Edition (Wilkinson & Robertson, 2006) and the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability-Third Edition (Neale, 2007). Parent report data was collected using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-Second Edition (Sparrow, Cicchetti, & Balla, 2005). Participants were 21 children with ASD (6-11 years) and their primary caregivers. Results: Direct assessment of children's reading ability showed that some children with ASD have difficulty learning to read and exhibit particular weaknesses in comprehension. The results revealed positive relationships between Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales scores in the Adaptive Communication domain and direct assessment of children's reading ability across 3 measures of reading (word-level accuracy, passage-level accuracy, and passage-level comprehension). Conclusions: Although literacy levels vary among children with ASD, some clearly struggle with reading. There is a significant relationship between parent self-report of adaptive behavior and direct assessment of children's reading ability.

• Publisher: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA),American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
• Subject: Ability / Accuracy / Achievement tests / Adaptation, Psychological / Adaptive behavior / Adjustment (to Environment) / Asperger Syndrome - psychology / Australia / Autism / Autistic children / Autistic Disorder - psychology / Behavior / Behavior Rating Scales / Caregivers / Child / Child Behavior / Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - psychology / Children / Children & youth / Communication Disorders - psychology / Comprehension / Correlation / Dyslexia - psychology / Education / Evaluation / Female / Home and school / Humans / Language Skills / Lifelong Learning / Literacy / Longitudinal Studies / Male / Measures / Neale Analysis of Reading Ability / Parent Attitudes / Parent participation / Parent Role / Parent-Child Relations / Parents / Parents & parenting / Pervasive Developmental Disorders / Reading / Reading Ability / Reading achievement / Reading acquisition / Reading Comprehension / Reading difficulties / Reading Skills / Self evaluation / Self Report / Studies / Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales / Wide Range Achievement Test / Word Recognition