Autistic children showed reading progress during online literacy study amid pandemic restrictions
Flinders University researchers found autistic children made significant reading gains through online instruction during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Study design shifted to online format
The original plan involved small-group face-to-face literacy instruction for students in an area of sociodemographic inequity. Stay-at-home orders issued midway through the project forced a change from in-person sessions to one-to-one online delivery.
Reading comprehension scores lagged behind word reading
Professor Joanne Arciuli noted that autistic children often face diverse reading profiles with specific difficulties in comprehension. Previous research involving more than 1,200 children showed average word reading scores were higher than reading comprehension scores.
New tools fill a care gap
The feasibility study results were published in the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Developing useful tools for this area of literacy teaching addresses a gap in autistic care.
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