An In-Depth Analysis of Expository Writing in Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder

Hilvert, Elizabeth; Davidson, Denise; Scott, Cheryl M.

doi:10.1007/s10803-019-04057-2

Cited by 11 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…While time spent looking away initially appeared elevated in the ASD and ADHD groups, these groups did not appear increasingly disengaged compared to their TD peers after accounting for durations as task time percentage. As attention and broader executive function difficulties are potential factors contributing to writing difficulties in children with ASD and ADHD [Graham et al, 2016; Hilvert et al, 2019; Zajic et al, 2018], these findings suggest that challenges may manifest more at the individual rather than the group level (see Fig. 1).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…More research is needed to understand the comorbidity of ASD and ADHD symptoms [Deprey & Ozonoff, 2018; Pliszka, 2015] and their implications for written language development. This could be especially important given the nonsignificant relationships observed between ADHD symptom severity and task behaviors in the ASD group yet recent findings highlighting relationships between executive function skills and writing skills in children with ASD [Hilvert et al, 2019].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Poor handwriting skills may lead to children ending the task sooner due to frustration or to engaging for the full task but composing less advanced text. Some research studies have collected typed rather than handwritten responses [e.g., Brown et al, 2014; Hilvert et al, 2019, 2020], and future research might consider collecting transcription and text generation skills across both modalities. Fourth, the current study did not exhaustively explore relationships between language skills and task behaviors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Children with ASD demonstrate diverse transcription and text generation skills [Finnegan & Accardo, 2018; Kushki, Chau, & Anagnostou, 2011; Zajic & Wilson, 2020] with a relatively high rate of significant challenges [Mayes & Calhoun, 2006]. Empirical studies examining associated processes remain limited [see Zajic & Wilson, 2020], but cognitive, attention and executive function, language, and social communication skills have been highlighted as potential factors influencing writing development heterogeneity [Brown, Johnson, Smyth, & Oram Cardy, 2014; Dockrell, Ricketts, Charman, & Lindsay, 2014; Hilvert, Davidson, & Gámez, 2020; Hilvert, Davidson, & Scott, 2019; Johnson et al, 2013; Mayes & Calhoun, 2006, 2008; Zajic et al, 2018; Zajic, Solari, Grimm, McIntyre, & Mundy, 2020].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While these assessment environments differ in their social and physical affordances, both are important when thinking about the writing skills of children with ASD, as psychoeducational assessments are commonplace in school and research contexts [see Caterino, 2014; Corbett & Iqbal, 2018]. Findings have suggested attention and executive function skills influence both transcription and text generation skills in children with ASD [Dirlikov et al, 2017; Hilvert et al, 2019; Zajic et al, 2018]. However, studies have not often examined direct task engagement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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

et al. 2020

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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.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%