Reading Comprehension Interventions for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

We conducted two separate but related single-case studies using alternating treatment designs to investigate the effects of two single-component reading interventions: question development and anaphoric cueing. In each study, we compared a typical intervention approach (Study 1, question development; Study 2, anaphoric cueing) with an alternate approach that included the addition of applied behavior analysis (ABA) techniques. The treatments that included ABA techniques were designed to improve the performance of students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) on curriculum-based measures (CBM) of reading and on-task behavior measures during the reading tasks. The ABA techniques included the use of visual supports, a token economy, and the use of readings based on the perseverative interests of students. Four students in Grades 3 to 5 identified with ASD participated—two students in each study. Study 1 evaluated the relative effects of question development plus ABA compared with question development on CBM reading probes and an on-task behavior measure for two students. Study 2 evaluated the relative effects of anaphoric cueing plus ABA compared with anaphoric cueing on CBM reading probes and an on-task behavior measure for two students. The results indicated that the treatments that included ABA techniques were more effective than treatments that did not include ABA. These data support the use of ABA techniques for the enhancement of question development and anaphoric cueing as a means to improve reading comprehension and on-task behavior for students with ASD.

Teaching Reading Comprehension to Learners With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Predictors of Teacher Self‐efficacy and Outcome Expectancy

“…However, relevant reviews have identified a number of effective practices (Accardo, ; El Zein, Solis, Vaughn, & McCulley, ; Finnegan & Mazin, ). Identified effective practices include anaphoric cueing (Solis, McCulley, & Zein, ), compare and contrast diagrams (Carnahan & Williamson, ), cooperative learning (Kamps, Barbetta, Leonard, & Delquadri, ; Kamps, Leonard, Potucek, & Garrison‐Harrell, ; Whalon & Hanline, ), direct/explicit instruction (Flores & Ganz, ; Flores & Ganz, ; Roux, Dion, Barrette, Dupere, & Fuchs, ), graphic organizers (Carnahan & Williamson, ), question generation (Hua et al., ), read‐alouds (Mims, Hudson, & Browder, ), reciprocal questioning (Whalon & Hanline, ), story structure maps/character event maps (Stringfield, Luscre, & Gast, ; Williamson, Carnahan, Birri, & Swoboda, ), and systematic prompts (Mims et al., ). Of the instructional practices, only systematic prompts and visual supports, for example, graphic organizers and diagrams, have been identified as evidence based (Knight & Sartini, ).…”

Enhancing the Reading Development of Learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…In understanding the relationship between pronouns and referents, students with ASD have improved their comprehension of text. 73,74 Solis and colleagues found that scores were higher when anaphoric cueing was paired with a graphic organizer, token economy, and selection of books based on interest, rather than anaphoric cueing alone. 74 Corrective reading is a direct instruction program that has been used to teach learners with ASD (ages 11 to 14) to interpret sentences.…”

“…73,74 Solis and colleagues found that scores were higher when anaphoric cueing was paired with a graphic organizer, token economy, and selection of books based on interest, rather than anaphoric cueing alone. 74 Corrective reading is a direct instruction program that has been used to teach learners with ASD (ages 11 to 14) to interpret sentences. 75,76 Participants identified whether they had enough information to answer a question, then used a fact statement to determine if a given scenario was possible, completed analogies, and/ or created a rule given a statement about a phenomenon.…”

Understanding Character Perspective: Strategies to Support Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…The Question–Answer Relationship (QAR) strategy (Raphael, ) and other questioning techniques have been shown to assist students with ASD with reading comprehension (Åsberg & Dahlgren Sandberg, ; Solis et al., ; Whalon & Hanline, ). QARs are useful in that they frame questions in ways that encourage readers to make inferences and to become aware of the relationship between the type of question being asked and the strategy needed to find the answer.…”

“…Alternatively, a graphic organizer can be used to help students with ASD find all the possible pronouns referring to a particular character (Solis, El Zein, Vaughn, McCulley, & Falcomata, 2016). Adding a visual organizer to anaphoric cueing techniques was found to be effective when used alongside texts that appealed to students' interests (Williamson et al, 2015).…”