Reading in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Literature Review

Abstract

Objective: To review what the literature says about reading abilities of children on the autism spectrum (autism spectrum disorders, ASD) as well as to assess the results of intervention proposals. The broad ASD diagnosis used in the last decades and the resulting changes in the prevalence of these disorders have led to a relevant increase in the number of children diagnosed with ASD in the school system. The purpose of this review is to identify the different profiles of reading abilities shown by children with ASD described in the recent literature and the results of reported intervention methods. Methods: A review of the literature was conducted in the Web of Sciences and PubMed databases with the keywords ‘autism' AND ‘read*' and the filter 2010-2015. All articles published in the last 5 years focusing on description of and intervention for reading abilities in individuals with ASD were included. Review articles were excluded. Results: The selected 58 articles were divided into those that described reading abilities in individuals with ASD (n = 27) and those that reported intervention procedures for reading development (n = 31). Conclusions: Direct comparisons and associations were prevented due to different inclusion criteria and lack of detailed information about intervention processes. We propose tentative conclusions that should be confirmed by further studies.