Literacy in nonspeaking autistic people

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

About the autistic author marker

Metadata sources used for this reference

OpenAlex Crossref OpenCitations
Learn more about the sources used

Jaswal, V. K., Lampi, A. J., & Stockwell, K. M. (2024). Literacy in nonspeaking autistic people. Autism, 28(10), 2503-2514. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613241230709

Publication date: 21 Feb 2024 Added to AutiHub: 23 Aug 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
3
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 3 (33.3%)
  1. Vikram K. Jaswal
  2. Andrew J Lampi
  3. Kayden M. Stockwell *

Abstract

Autistic people who cannot speak risk being underestimated. Their inability to speak, along with other unconventional behaviors and mannerisms, can give rise to limiting assumptions about their capacities, including their capacity to acquire literacy. In this preregistered study, we developed a task to investigate whether autistic adolescents and adults with limited or no phrase speech (N = 31) have learned English orthographic conventions. Participants played a game that involved tapping sequentially pulsing targets on an iPad as quickly as they could. Three patterns in their response times suggest they know how to spell: (a) They were faster to tap letters of the alphabet that pulsed in sequences that spelled sentences than letters or nonsense symbols that pulsed in closely matched but meaningless sequences; (b) they responded more quickly to pairs of letters in meaningful sequences the more often the letters co-occur in English; and (c) they spontaneously paused before tapping the first pulsing letter of a new word. These findings suggest that nonspeaking autistic people can acquire foundational literacy skills. With appropriate instruction and support, it might be possible to harness these skills to provide nonspeaking autistic people access to written forms of communication as an alternative to speech. Lay abstract Many autistic people who do not talk cannot tell other people what they know or what they are thinking. As a result, they might not be able to go to the schools they want, share feelings with friends, or get jobs they like. It might be possible to teach them to type on a computer or tablet instead of talking. But first, they would have to know how to spell. Some people do not believe that nonspeaking autistic people can learn to spell. We did a study to see if they can. We tested 31 autistic teenagers and adults who do not talk much or at all. They played a game on an iPad where they had to tap flashing letters. After they played the game, we looked at how fast they tapped the letters. They did three things that people who know how to spell would do. First, they tapped flashing letters faster when the letters spelled out sentences than when the letters made no sense. Second, they tapped letters that usually go together faster than letters that do not usually go together. This shows that they knew some spelling rules. Third, they paused before tapping the first letter of a new word. This shows that they knew where one word ended and the next word began. These results suggest that many autistic people who do not talk can learn how to spell. If they are given appropriate opportunities, they might be able to learn to communicate by typing.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 13 Sep 2026 01:04.

Cited references
55
With a DOI
41
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
13
1 / 55 (1.8%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
9 / 55 (16.4%)
References with detected author names
46 / 55 (83.6%)
Without detected author names
9
Without a structured title
9
Without a stable identifier
13
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
157
From DOI or external metadata
157
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
12
21 / 157 (13.4%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 136 / 157 (86.6%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
1 / 157 (0.6%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 1 / 21 (4.8%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 1 / 148 (0.7%).
  1. Norman E. Silberberg , Margaret C. Silberberg (1967). Hyperlexia—Specific Word Recognition Skills in Young Children . Exceptional Children, 34(1), 41-42. SAGE Publications.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1177/001440296703400106 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W20801777
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  2. Lorans Alabood , Travis Dow , Kate M. Kaufman , Vikram K. Jaswal , Diwakar Krishnamurthy (2023). Can Cross-Reality Help Nonspeaking Autistic People Transition to AR Typing? Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1-7. ACM.
    Type: Other DOI: 10.1145/3544549.3585859 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4366729645
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  3. Charlotte DiStefano , Wendy Shih , Ann Kaiser , Rebecca Landa , CONNIE KASARI (2016). Communication growth in minimally verbal children with ASD: The importance of interaction . Autism Research, 9(10), 1093-1102. Wiley.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1002/aur.1594 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2253954876
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  4. Morton Ann Gernsbacher (2004). Language is More than Speech: A Case Study. PubMed, 8, 79-96.
    Type: Article OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W246429913
    OpenAlex
  5. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2018). Position statement: Rapid prompting method (ASHA PS2018-00351). https://www.asha.org/policy/PS2018-00351/
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  6. Sharon Arnold , Phil Reed (2019). Measuring the word recognition abilities of children who are both verbal and nonverbal with ASD using a traditional paper‐based and a novel digital test format . British Journal of Special Education, 46(3), 340-360. Wiley.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1111/1467-8578.12279 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2964152512
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  7. Rebecca Treiman , Brett Kessler (2014). How Children Learn to Write Words . Oxford University Press.
    Type: Book DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199907977.001.0001 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W336531777
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  8. Christina L. Gagné , Thomas L. Spalding (2016). Effects of morphology and semantic transparency on typing latencies in english compound and pseudocompound words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42(9), 1489-1495. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1037/xlm0000258 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2427123482
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  9. Elizabeth Benedek-Wood , David McNaughton , Janice Light (2016). Instruction in Letter-Sound Correspondences for Children With Autism and Limited Speech . Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 36(1), 43-54. SAGE Publications.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1177/0271121415593497 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W745380760
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  10. Douglas Bates , Martin Mächler , Ben Bolker , Steve Walker (2015). Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4 . Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1). Foundation for Open Access Statistic.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.18637/jss.v067.i01 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W1951724000
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  11. Pat Mirenda (2003). “Heʼs Not Really a Reader …” . Topics in Language Disorders, 23(4), 271-282. Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health).
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1097/00011363-200310000-00003 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2021743953
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  12. Alice S. Carter , Fred R. Volkmar , Sara S. Sparrow , Jing-Jen Wang , Catherine Lord , Géraldine Dawson et al. (1998). The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales: Supplementary Norms for Individuals with Autism . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 28(4), 287-302. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1023/a:1026056518470 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W1605138144
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  13. Cristina Baus , Kristof Strijkers , Albert Costa (2013). When does word frequency influence written production? Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 963-963. Frontiers Media SA.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00963 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2122325629
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  14. Patricia Howlin , R. Kate Gordon , Greg Pasco , Angie Wade , Tony Charman (2007). The effectiveness of Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) training for teachers of children with autism: a pragmatic, group randomised controlled trial . Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48(5), 473-481. Wiley.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01707.x OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2021890103
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  15. Helen Tager‐Flusberg , CONNIE KASARI (2013). Minimally Verbal School‐Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Neglected End of the Spectrum . Autism Research, 6(6), 468-478. Wiley.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1002/aur.1329 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W1909988460
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  16. Elizabeth B. Torres , Maria Brincker , Robert W. Isenhower , Polina Yanovich , Kimberly A. Stigler , John I. Nurnberger et al. (2013). Autism: the micro-movement perspective . Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 7, 32-32. Frontiers Media SA.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2013.00032 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2014585840
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  17. Andy Bondy , Lori Frost (2001). The Picture Exchange Communication System . Behavior Modification, 25(5), 725-744. SAGE Publications.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1177/0145445501255004 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W1971939300
    Crossref OpenAlex
  18. Laurent Mottron , Alexia Ostrolenk , David Gagnon (2021). In Prototypical Autism, the Genetic Ability to Learn Language Is Triggered by Structured Information, Not Only by Exposure to Oral Language . Genes, 12(8), 1112. MDPI AG.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.3390/genes12081112 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W3175339785
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  19. David Koppenhaver , Deborah Evans , David Yoder (1991). Childhood reading and writing experiences of literate adults with severe speech and motor impairments . Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 7(1), 20-33. Informa UK Limited.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1080/07434619112331275653 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W1997818187
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  20. (n.d.). CommunicationFIRST. (2023, July 11). The words we use. https://communicationfirst.org/the-words-we-use/
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  21. Andrew Bondy , Lori Frost (1998). The Picture Exchange Communication System . Seminars in Speech and Language, 19(04), 373-389. Georg Thieme Verlag KG.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1055/s-2008-1064055 10.1177/0145445501255004 10.1177/108835769400900301
    OpenCitations
  22. Nicole J. Conrad , Nicholas Harris , Jennifer Williams (2013). Individual differences in children’s literacy development: the contribution of orthographic knowledge . Reading and Writing, 26(8), 1223-1239. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1007/s11145-012-9415-2 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2094421881
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  23. Diwakar Krishnamurthy , Vikram K. Jaswal , Ahmadreza Nazari , Ali Shahidi , Pranav Subbaraman , Mea Wang (2022). HoloType: Lived Experience Based Communication Training for Nonspeaking Autistic People . CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts, 1-6. ACM.
    Type: Other DOI: 10.1145/3491101.3519869 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4225135329
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  24. Jean-Baptiste Michel , Yuan Kui Shen , Aviva Presser Aiden , Adrian Veres , Matthew K. Gray , The Google Books Team et al. (2011). Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books . Science, 331(6014), 176-182. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1126/science.1199644 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2019096529
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  25. John N. Constantino (2013). Social Responsiveness Scale . In Encyclopedia of autism spectrum disorders (pp. 2919). Springer New York.
    Type: Book chapter DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_296 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4232252309
    Crossref OpenAlex
  26. Timothy A. Salthouse (1984). Effects of age and skill in typing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 113(3), 345-371. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1037/0096-3445.113.3.345 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2127519553
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  27. Susan R. Copeland , Jessica A. McCord , Ashley Kruger (2016). A Review of Literacy Interventions for Adults With Extensive Needs for Supports . Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 60(2), 173-184. Wiley.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1002/jaal.548 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2323173465
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  29. Chiara Santolin , Jenny R. Saffran (2018). Constraints on Statistical Learning Across Species . Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 22(1), 52-63. Elsevier BV.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2017.10.003 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2769821349
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  30. Michael N. Jones , D. J. K. Mewhort (2004). Case-sensitive letter and bigram frequency counts from large-scale English corpora . Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36(3), 388-396. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.3758/bf03195586 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2063050588
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  31. Cheryl Ostryn , Pamela S. Wolfe , Frank R. Rusch (2008). A Review and Analysis of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders Using a Paradigm of Communication Competence . Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 33(1-2), 13-24. SAGE Publications.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.2511/rpsd.33.1-2.13 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2085738882
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  32. Karen A. Erickson , Lori A. Geist (2016). The profiles of students with significant cognitive disabilities and complex communication needs . Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 32(3), 187-197. Informa UK Limited.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1080/07434618.2016.1213312 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2495967143
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  33. Suzanne Goh , Agnes H. Whitaker , Judith Feldman , Mary Beth Cull , Ken Hoyte , Molly Algermissen et al. (2013). Teaching non-verbal children with autistic disorder to read and write: a pilot study . International Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 59(2), 95-107. Informa UK Limited.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1179/2047387713y.0000000014 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2103349513
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  34. Deborah Fein , Yoko Kamio (2014). Commentary on The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida . Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 35(8), 539-542. Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health).
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1097/dbp.0000000000000098 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2321741726
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  35. Svetlana Pinet , Johannes C. Ziegler , F.-Xavier Alario (2016). Typing is writing: Linguistic properties modulate typing execution . Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 23(6), 1898-1906. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.3758/s13423-016-1044-3 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2343585739
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  36. Foley B. (2010). Language, literacy, and AAC issues for transition-age youth . Language, literacy, and AAC issues for transition-age youth, 35.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  37. Gernsbacher M. A. (2004). Language is more than speech: A case study. Journal of Developmental and Learning Disorders, 8, 79–96. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4266410/
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  38. Robin A.A. Ince , Jim W. Kay , Philippe G. Schyns (2022). Within-participant statistics for cognitive science . Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 26(8), 626-630. Elsevier BV.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2022.05.008 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4282832562
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  39. Alexandra Kuznetsova , Per B. Brockhoff , Rune H. B. Christensen (2017). lmerTest Package: Tests in Linear Mixed Effects Models . Journal of Statistical Software, 82(13). Foundation for Open Access Statistic.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.18637/jss.v082.i13 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2774486220
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  40. Sylvie Serret , Stéphanie Hun , Susanne Thümmler , Prescillia Pierron , Andreia Santos , Jérémy Bourgeois et al. (2017). Teaching Literacy Skills to French Minimally Verbal School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders with the Serious Game SEMA-TIC: An Exploratory Study . Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1523-1523. Frontiers Media SA.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01523 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2753644365
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  41. Lindsey Thiel , Paul Conroy (2022). ‘I think writing is everything’: An exploration of the writing experiences of people with aphasia . International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 57(6), 1381-1398. Wiley.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984.12762 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4289937719
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  42. Robin AA Ince , Angus T Paton , Jim W Kay , Philippe G Schyns (2021). Bayesian inference of population prevalence . eLife, 10. eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.7554/elife.62461 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W3204890017
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  43. Vikram K. Jaswal , Allison Wayne , Hudson Golino (2020). Eye-tracking reveals agency in assisted autistic communication . Scientific Reports, 10(1), 7882. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-64553-9 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W3024768142
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  44. Helen Tager‐Flusberg , Daniela Plesa Skwerer , Robert M Joseph , Brianna Brukilacchio , Jessica Decker , Brady Eggleston et al. (2017). Conducting research with minimally verbal participants with autism spectrum disorder . Autism, 21(7), 852-861. SAGE Publications.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1177/1362361316654605 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2474377819
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  45. Leary M. R. (1995). Autism: Sensory-movement differences and diversity . Autism: Sensory-movement differences and diversity.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  46. Lenth R. V. (2022). emmeans: Estimated marginal means, aka least-squares means (R Package Version 1. 8. 6). https://CRAN . R-project.org/package=emmeans
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  47. National Reading Panel, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction: Reports of the subgroups. National Institutes of Health. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/nrp/Documents/report.pdf
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  48. Anne Snow (2013). Social Communication Questionnaire . In Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders (pp. 2893-2895). Springer New York.
    Type: Book chapter DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_1651 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4250855288
    OpenAlex
  49. R Core Team. (2022). R: A language and environment for statistical computing (Version 4. 2. 2). R Foundation for Statistical Computing. https://www . R-project.org/
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  50. RStudio Team. (2023). RStudio: Integrated development for R (Version 2023. 06. 0+421). RStudio, Inc. https://www.rstudio.com/
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  51. Rutter M. (2003). Social Communication Questionnaire . Social communication questionnaire.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  52. Sara S. Sparrow (2011). Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales . In Encyclopedia of clinical neuropsychology (pp. 2618-2621). Springer New York.
    Type: Book chapter DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_1602 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4301049852
    OpenAlex
  53. Sparrow S. S. (2005). Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales . Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  54. Vallet G. T. (2022). statxp: Filter data, format and export statistical results (R Package Version 0. 2). https://rdrr.io/github/Cogitos/statxp/
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  55. (n.d.). Zisk A. H., Konyn L., Niemeijer D. (2023, June 12). What AAC terminology should I use?—Insights from a community survey. AssistiveWare. https://www.assistiveware.com/blog/aac-terminology-survey
    Type: Other
    Crossref