A meta-analysis on the reading comprehension skills of individuals with autism spectrum disorders

Brown, H. M., Cardy, J. O., & Johnson, A. M. (2013). A meta-analysis on the reading comprehension skills of individuals with autism spectrum disorders. University of Alberta Library. https://doi.org/10.7939/r30p0x46m

Publication date: 1 Jan 2013 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

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Abstract

This meta-analysis examined 36 studies comparing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and control groups in reading comprehension. Three moderators (semantic knowledge, decoding skill, PIQ) and two text types (high vs. low social knowledge) were examined as predictors of reading comprehension in ASD. The overall standardized mean difference for reading comprehension was g = −0.7 SD. The strongest individual predictors of reading comprehension were semantic knowledge (explaining 57 % of variance) and decoding skill (explaining 55 % of variance). Individuals with ASD were significantly worse at comprehending highly social than less social texts. Having ASD alone does not predict reading comprehension deficits. Instead, individual skills, especially language ability, must be considered before one can accurately predict whether a given individual with ASD will experience difficulties in reading comprehension.

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