The home literacy environment of school‐age autistic children with high support needs

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundAs a group, autistic children with high support needs (with adaptive functioning in the range of an intellectual disability) are at risk of significant literacy difficulties. We investigated the parent‐reported home literacy environment of this group of children.MethodSixty‐two parents of autistic children (4.5 to 18.25 years) attending an autism‐specific school completed a home literacy survey reporting on their child's: (1) alphabet knowledge, (2) interest in reading, (3) activities/interactions around books, (4) reading ability, and (5) writing ability.ResultsWe found significant positive correlations between parent‐reported child interest in reading and literacy‐related interactions and skills, but not with child age. Children using spoken words to communicate obtained significantly greater scores on four home‐literacy subscales, but not on reading interest.ConclusionsA better understanding of the home literacy activities of autistic children with high‐support needs is needed to inform educational practices aimed at promoting literacy development in this vulnerable population.