The Contribution of Perceptual Reasoning Skills to Phonological Awareness for School Age Autistic Children.
Charlotte Rimmer, Gwenaëlle Philibert-Lignières, Grace Iarocci and 1 others
PMID 36626002WHAT IT FOUND
School-age autistic children matched for cognitive skills scored similarly to non-autistic peers on phonological awareness.
For autistic children, phonological awareness correlated with perceptual reasoning skills, not verbal skills. This suggests using visual and perceptual strengths in literacy instruction.
Key findings
01Autistic and non-autistic children performed similarly on the phonological awareness task when groups were matched for age and cognitive skills.
02Within the autistic group, phonological awareness skills showed a significant positive correlation with perceptual reasoning skills.
03Perceptual reasoning skills were the only significant predictor of phonological awareness skills for autistic participants in the regression analysis.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Small sample sizes (18 autistic children in Study 1, 35 in Study 2) limit generalizability. Study 1 excluded children with intellectual disability (IQ < 70), so findings may not apply to those with higher support needs. The phonological awareness task was untimed, which may differ from clinical or educational settings. Sex distribution was uneven, with significantly more males in the autistic group.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Funding was provided by the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships Program, Fonds de Recherche Québec Santé, and McGill University’s William Dawson Scholar Program.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that autistic children universally have typical phonological awareness. This study found comparable performance only when groups were matched for cognitive skills; children with lower verbal or non-verbal abilities may still present with challenges.