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Correlates of EARLY Reading Skills in Children with ASD
Early reading abilities, also referred to as hyperlexia, is a phenomenon that has been reported in many children with ASD (5-10%), but poorly explored.
Objectives:
to describe correlates of hyperlexia in ASD
Methods:
26 children with ASD (age 3 to 11) and early reading skills as documented by a standardized developmental reading assessment (ranging from letter recognition to text reading and comprehension), were assessed regarding global intelligence (Raven Colored Progressive Maps CPM), repetitive behaviours (Repetitive Behaviour Questionnaire RBQ) and Hypersystemiztion (Empathy Questionnaire/Systemization Questionnaire EQ-SQ)
Results:
The average age of onset of t early reading skills was 3 years. Intelligence was normal in most cases.
A fascination with letters, words and especially for logos and written classical Arabic was noted. Difficulties in non-word decoding involved visual rather than phonological reading strategies.
High scores of RBQ (Insistence on Sameness) were also noted.
A compulsive reading was noted in half of cases with high scores on hypersystemization.
Conclusions:
Hyperlexia in ASD could be a stereotyped behavior and a limited interest, related to an anticipated and regular pattern in reading (e.g. alphabet, same rules…). It is hence to be considered as an autistic feature if only limited to superficial reading ability and should be used in interventions aiming at improving social communication skills.