Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the direct and indirect relationships between autism traits and listening comprehension among Chinese preschool children with autism, of varying verbal and non-verbal IQ. Ninety-eight (N = 98) children aged from 35 to 86 months participated in the study. Autism traits were measured with the Chinese version of the Autism Spectrum Quotient: Children’s Version (AQ-Child) (Auyeung et al., J Autism Dev Disord 38:1230–1240. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-007-0504-z, 2008). We found that among all five autism traits, social skills and imagination deficits were closely associated with overall listening comprehension. Specifically, children’s imagination, communication, and social skills had direct effects on their listening comprehension of literal statements. Attention switching had an indirect effect on listening comprehension of inferential statements. We discuss the findings in relation to previous research on listening comprehension from a situation model perspective. The research has practical implications concerning the improvement of listening comprehension skills among children with autism spectrum disorder.
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Notes
A kindergarten in mainland China is a pre-school institution. It is not part of compulsory education and it serves children from ages 3–6. There are government and non-government kindergartens. The government kindergartens are subsidized by the government but the parents still pay for their children to attend. The non-government kindergartens have to come up with their own funds and the operation mainly depends on tuition. In 2015 (Chinese Ministry of Education, MOE, 2015), there were a total of 146,376 non-governmental kindergartens in China serving 23 million children. The specific kindergarten in which our study took place is a non-government kindergarten. It was certified by the local educational bureau and also, because it enrolls children with special needs, it was contracted by the municipal branch of China’s Disabled Person’s Federation (DPF). Families with disabled children who have an annual household income lower than a certain amount qualify to receive government subsidies for special education until the child reaches 16 (the age cap varies from city to city). The subsidies can only be redeemed if the child attends a kindergarten or school that is contracted by the local branch of the DPF.
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Funding was provided by Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (No. 20YJC740102).
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Zhao, J., Gao, Z., Lai, J. et al. The relationship between autism traits and listening comprehension among Chinese preschool children with autism spectrum disorder. Read Writ 36, 1441–1459 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-021-10216-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-021-10216-8