Attention and basic literacy and numeracy in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A one-year follow-up study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2014.10.010Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We examined word reading and numerical operations in children with ASD.

  • We investigated if attention constrained academic performances one year later.

  • Academic performance in ASD was similar to typically developing children.

  • Children with ASD made more attention switching errors.

  • Attentional components correlated with word reading and numerical operations.

Abstract

Little is known about the link between Executive Functioning (EF) and academic performance in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and how such links develop over time. This study examined word reading, basic mathematics, attention switching, sustained attention and their development. Two age, gender and perceptual IQ matched groups of cognitively able 7–12 year olds (ASD N = 40; typical developing [TYP] N = 40) were assessed at baseline and one year later, completing Word Reading and Numerical Operations tests and computerized tasks tapping attention switching and sustained attention. Children with ASD had similar word reading and numerical operations performance and similar development of these skills relative to TYP children. A delay in attention switching but similar development was found in children with ASD relative to TYP children. The EF tasks were correlated with reading and mathematics in ASD children only, however, in regression analyses these factors were not significant predictors of Time 2 reading and mathematics after accounting for Time 1 reading and mathematics scores. These findings indicate similar word reading and mathematics development but atypical attention profiles in cognitively able children with ASD. Implications for educators are discussed.

Section snippets

Participants

At Time 1, 124 children aged 7–12 years were recruited (May et al., 2013). This included 64 children, 32 male and 32 female, with Autistic Disorder or Asperger's Disorder. The original study investigated gender differences in ASD, hence, females were oversampled compared to the typical gender ratio of four males to every one female found in ASD (Fombonne, 2003). Gender was therefore considered in the analyses. Only children who had a current diagnosis of ASD from their paediatrician or

Preliminary analyses

Table 1 shows the means and standard deviations for the groups across the demographic and outcome variables. One child in the ASD group did not complete the digit span task. An independent t-test showed there was no difference in the time interval between Time 1 and Time 2 testing for the ASD (M = 13.0 months, SD = 1.0 months) and TYP group (M = 12.9 months, SD = 1.0 months), t(78) = −0.544, p = .588. An independent t-test showed the children with ASD had significantly higher parent reported ASD symptoms

Discussion

This study compared basic attentional and academic skills over one year of development in cognitively able children with and without ASD, to determine if early attentional deficits impacted on later word reading and mathematics development. Cognitively able children with ASD exhibited intact word reading and mathematics performances but impairment on an attention switching task. The attentional components correlated significantly with word reading and mathematics performance in ASD children

Conclusion

To summarize, this study has examined the development of attention switching, sustained attention, word reading and mathematics in children with ASD over one year. The children with ASD in this study showed similar developmental profiles in regard to word reading and numerical operations performance relative to typically developing children. Attention switching deficits were detected consistent with past research and these were correlated with both mathematics and word reading performances in

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