The Home Literacy Environment of Preschool-Age Children with Autism or Down Syndrome

Australian Journal of Education

et al. 2019

Self Cite

Many children on the autism spectrum struggle in their reading development. This study investigated parents’ views of challenges and facilitators to literacy learning at home and at school in children on the autism spectrum who were in their first year of schooling. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 37 parents revealed parents’ in-depth knowledge of their child’s strengths and interests, which they utilised to engage their child in literacy learning activities at home. Parents raised concerns about the support their children were receiving at school, with many describing challenges with teacher understanding of autism spectrum disorders, limited adaptation of the curriculum to suit the child’s learning needs and poor communication between school and home. The study challenges schools and educators to review and refine current practices to ensure individualised, learner-focused and inclusive pedagogies and practices to better support children on the autism spectrum.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parent perceptions of literacy learning of their young children on the autism spectrum in their first year of schooling

O’Leary

Flückiger²,

Australian Journal of Education

et al. 2019

Self Cite

“…The parent survey used was based on the early literacy parent questionnaire developed by Boudreau (2005) consistent with previous research by Westerveld and van Bysterveldt (2017). It included a total of 27 questions regarding early literacy (child response to reading books, response to print, and interest in letters), demographics of child and parent, and for the purposes of this study, additional questions regarding library visits, attendance of early literacy sessions, reasons for non-attendance of such sessions (checklist to indicate barriers present such as time), and interest in attending a 4-6 week early literacy (Storytime) program in a local library were included.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This research has focused on typically developing children and is well established (Hood et al 2008;Sénéchal 2006;Sénéchal and LeFevre 2002;Sénéchal et al 2008). The emerging research investigating the home literacy environment of children who have autism would suggest differences in these environments of children who have autism (Lucas and Norbury, 2018;Westerveld and van Bysterveldt, 2017). To illustrate, Westerveld and van Bysterveldt (2017) found that although parents of children who have autism reported exposing their children to books from an early age and owning a range of children's books, compared to parents with preschool children with Down syndrome, they reportedly read to their children less frequently reported a lower interest in books by their children who have autism.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Literacy Learning Experiences across Home and Community Libraries for Young Children Who Have Autism

Simpson

Wicks

et al. 2019

Adv Neurodev Disord

Objectives. Many school-aged children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder display challenges in literacy development. Early learning experiences in the home and community are important for the development of literacy success. Community libraries deliver story-time to support children's literacy experience and to provide parents with literacy teaching strategies. Little research has been conducted on the uptake of literacy experiences of families with children who have autism. This study investigated the early literacy experiences in the home and community of children (2-5 years) who have autism compared to their typically developing peers. Methods. Participants included parents of children who have autism (n = 41) and parents of typically developing children (n = 164). Parents completed an online questionnaire on early literacy, library visits, and early literacy session attendance. Results. A rich home literacy environment was reported in both groups. Differences were reported between groups on interest in books and frequency of shared book reading. This appeared to be driven by the presence of the child's language ability (level of phrase speech). When controlled for presence of phrase speech, the group differences were no longer evident. Significant group differences were reported on reasons for nonattending early literacy library sessions. Parents of children who have autism more frequently identified unsuitability of the environment and child not interested as reasons for nonattendance than parents of typically developing children. Conclusion. Identifying barriers to early literacy experiences for children who have autism is important to inform future development of supportive experiences for literacy development in this group.

“…Justice & Kaderavek, 2002). However, a recent study conducted by Westerveld and van Bysterveldt (2017) with parents of children with ASD found that while shared book reading was part of many families' routines, young children with ASD showed lower interest in shared book reading as an activity compared to their peers with Down syndrome. However, whether differences between children with ASD and other groups exist in their engagement with different types of books in the home environment, which could be further influencing their learning opportunities in the early years, has not been investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Fiction or non-fiction: Parent-reported book preferences of their preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder

Armstrong

Autism & Developmental Language Impairments

Westerveld

2019

Background and aims: Children's early interactions with books are important for fostering development of oral language and emergent literacy skills. It is not known whether children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder show different preferences for text types in the home environment prior to school entry. The current study aimed to: (i) investigate parent-reports of the favourite books of their children with autism spectrum disorder compared to typically developing children and (ii) identify whether there are differences in the reasons why books were preferred across the two groups. Methods: Participants included children (aged 26-70 months) with autism spectrum disorder (n ¼ 41) and typically developing peers (n ¼ 164). Parent-reports of their child's current favourite book/s were coded as fiction versus nonfiction and also category type. Parents also reported why the book was considered a favourite and this was coded. Results: There were no differences between groups for fiction versus non-fiction, with both groups preferring fiction (>95% of responses). A strong category preference for animal topics across both groups was present. Significant group differences were found when asked to select specific reasons for favourite book preferences. Conclusions: This study provides preliminary evidence of similarities between preschool children with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing peers' preferences for fiction books during the early years. Implications: It should not be assumed that children with autism spectrum disorder have different preferences for book types compared to typically developing children in the early years of development. Providing preschoolers with a range of book types during the preschool years will help to facilitate early language and emergent literacy skills.