How Effective Are Reading Comprehension Interventions for Children With ASD? A Meta-Analysis of Single-Case Design Studies

School Psychology

McClain, M. B., Haverkamp, C. R., et al. (2021).

School Psychology, 36(2), 107-121.

This meta-analysis investigates the effectiveness of reading comprehension interventions in children on the autism spectrum.

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Single-case research design studies

20

For children on the autism spectrum, twenty studies investigating the effectiveness of a variety of reading comprehension interventions (e.g., story and character mapping, video-self modeling, behavior skills training) showed promise for increasing reading comprehension skills (BC-SMD= 2.97, 95% CI= 1.85-3.97, p&lt;0.001). Meta-analysis of effect sizes found that after 10 sessions, the number of comprehension questions children answered correctly increased almost 3 standard deviations from the baseline. Two-thirds of the included studies found between a 69% to 359% increase in reading comprehension. However, meta-analysis found significant variability in effectiveness within and across studies that was dependent on a variety of characteristics as follows: <ul> <li>Children of different races/ethnicities demonstrated varying outcomes (&chi;&sup2;(4)=40.4, p&lt; 0.001). Black, Latinx, and White children exhibited significant increases in comprehension skills, while Asian children did not show significant increases in reading comprehension. These findings should be interpreted with caution due to small sample sizes and additional confounding factors (e.g., cultural responsiveness of interventions used in the studies, relationship between race/ethnicity, language, and socioeconomic status).</li> <li>Age impacted intervention effectiveness (&chi;&sup2;(2)= 52.0, p&lt;0.001). Younger children demonstrated greater gains in fewer sessions as compared to older children.</li> <li>Presence of comorbidities impacted outcomes (&chi;&sup2;(2)= 44.3, p&lt;0.001). Children on the autism spectrum without comorbid disorders showed significant increases in reading comprehension skills, while children on the autism spectrum with speech-language impairments did not show significant gains from the interventions.</li> </ul> Other characteristics (e.g., length of intervention, participant cognitive abilities) were not found to be significant factors. Additional research on the efficacy of specific reading comprehension interventions, the long-term outcomes of interventions, and outcomes for diverse participant populations is needed.