Identifying the variables that predict reading comprehension performance of children on autism spectrum and neurotypical children

This study aims to comparatively investigate the predictors of reading comprehension in children on the autism spectrum (AS) and neurotypical (NT) children within the framework of the Simple View of Reading (SVR). The study sample comprised 88 children in total, including 44 children on the AS (8 girls, 36 boys; M = 8.60, SD = 1.07) and 44 NT children (23 girls, 21 boys; M = 7.53, SD = 0.48). During the data collection process, the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), the Test of Nonverbal Intelligence–3 (TONI-3), the Turkish School-Age Language Development Test (TSALD), and the Literacy Assessment Battery (LAB) were administered. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted with reading comprehension as the outcome variable, and decoding and language comprehension as predictor variables. The findings revealed that decoding accounted for 72.8% of the variance in reading comprehension among children on the AS. When listening comprehension was added, the explained variance increased by 5.7% (total = 78.5%). In the NT group, decoding significantly predicted reading comprehension (65.8%), whereas language comprehension did not contribute significantly. Decoding was identified as a significant predictor of reading comprehension in both children on the AS and NT peers.