A TEACHING APPROACH TO READING SKILLS FOR STUDENTS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER AND COMORBID INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY IN SECONDARY EDUCATION
Abstract
The cultivation of reading skills is a fundamental priority in the teaching process, as their mastery facilitates the adaptation of students with special educational needs to school and community life. This study aims to highlight a differentiated teaching approach to support reading comprehension skills in students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and comorbid Intellectual Disability (ID). Three case studies were conducted involving 13-year-old students attending a secondary special education school. The findings were derived through observation methodologies using checklists of basic skills and special intervention methodologies with recorded interactions on instructional activity forms. The results document the progress made by the students before and after the teaching interventions regarding their readiness for reading comprehension activities. The study’s conclusions focus on the key features of differentiated pedagogical material that enhance the learning engagement of students with ASD and ID.
Article visualizations:
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V) (5th ed.). American Psychiatric Publishing. https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/book/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596
Bakken, R., Næss, K., Lemons, C., & Hjetland, H. (2021). A systematic review and meta-analysis of reading and writing interventions for students with disorders of intellectual development. Education Sciences, 11(10), 638-656. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11100638
Chang, Y., Menzies, H., & Osipova, A. (2020). Reading comprehension instruction for students with autism spectrum disorder. The Reading Teacher, 74(3), 255-264. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1929
Drossinou-Korea, M. (2020). Handbook of Special Education and Education Narratives. Opportuna (In Greek).
Drossinou Korea, M. (2022). Social theories about the disability of autism. International Journal of Social Science and Human Research, 5(7), 3143-3149. https://doi.org/10.47191/ijsshr/v5-i7-52
Drossinou-Korea, M. (2024). Special Education and Training. The “Through” Special Education Proposal for the Education of Children and Young People with Special Needs. Opportuna (In Greek).
Engel, K., & Ehri, L. (2021). Reading comprehension instruction for young students with autism: forming contextual connections. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 51(4), 1266-1280. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04596-z
Gargiulo, R. (2012). Special Education in Contemporary Society. An Introduction of Exceptionality. Sage. Retrieved from https://students.aiu.edu/submissions/profiles/resources/onlineBook/i9w6i9_Special%20Education%20in%20Contemporary%20Society.pdf
Joseph, L., Ross, K., Xia, Q., Amspaugh, L., & Accurso, J. (2023). Reading comprehension instruction for students with intellectual disabilities: A Systematic literature review. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 70(3), 314-339. https://doi.org/10.1080/1034912X.2021.1892033
Khachadourian, V., Mahjani, B., Sandin, S., Kolevzon, A., Buxbaum, J., Reichenberg, A., & Janecka, M. (2023). Comorbidities in autism spectrum disorder and their etiologies. Translational Psychiatry, 13(1), 71-77. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02374-w
Klefbeck, K. (2023). Educational approaches to improve communication skills of learners with autism spectrum disorder and comorbid intellectual disability: An integrative systematic review. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 67(1), 51-68. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2021.1983862
Kurzeja, O., Flynn, S., Grindle, C., Sutherland, D., & Hastings, R. (2024). Teaching Reading Skills to Individuals with Autism and/or Intellectual Disabilities Using Computer Assisted Instruction: a Systematic Review. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40489-024-00465-y
Lindström, E., & Lemons, C. (2021). Teaching reading to students with intellectual and developmental disabilities: An observation study. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 115, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2021.103990
Maenner, M. J., Shaw, K. A., Baio, J., Washington, A., DiRienzo, P. M., Christensen, D. L., Wiggins, L. D., Pettygrove, S., Andrews, J. G., Lopez, M., Hudson, A., Baroud, T., Schwenk, Y., White, T., Rosenberg, C. R., Lee, L.-C., ...Dietz, P. M. (2020). Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among children aged 8 years—autism and developmental disabilities monitoring network, 11 sites, United States, 2016. MMWR. Surveillance Summaries, 26(3), 389–398. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss6706a1
Megat Khalid, P., Kussin, H., & Zulkepli, N. (2024). Challenges and Facilitators in the Instruction of ESL Reading Comprehension to Autistic Students. Arab World English Journal, 15(3), 18-30. https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol15no3.2
Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs - Pedagogical Institute. (2009). Special education and training teacher's book, learning readiness activities. (M. Drosinou, Επιμ.) Educational Books Publishing Organization (In Greek).
Nally, A., Healy, O., Holloway, J., & Lydon, H. (2018). An analysis of reading abilities in children with autism spectrum disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 47, 14-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2017.12.002
Panopoulos, N., & Drossinou-Korea, M. (2024). Reading Comprehension Skills of Students With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities: Teaching Practices With Technological Tools. European Journal of Special Education Research, 10(4), 77-97. http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejse.v10i4.5407
Panopoulos N., & Drossinou-Korea M. (2024). Reading comprehension skills of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities: teaching practices with technological tools. European Journal of Special Education Research, 10(4), 77-97. http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejse.v10i4.5407
Paynter, J., O’Leary, K., & Westerveld, M. (2024). Pre-school skills and school-age reading comprehension in children on the autism spectrum: A preliminary investigation. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 54(5), 1834-1848. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/jbxhv
Solis, M., & McKenna, J. (2023). Reading Instruction for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Comparing Observations of Instruction to Student Reading Profiles. Journal of Behavioral Education, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10864-023-09532-6
Tanet, A., Hubert-Barthelemy, A., Clément, M., Soumille, F., Crespin, G., Pellerin, H., . . . Catherine, C. (2020). Developmental and sequenced one-to-one educational intervention (DS1-EI) for autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability: a two-year interim report of a randomized single-blind multicenter controlled trial. bmc Pediatrics, 20, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-020-02156-z
United Nations Commission on Human Rights. (1989). Convention on the rights of the child: Text of the draft convention as adopted by the Working Group at second reading. United Nations.
van Wingerden, E., Segers, E., van Balkom, H., & Verhoeven, L. (2014). Cognitive and linguistic predictors of reading comprehension in children with intellectual disabilities. Research in developmental disabilities, 35(11), 3139-3147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2014.07.054
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejse.v11i1.5790
Copyright © 2015 - 2026. European Journal of Special Education Research (ISSN 2501 - 2428) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms.
All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).