Aim: Some school age children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) struggle with literacy development, yet, the individual differences are major and not well understood. Moreover, literacy attainment is multi-faceted and literacy skills and difficulties manifest in more than one way. The aim of this study was to describe this variability and to identify language/cognitive predictors of different literacy skills.

Methods: We assessed different literacy skills (word reading accuracy, reading fluency, reading comprehension, and spelling), along with a set of language/cognitive predictor skills (listening comprehension, rapid automatized naming, phonological awareness and nonverbal cognitive ability), in 12-year-old children with ASD without intellectual disability recruited from a longitudinal study in Sweden.

Results: There was great heterogeneity (from floor to ceiling levels) in literacy skills, with a statistically increased prevalence of poor reading comprehension and reading fluency compared with population norms. In regression analyses, it was shown that concurrent language/cognitive predictor skills (e.g. phonological awareness) were differentially associated with literacy subskills. Moreover, a longitudinal analysis showed that preschool language problems were associated with poor word reading accuracy and spelling in middle school.

Conclusions: The results confirm previous findings as well as provide new knowledge regarding profiles of literacy (difficulties) in children with ASD; interestingly, the identified predictors of literacy skills in ASD resembled those identified as important in general reading (and dyslexia) research, which might indicate that similar kinds of support and training would be beneficial.

Purpose: The aim was to evaluate the effect of a motor-based, hierarchically structured intervention directed at active nasal fricatives substituting /s/ in young children with normal palatal function.

Method: An experimental single-subject design was replicated across three children, aged 4–6 years, with normal palatal function, who substituted oral /s/ with active nasal fricatives. Treatment was performed weekly by a speech-language pathologist and included home training conducted by parents. Audio documented probes were registered regularly and /s/-production evaluated as oral or nasal.

Result: All children achieved 98–100% oral production of /s/ in six probed linguistic contexts at treatment end and exhibited good maintenance at follow-up. The four-year-olds showed gradual or inconsistent response and slower progress, the six-year-old direct response and faster progress.

Conclusion: The study provides preliminary evidence suggesting positive intervention effects for treating active nasal fricatives in children with normal palatal function. However, possible confounding effects such as maturation or repeated testing could not be ruled out; thus, results need to be replicated with increased experimental control. Nevertheless, the study adds to the currently meagre empirical evidence-base for the population. Individual treatment response and progress patterns were found and data suggests that the intervention may be beneficial from age 4.

Purpose: This study aimed to present speech and language data from a community-representative group of 4- to 6-year-old children with early-diagnosed autism spectrum disorder (ASD) without intellectual disability (ID). Methods: The study group comprised 83 children 4-6 years of age with ASD without ID. They had been diagnosed with ASD before age 4.5 years and had received intervention at a specialized habilitation center. At 2-year follow-up, their language abilities were evaluated comprehensively by two speech-language pathologists using a battery of assessments. Receptive and expressive language and phonology were examined. The phonology evaluation included measures of phonological speech production and of phonological processing. Results: Results revealed that almost 60% had moderate-severe language problems. Nearly half exhibited combined expressive and receptive language problems, of which a majority also had phonology problems. Phonological speech problems were found in 21% of the total group. Conclusion: The findings underscore the importance of considering speech/language disorders in children with ASD without ID, since they usually attend mainstream classes but need specific educational adaptations.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate speech and language profiles in a community-representative group of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) without intellectual disability (ID).

Methods: The 83 participants, age 4-6 years, were a subgroup of a large research cohort of 208 Swedish preschool children diagnosed with ASD before age 4.5 years. After diagnosis they had obtained intervention at a specialized habilitation center. At a two-year follow-up, comprehensive research data on their speech and language abilities were collected by two speech-language pathologists.

Results: Moderate to severe language problems were found in almost 60% of the children; only one in six had no such problems. Nearly half exhibited a combination of receptive and expressive language difficulties, of which a majority also had phonological difficulties, here defined as pronunciation problems and/or problems with phonological processing.

Conclusions: The findings highlight that many children with ASD without ID face major language challenges similar to those seen in children diagnosed with language disorder. These coexisting speech and language problems in children with ASD without ID require specific assessments, interventions and follow-up to ensure an optimal and adapted school situation for the child.