The Relationship Among Oral Language, Decoding Skills, and Reading Comprehension in Children with Autism

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among oral language, decoding, and reading comprehension for children with autism. Participants included 13 English-speaking children with a diagnosis of high-functioning autism (IQ > 70) who were included in a typical classroom, and who had parents who spoke English. Parts of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, OWLS: Listening Comprehension, and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test were administered to measure oral language abilities, and parts of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test and Test of Word Reading Efficiency were given to assess decoding and reading comprehension. Results indicated there was no significant relationship between phonology and decoding, but there was a significant relationship between semantics and decoding. There were also significant relationships between semantics and comprehension and syntax and comprehension.