Leitura precoce no transtorno do espectro autista e no desenvolvimento típico

Abstract

Introduction: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by social communication difficulties and the presence of restricted and repetitive behaviors. A relatively high number of children with ASD begin reading spontaneously around 3 or 4 years old, a phenomenon often referred to as hyperlexia in the literature and which main feature is a discrepancy between the decoding skills (which is relatively high) and the reading comprehension skills (which is relatively low). Objectives: The present study evaluated the correlates of reading skills in two groups of precocious readers in preschool age: a group with ASD and a group with typical development (TD). In particular, the study examined the existence of similarities and differences between precocious readers with and without ASD, in relation to two main questions: 1) what is the correlation between variations in the reading skills through phonological recoding and visuospatial skills, on the one hand, and variations in the word reading skills, on the other hand; and 2) what is the contribution of decoding and receptive vocabulary for reading comprehension skills. Method: The sample consisted of 26 precocious readers in preschool age: 14 children diagnosed with ASD (M = 4.4 years old, SD = 0.5) and 12 children with TD (M = 5.2 years old, SD = 0.5). In addition to word reading and pseudoword reading tests and the word reading comprehension test, children performed a receptive vocabulary test and tests that measured visuospatial skills. Results: The two groups did not differ on word reading and pseudoword reading skills. The words reading skills correlated significantly and strongly with the pseudoword reading skills in both groups (rhos between 0.61 and 0.71 and between 0.79 and 0.94, ASD group and TD group, respectively). On the other hand, while variations in measures of visuospatial skills correlated strongly and positively with variations in measures of word reading and pseudoword reading among children with ASD (rhos between 0.61 and 0.80), these correlations were weak and not significant in TD children (rhos between -0.21 and 0.08). Finally, the results of a multiple regression analysis evaluating the contribution of variations in the Group factor (ASD vs. TD), in decoding, and in receptive vocabulary showed that both decoding and receptive vocabulary contributed uniquely and significantly to the variation in reading comprehension (Cohen's f² = 1.04 and 1.13). Importantly, these results did not depend on whether the child was diagnosed with ASD (Cohen's f² <0.01 for the group factor). Discussion: As occurs with precocious readers with TD, precocious readers with ASD learn to read by processing the relationships between letters and sounds in the speech. Likewise, similar to those readers, for precocious readers with ASD word reading comprehension ability depends fundamentally on variations in decoding skills and receptive vocabulary. On the other hand, the results of the present study suggest the existence of some differences in the reading learning process between precocious readers with ASD and precocious readers with TD. It is possible, for example, that precocious readers with ASD, but not those with TD, benefit from their relatively high ability to detect patterns to learn the correspondences between letters and sounds. The implications of these results for our understanding of hyperlexia are discussed.