Measuring the word recognition abilities of children who are both verbal and nonverbal with ASD using a traditional paper‐based and a novel digital test format

Abstract

Approximately 30% of school‐aged individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are nonverbal (that is, they have little or no spontaneous spoken language). Most reading tests require verbalisation, which may under‐estimate reading ability in this group. To determine decoding abilities of nonverbal children with ASD (with an age range of 72 to 229 months), a novel digital form of reading assessment, comparable to the widely used New Salford Reading Test, was created. Three groups were tested: verbal ASD (n = 33); nonverbal ASD (n = 24); and verbal non‐ASD with a Statement of special educational needs (n = 24). Reading ages were compared for all three groups using the paper‐based version of the test, and a digital format that was not reliant on participants' ability to verbalise. The reading scores of nonverbal students with ASD were much lower than the scores of verbal students with ASD when tested with the paper version of the scale, but this difference was eradicated when the digitised version was employed. These results suggest that the use of the nonverbal digital test may offer a good assessment of the reading abilities of nonverbal children with ASD.