Emergent Literacy Skills of Preschool Students with Autism: A Comparison of Teacher-led and Computer-Assisted Instruction

Children with autism are at-risk for poor literacy outcomes and have the right to learn literacy skills. Despite this, students with autism often may be perceived as not ready for literacy instruction. This study focused on teaching alphabet skills to young children with autism. Two instructional conditions were compared, traditional teacher-led group instruction that used alphabet books and multimedia computer-assisted instruction. Data were compared to determine the effects on alphabetic skills acquisition and maintenance. The effects on student attentive behavior and engagement in problem behavior in each intervention condition also were compared. Results indicated that both interventions were effective for improving and maintaining student alphabet recognition skills. In both intervention groups, the children had high rates of attention to task and low rata of undesirable behavior. Directions for future research as well as conclusions regarding the design of literacy interventions for students with autism are discussed.