assignment

BACKGROUND

Although autism spectrum disorder is not a new term to this generation, it has not

been around for very long, in comparison with other developmental diseases. Although

history may not tell you what we know the autism spectrum disorder as today, we have

evolved so much from the prior definition of “A schizophrenic patient who had

withdrawn into his own world” (“Autism History”, 2013). Terms that define diseases can

turn out to be detrimental. It is so important to make sure that the term coined is one that

will only allow positivity.

“Autism is the fastest growing serious developmental disability in the U.S. among

all the 3-12 year old children in the country” ("KenCrest: Autism Services - Autism

Services", n.d.). Throughout the past century, there have been so many improvements in

both diagnosis and treatment for autism spectrum disorder. The latest development was

in 2002 by Ole Ivar. According to “Autism History” Ole Ivar was the first to introduce at

home therapy for children under the age of five. He was able to follow this therapy for

years and show just how many developmental issues were handled and how these

children with autism spectrum disorder were developing at a semi-normal rate.

What is autism spectrum disorder?

“A range of complex neurodevelopment disorders, characterized by social

impairments, communication difficulties and restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns

of behavior” (“Autism Fact Sheet: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and

Stroke (NINDS)”, 2013). Although autism spectrum disorder is a disease that affects the

brain, there are so many other areas that are affected that are not necessarily just the

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learning aspect for a child. Autism spectrum disorder not only affects the way a child

learns, but it also affects the child’s social and emotional needs.

Social Issues

Social issues can arise at any age for the autism spectrum disorder, but one main

factor that is prevalent in the early stages is “the lack of joint attention skills or lack of

protodeclarative pointing” (Hall, 2010). The autism spectrum is so large and so broad

that sometimes it is hard to diagnose or even see the signs of the disease apparent in some

children and for others, it is so apparent that testing is hardly needed except for a

formality.

“Children with autism experience the social work to be unpredictable and

frightening” (Renyolds & Dombeck, 2006). Children with autism apectrum disorder do

tend to be socially awkward no matter what area of the spectrum they are on. To

diagnose on this reason alone would be completely inappropriate because if a person is

socially awkward that does not necessarily denote that they lie any where on the

spectrum.

Physical Signs of autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder is not determined just by characteristics of behavior,

but there are many other issues related to autism spectrum disorder that can influence the

diagnosis. According to “Autism Society-Related Conditions”, there are ten telltale signs

of the onset of Autism. Some of those signs are sleep problems, seizures and low muscle

tone. Just because these signs may be apparent to some extent, it does not mean that a

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child has autism, many more studies and tests are needed to be done in order to properly

diagnose a child.

Reading Comprehension Levels

Testing reading comprehension on any child with a cognitive disease or without

can prove to be very challenging. One finding was that those with Autism that were

tested demonstrated “A heterogeneous nature of reading skills” (Nation, Clarke, Wright,

& Williams, 2006 p.11). Thus showing that children with Autism because of the broad

spectrum also have a broad spectrum of reading levels based on certain tests.

Patterns of higher word reading skills accompanied by poor reading

comprehension is known as hyperlexia (Gately, 2008). This has been a great finding in

the Autism spectrum due to the fact that these children are able to see words and are able

to read them without necessarily knowing what they are or having any prior knowledge

as to what they could be. “Direct instruction programs have had success with children at

risk for school failure “(Carlson & Francis, 2002; Grossen, 2004), It is very important to

note that just because the comprehension levels may be different, that there are definite

therapies and ways to increase the levels.

This systematic literature review therefore seeks to determine whether Does the

reading comprehension level of children, both male and female, age 9 years old that have

been diagnosed with autism for two or more years, level to be 75% of children, both male

and female, age 9 who have had no mental medical illness since birth.

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ELIGIABILITY CRITERIA

For this systematic literature review there are many criteria that must be followed

in order to cite a reference. One of the first criteria is that it is a credible source. No

blogs are used or personal opinions. The second criterion that must be followed is that

the ages studied are that at the age of 9 years old; unless a different age is being

mentioned in reference. This study is based on the comprehension levels of 9 year olds

only. The third criterion is that the information provided was updated no less than ten

(10) years previous to this study. For the reason that there is so much research being

done, that if it was not updated recently the information may be out of date and no longer

valid. The fourth criterion will be that all articles used will be English only.

The table that will be used as a template to make sure that all articles used follow

all of these criterions are as followed in table M.1

Table M.1

Article

Name:

Date

Accessed:

Credible

Source:

Participants

are 9 years

old:

Last

updated:

English:

SEARCH

When it comes to searching for articles, the above criteria are followed as well as

some limitations. When using pubmed.ncbi.nlm.gov, there are a few limitations that must

be followed when searching. The first limitation is defining the amount of time that a

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child at the age of nine (9) has been diagnosed with the disease. For the purpose of this

review, children who have been diagnosed for at least two (2) years will be used. Making

sure that those studied have been diagnosed for that amount of time is time consuming.

An example of the search that will be used would be: “Autism, 9 years old, diagnosed 2

or more years”. Making sure that this is done all search sites is very important or else the

review would not be valid.

STUDY DESIGNS

The study designs that will be represented are both longitudinal studies, or those

that study participants over long periods of time, and cross sectional studies, or those that

compare different groups at one time.

Longitudinal studies will be very beneficial for this systematic review as seeing a

child that has been diagnosed for at least two years, to having had the disease for more

than two years and how their reading comprehension levels have changed. The benefit to

using cross sectional studies is being able to compare the children with autism and the

children without autism at a given time. Being able to compare children who have been

diagnosed with autism for a short amount of time, those that have been diagnosed for a

very short amount of time-not to be less than two (2) years and those children who have

not been diagnosed with autism.

ASSESSING FOR BIAS

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There are many different tables that can be used and criteria that can be followed

when it comes to assessing for bias for a systematic review. For this review, the chosen

reasoning for bias are as follows: First, to assess the reliability and validity of a source.

Making sure that the source is reliable and that the data is not just thrown together by

someone who cannot back it up. Making sure that the authors of the studies being used

have their accreditations in the field being used. The second is to avoid the use of

conflict of interest. The citations being made, while they may showcase certain

outcomes, it may be skewed based on the group or the websites affiliations. The third

and final criteria to assess bias on an article would be to use articles based on the

recommended criteria as stated in the eligibility criteria section.

The strength of articles being used may be hard to define because they may have

the answers that the study needs, but criteria must be set for this as well. One such

criteria is that of the sample being used. This study must make sure that the participants

being studied are not small but not too large. Too large of a study may have skewed

results as would too small of a study. Finding a happy medium is difficult but for the

purpose of this study, making sure that the study has more than 30 participants but less

than one thousand is very important to make sure that the results are not skewed.

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A Brief History of the Post-Autistic Economics Movement. (2007, August 7).

Retrieved September 25, 2013, from http://www.paecon.net/HistoryPAE.htm

Autism Fact Sheet: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

(2013, August 21). Retrieved September 21, 2013, from

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.html

Autism History. (2013, September 24). Retrieved from http://www.news-

medical.net/health/Autism-History.aspx

Autism Society - Related Conditions. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.autism-

society.org/about-autism/diagnosis/related-conditions.htm

Gately, S. E. (2008). Facilitating reading comprehension for students on the autism

spectrum [Electronic version]. Teaching Exceptional Children, 40(3), 40-45.

Grossen, B. (2004). Success of a direct instruction model at a secondary level school with

high risk students [Electronic version]. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 20, 161-178.

Hall, L. J. (2010, July 20). Social-Emotional Issues in Autism Spectrum Disorders |

Education.com. Retrieved September 27, 2013, from

http://www.education.com/reference/article/social-emotional-issues-autism/ **

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KenCrest: Autism Services - Autism Services. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.kencrest.org/autism-services/Autism-Services-.htm

Nation, K., Clarke, P., Wright, B., & Williams, C. (2006). Patterns of reading ability in

children with autism spectrum disorder. Department of Experimental Psychology, 7(9), 9-

25. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16897396

Renyolds, T., & Dombeck, M. (2006, February 14). Social and Behavioral Deficits -

Autism And Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Retrieved September 26, 2013, from

http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=8765

Home - PubMed - NCBI. (n.d.). National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Retrieved October 7, 2013, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed

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