Researching autistic children's literacy skills at the start of primary school. Image In a nutshellEvidence suggests that children who are diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism have relatively poor reading skills by the middle of primary school. We know little, however, about the early reading skills of these children, and how these children learn to read. This is important because early reading skills lay the foundations for learning throughout childhood and beyond.This research looked at how the early literacy profiles of autistic children compared with those of children who are not autistic, and explored variations within the autism group.About the projectWe created a new, linked dataset containing educational records and health records. The educational records included detailed information on early reading skills at the start of primary school. This was linked to health data including weight and gestation at birth, and autism diagnostic status. In the future we plan to apply for further funding to enable us to do more with these linked data. We could look at early literacy skills and other diagnoses, and/or to extend the research to literacy skills in later childhood.Outputsforthcoming outputs will be listed hereKey contactDr Rachael Wood This article was published on Thursday 13 October 2022
