UC Riverside

A key characteristic of individuals with autism is communicative dysfunction. Specifically identifying the appropriate use of pragmatic skills such as phrasing and syntax. When looking at expressing phrasing (producing of word groups), communication research has highlighted a significant group difference between students with autism and typically developing student in upper elementary grades. Although reading frameworks such as the Reading Systems Framework (adapted) have highlighted the importance of phrasing across reading development, it remains an understudied concept specifically when it relates to upper elementary grade typically developing students and students with autism. The current study investigates the associations of phrasing, reading rate, comprehension, and student group (i.e., typically developing students and autism) in grades 4 through 6 using both spectrographic analysis and the Multidimensional Fluency Scale (adapted). A secondary analysis of three previous data sets was conducted. Standard multiple regression findings indicated that, phrasing was statistically significant for the prediction of reading rate (p<0.05) but not for reading comprehension. The addition of the independent variables (i.e., phrasing, student group, comprehension) into the regression model explained 28% (MDFS) and 50% (spectrograph) of the variability of rate outcomes. The addition of the independent variables (i.e., phrasing, student group, rate) into the regression model explained 14% (MDFS and spectrograph) of the variability of comprehension outcomes. Overall, findings from the current study indicate a correlation between phrasing, reading rate, and reading comprehension outcomes.