TY - JOUR
T1 - Reading aloud improves executive function of children with autism spectrum disorder
T2 - A pilot randomized controlled trial
AU - Tachibana, Yoshiyuki
AU - Hwang, Yeonhee
AU - Abe, Yoshihisa
AU - Goto, Saori
AU - Sugai, Kuniaki
AU - Kawashima, Ryuta
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: This study was supported by JST/ RISTEX and the 21st Century Center of Excellence (COE) Program (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), entitled “A Strategic Research and Education Center for an Integrated Approach to Language and Cognition” (Tohoku University). We thank Kyoko Shin-mura for support in the assessment tests. We also thank Kaori Sakamoto for the illustrations of the effort sheets.
PY - 2013/2
Y1 - 2013/2
N2 - Background: We propose a new cognitive rehabilitation program, which relies on reading aloud, for elementary school students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study examined reading aloud by children with ASD, hypothesizing that this process would improve the cognitive functions and mental health of these children. Methods: Eleven children (ages: 8 - 10 years old) and their mothers participated in this study. They were randomly allocated into the intervention group (6 children) or the control group (five children). The children of the intervention group were asked to read books aloud for 30 min a day five times a week for 5 weeks. The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), the Digit Span, the Span-board, the Raven's colored Progressive Matrices, and the Child Behavior Check List (CBCL) were used in assessing the effectiveness of this program in improving their cognitive abilities. Results: The primary outcome was "Perseverative errors "of the WCST. The secondary outcomes were "Categories achieved "of the WCST, forward span-board task, backward span-board task, forward digit span, backward digit span, and the total score of the RCPM. Post-pre changes in the test scores of the intervention group were compared with those of the control group by Mann-Whitney's U-tests. Significant improvements were shown in "Perseverative errors "and"Categories achieved "of the WCST, and "Depression/ Anxiety "of the CBCL. Conclusions: The results revealed that reading aloud improved the children's executive function and mental health. The results also indicate that reading aloud can be used for cognitive rehabilitation of children with ASD.
AB - Background: We propose a new cognitive rehabilitation program, which relies on reading aloud, for elementary school students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study examined reading aloud by children with ASD, hypothesizing that this process would improve the cognitive functions and mental health of these children. Methods: Eleven children (ages: 8 - 10 years old) and their mothers participated in this study. They were randomly allocated into the intervention group (6 children) or the control group (five children). The children of the intervention group were asked to read books aloud for 30 min a day five times a week for 5 weeks. The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), the Digit Span, the Span-board, the Raven's colored Progressive Matrices, and the Child Behavior Check List (CBCL) were used in assessing the effectiveness of this program in improving their cognitive abilities. Results: The primary outcome was "Perseverative errors "of the WCST. The secondary outcomes were "Categories achieved "of the WCST, forward span-board task, backward span-board task, forward digit span, backward digit span, and the total score of the RCPM. Post-pre changes in the test scores of the intervention group were compared with those of the control group by Mann-Whitney's U-tests. Significant improvements were shown in "Perseverative errors "and"Categories achieved "of the WCST, and "Depression/ Anxiety "of the CBCL. Conclusions: The results revealed that reading aloud improved the children's executive function and mental health. The results also indicate that reading aloud can be used for cognitive rehabilitation of children with ASD.
KW - Autism spectrum disorder
KW - Executive function
KW - Mental health
KW - Pilot randomized controlled trial
KW - Reading aloud
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U2 - 10.1515/ijdhd-2012-0128
DO - 10.1515/ijdhd-2012-0128
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84881632038
SN - 1565-012X
VL - 12
SP - 91
EP - 101
JO - Journal of Endocrine Genetics
JF - Journal of Endocrine Genetics
IS - 1
ER -
