ABRACADABRA literacy instruction delivered by speech-language pathologists to children with autism during the COVID-19 pandemic

This feasibility study explored literacy instruction for children with autism in an area of socioeconomic disadvantage during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fifty-nine autistic children (5–12 years) participated in a baseline assessment before being assigned to one of two instruction conditions or a control group. The first instruction group participants received a total of 13 weeks of literacy instruction using ABRACADABRA (a free online web application), delivered by a speech-language pathologist. The second instruction condition also received a total 13 weeks of ABRACADABRA literacy instruction, supplemented with shared book reading. The control group continued their business-as-usual school and other activities over the 13 weeks. Children who participated in instruction made statistically significant gains in their nonword reading skills from pre- to post-instruction with a large effect size. There were no other statistically significant results at the conservative alpha level utilised. However, effect sizes for all reading outcome measures were similar to previous research using ABRACADABRA with autistic children (with medium to large effect sizes observed across various reading accuracy and reading comprehension skills). Further research on literacy instruction delivered via via in person sessions and telepractice for children with autism is greatly needed. These findings contribute to the scarce knowledge base of literacy instruction for children with autism and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on this group.