The Idea of an Essay, Volume 4

Research Writing 113 comprehension as well as the cognitive profiles of individuals with ASDs should be explored. Autism can be defined as a developmental disorder that results in poor social and communication skills and repetitive behavior patterns. Asperger’s syndrome (AS) is a form of autism in which individuals have better communication abilities (Randi et al 893). Even though individuals with High Functioning Autism (HFA) and AS show similar cognitive and behavioral profiles, people with HFA are generally more delayed than people with AS, because they are not as imaginative or communicative (893). Since there is such a wide range of abilities within ASD, it is hard to establish the individual abilities of students with autism (893). According to another source, people with ASD vary greatly in their expressive and communicative abilities, which makes it difficult to define the reading abilities of the population as a whole (Fleury et al 275). Additionally, children with ASD find it difficult to interact with peers and adults through expressive and receptive language, nonverbal gestures, and the social aspect of language (275). After exploring the different aspects of autism, another issue must be addressed: reading comprehension. Reading comprehension is a common issue in the United States that affects a wide range of individuals. In the article “Linking Cognition and Literacy in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder,” reading comprehension is defined as the ability to decode words and understand what those words mean (Carnahan et al 54). Another article suggests that reading comprehension is more than just word recognition; rather, it involves knowing the meaning of words, analyzing word combinations, interacting with the topic based on personal knowledge and experience, and drawing conclusions based on evidence and reasoning (Randi et al 891). This article also mentions that as readers become more accomplished at word recognition, their cognitive resources focus more on comprehension, and they eventually become just as good at understanding written language as they are at understanding spoken language (892). Now that both autism and reading comprehension have been defined separately, a connection can be made between the two. The article “Linking Cognition and Literacy in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder” presents three theories that explain