Examining Reading and Writing Educational Goals of Autistic School-Age Children Using Co-Occurrence Latent Class Analysis (Poster 2)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Sunday 1:30 p.m.
  In Poster Session: Innovative Approaches and Methodologies for Enhancing Educational Outcomes for Students With Disabilities

Abstract

This study examined the reading and writing special education goals of autistic youth in primary and secondary education to identify independent latent subgroups and examine co-occurring membership between subgroups. We use data from 292 caregivers of autistic youth with at least one reported goal in reading (vocabulary, word reading, reading fluency, reading comprehension) and writing (handwriting, spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence-level text construction, paragraph-level text construction). Using latent class analysis, we identified three and four latent subgroups of reading and writing needs, respectively. Using co-occurrence latent transition analysis, we found that joint membership between models varied by subgroup. Our findings help contextualize heterogeneity across reading and writing skills and contribute to the growing understanding about the literacy needs of autistic youth.

Authors

• Matthew C. Zajic, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Nancy McIntyre, University of Central Florida