Shared Book Reading Behaviors of Parents and Their Verbal Preschoolers on the Autism Spectrum

Abstract

Preschoolers on the autism spectrum are at risk of persistent language and literacy difficulties thus research into shared book reading (SBR) in this group is important. We observed 47 parents and their verbal preschoolers on the spectrum sharing two unfamiliar picture books and coded the interactions for parent and child behaviors. Parents were able to engage their child in SBR and demonstrated a range of print- and meaning-related SBR behaviors with no evidence of a focus on print. Multiple regressions showed direct effects of parents’ explicit teaching of story structure and use of questions on their children’s verbal participation. Further research is needed to unpack the potential transactional relationships between parent and child SBR behaviors to inform early intervention.