| dc.description.abstract | Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), which is characterized by language impairments, social interaction deficits and abnormal behaviors, has become one of the most prevalent disorders in children today. Extensive studies have been conducted to investigate the development of language production and social interaction among children with ASD. Nevertheless, relatively limited research has concentrated on the literacy development among children with ASD. Over the past decade, increasing numbers of studies regarding children with ASD in the English-speaking context have examined particular difficulties in advancing emergent literacy skills and knowledge, and have identified the significance of home literacy environment on literacy development. Nevertheless, findings should be further investigated and expanded in other cultural and linguistic contexts. The present research aims to fill this gap by exploring emergent literacy development and the impact of home literacy environment on oral vocabulary among children with ASD in China. Participants included 21 children with ASD and 28 typically-developing children from two kindergartens in China. Emergent literacy skills were measured by valid measures on phonological awareness, morphological awareness, character recognition, RAN, receptive and expressive vocabulary in Chinese. Data on home literacy environment was collected by an adapted survey. Findings indicated that, compared with typically-developing children, children with ASD faced challenges in both coding- and meaning-related emergent literacy skills. In addition, technology use for literacy-related practices at home was a significant predictor for oral vocabulary development among children with ASD | en |
