Enhancing Pragmatic Skills and Underlying Brain Network in Autism through Reading Intervention
Poster No:
361
Submission Type:
Late-Breaking Abstract Submission
Authors:
Rajesh Kana1, Elizabeth Valles-Capetillo1
Institutions:
1The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
First Author:
Co-Author:
Introduction:
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by impairments in social communication and restricted, and repetitive behaviors and interests1. Language delays in children with ASD often emerge within the first two years of life2, leading to challenges in reading comprehension. Approximately 65% of children with ASD struggle with reading comprehension3. While most studies of reading have focused on decoding and comprehension, some suggest there is a relationship between reading and pragmatics4 -the communicative use of language-5an area also impacted in ASD1. Neuroimaging evidence indicates that the brain's reading network (RN) and pragmatic networks (PN) activate overlapping regions, including the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), middle frontal gyrus, precentral gyrus, intra parietal sulcus, superior temporal gyrus, and supplementary motor area (SMA)6–8. However, the neural mechanisms underlying the relationship between reading and pragmatics in ASD remain underexplored.
Methods:
This functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study explores the effects of a 10-week, 200-hour intensive reading intervention on 1) reading comprehension, 2) pragmatics, and 3) the neural changes during a reading task in ASD children. Twenty-two children with ASD were assigned to the experimental group (ASD-EXP), 17 to the ASD waitlist control (ASD-WLC), 26 neurotypical children (NT), and 8 NT children with reading difficulties but without ASD (NT-EXP), all aged 8-13 years. Participants completed cognitive assessments and fMRI task at baseline (pre-test) and after 10 weeks (post-test). The experimental groups (ASD-EXP and NT-EXP) received the intervention between their pre-and-post-tests, while the ASD-WLC group received it afterward. Reading comprehension was measured with the Gray Oral Reading Test (GORT-5), and social communication with the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-SCI). fMRI data were preprocessed using fmriprep, followed by a General Linear Model (z = 1.5, p < 0.05) using FSL to examine brain activation in reading and pragmatics.
Results:
Results revealed improved reading comprehension in the ASD-EXP (W = 36, p < 0.001), but not in the ASD-WLC (W = 78.50, p = 0.33) and NT (W = 162.5, p = 0.73) groups. The NT-EXP group also showed marginally significant improvement in comprehension (W = 4.00, p = 0.06). Regarding the SRS-SCI, only the NT-EXP group showed improvement (W = 21.0, p = 0.03) (Fig 1). The ASD-EXP also showed an improvement in this scale but was not statistically significant (W = 180.0, p = 0.21); the ASD-WLC (W = 115.0, p = 0.72) and NT (W = 112, p = 0.65) did not show improvement. During the reading task, there was an increased activation in the areas related to the RN and PN for the ASD-EXP group. The precuneus, FFG, SMA, IFG, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and Frontal eye Fields (FEF) in left hemisphere; and the lateral occipital cortex, occipital pole and cerebellum VI in the right hemisphere (Fig 2).
·Changes between the pre and post session for each group. A) changes in Gray Oral Reading Test (GORT) score; B) Social Communication and Interaction subtests from the Social Responsiveness Scale
·Brain areas exhibiting increased activation for reading task after reading intervention
Conclusions:
In agreement with previous studies, the current findings suggest that the reading intervention led to improved reading comprehension9 in the EXP groups, with the ASD-EXP group exhibiting increased activation in both RN7,9 and PN6,8 during reading. Although some variability was observed in individual responses, the overall trend indicates that the intervention positively impacted reading comprehension and may also have potential benefits for pragmatic language use. Notably, only the NT-EXP group showed significant improvement in social communication, while the ASD-EXP group showed a trend toward improvement that was not statistically significant. As has been showed ASD had a greater variability compared to the NT10, therefore further studies are needed to explore individual differences and identify profiles of children who may benefit most from reading interventions targeting both comprehension and pragmatic abilities.
Disorders of the Nervous System:
Neurodevelopmental/ Early Life (eg. ADHD, autism) 1
Language:
Language Other 2
Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:
BOLD fMRI
Keywords:
Autism
Cortex
DISORDERS
FUNCTIONAL MRI
Language
Systems
Therapy
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Abstract Information
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Healthy subjects only or patients (note that patient studies may also involve healthy subjects):
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