Table 2.

Reviewed Studies by Instructional Focus

Author	Design	Participants	Setting & Intervention	Duration	Measures	Treatment Effects
Code-Focused Studies
Basil & Reyes, 2003	Pre- post-test design	2 students with ASD: 1. 13-yr. old; MA = 4 yrs; Reading: limited sight word reading/writing. 2. 8-yr. old with intellectual disability; MA = 7 yrs; Reading: limited sight word reading/writing, described as difficult to involve in reading tasks.	Self-contained classroom (Spain). One to one computer – assisted instruction	30 minutes, twice a week for 3 months; total = 12 hrs.	End of lesson test. Spanish standardized test measuring writing (i.e., dictation, free composition, copying) and reading (i.e., letters, syllables, words, text, and comprehension)	Mastered all 10 lessons and passed the end of lesson tests at the end of 3 months. One participant demonstrated gains in phonological awareness, word spelling and spontaneous written composition on standardized measure.
Coleman-Martin, Heller, Chihak, & Irvine, 2005	Multiple conditions design with drop-down baselines	1 12-yr. old with ASD; MA NR; Reading: informal assessments indicated 2 grade level word recognition skills	Self-contained classroom. One to one computer-assisted sight word instruction.	Instruction provided until 80% correct for 2 consecutive sessions. Minimum of 4 sessions; total = NR	Sight word measure (identified a target word from 3 similar distracter words).	Criterion reached in 3 sessions in computer-assisted condition; in 4 sessions during teacher only condition; and in 6 sessions during teacher + computer condition.
Heiman, Nelson, Tjus, Gillberg (1995)	Pre- post- test with follow-up	11 children with ASD Mean CA = 9:4 yrs. (range of 6–13) Mean MA = 7 yrs. (SD = 2) Reading: NR	Self-contained school (Sweden) One to one computer-assisted instruction.	Averaged 26 sessions (range 21–32 minutes); approximate total = 13 hrs.	End of lesson test. Swedish standardized test of phonological awareness, word identification, sentence reading, and sentence imitation. Observations of communication.	Completed end of lesson tests with a mean of 92% correct and SD of 8.4. Increased mean scores on reading measures from pre- to post-test and at follow-up; increased mean scores on PA measures from pre- to post-test, but decreased at follow-up; sentence imitation results inconclusive. Observations revealed increased interaction during intervention
Tjus, Heimann & Nelson (1998)	Pre- post- test with follow-up	13 students with ASD Mean CA = 10 yrs. (range of 4–11) Mean MA = 7.3 yrs. (SD = 2) Reading: NR	Self-contained classroom (Sweden) One to one computer-assisted instruction.	Averaged 15 sessions (range 15–30 minutes); approximate total = 7.5 hrs.	End of lesson test. Swedish standardized test of phonological awareness, word identification, sentence reading, and sentence imitation.	Increased mean scores from pre- to posttest on reading measures; decline at the follow-up; increased mean scores on PA from pre- to post-test and at follow-up; proportion of correct sentences increased minimally, but response time significantly decreased
Meaning Focused Studies
Dugan, et al., 1995	Reversal Design	16 4th grade general education peers 2 4th grade students with ASD; 1. 10-yr. old female with moderate cognitive disability (MA: NR); Reading: Difficulty with comprehension 2. 9-yr. old male w/HFA; Reading: difficulty with comprehension	4th grade general education social studies class. 10-minute teacher-directed social studies lecture; heterogeneous peer tutoring and cooperative learning activities.	40 minute class periods, 4 days a week for 8 weeks; total = 21 hrs.	Researcher-made social studies curriculum tests: 15 vocabulary terms and sentence creation using terms. Observations of academic and social engagement	Mean gain scores of participants with ASD increased from pre (m = 0–2) to posttest (m = 5 to 8.6). Mean gain scores of general education peers also increased from pre to posttest. Levels of engagement of participants with ASD and peers increased.
Kamps, Leonard, Potucek & Garrison-Harrell (1995)	Reversal design with random assignment	3 children with ASD 1. 8 yr old w/HFA; IQ Score: 101; 3rd grade; Reading: difficulty with comprehension 2. 13 yr old with autism; IQ score = 50; 5th grade; Reading: Able to read and write, but difficulty with comprehension 3. 12 yr old with autism; IQ score: 46; 5th grade; Reading: primary level; difficulty with comprehension of language and text.	General education 3rd and 5th grade classroom Participants randomly assigned roles during cooperative learning groups (n = 4 students): (1) reviewing vocabulary words, (2) responding to wh comprehension questions following reading, (3) comprehension game of characters and facts from stories read in class.	30–40 minute sessions for approximately 14 weeks; approximate total = 35–47 hours	Weekly researcher-made vocabulary and comprehension tests on reading chapters with 15 items including, comprehension, vocabulary, and sequencing questions. Academic and social engagement. Teacher satisfaction survey.	Participant with HFA increased gain scores on weekly tests from baseline (m = 4; 3.7) to intervention (m = 7.8; 8.7); General education peers increased mean gain scores on weekly tests after intervention; Greater variability for 2 participants with autism with gains from baseline (range 0–3; 0–4) to intervention (range 1–6; 0–4). All participants increased levels of engagement. Teachers reported high levels of satisfaction for whole class and for the child with HFA, but lower levels for the 2 children with cognitive disability.
O’Connor & Klein, 2004	Repeated measures within subjects design	20 children with ASD 10 w/autism, 6 w/Asperger syndrome, and 4 w/PDD Mean age = 15; range = 14–17; SD = 1; Reading: all participants have average or above decoding skills but lower levels of reading comprehension.	Home or school setting One to one instruction. Students read stories aloud under 2 control and 3 treatment conditions: prereading question; anaphoric cuing; cloze.	10-minute conditions Total = 1 hour.	Researcher-made test of comprehension questions.	Anaphoric cuing resulted in medium effect size gains (1/2 SD above results in control condition) of more than half of participants. Gains from prereading questions and cloze conditions were small and not statistically significant.
Rosenbaum & Breiling (1976)	ABA Reversal Design	12 yr old female with ASD; MA and IQ NR; Reading: limited decoding ability and comprehension.	Clinical setting. One to one instruction in reading directions (e.g., stand up, point to your mouth, point to the man writing, etc.) presented for 10 second trials.	Initially 17 daily 15–20 minute sessions; followed by 17 twice a day sessions; approximate total = 15 hrs.	Researcher-made observational recording scale based on level of prompting required for a correct response.	100% mastery by 12th session and maintained when reward removed; Generalized across experimenters and conditions-except when researcher absent, but when reentered room performance near 100%
Whalon & Hanline, in press	Multiple baseline across participants	3 children w/ASD 1. 7-yr. old with Asperger syndrome; IQ = 101; Reading: difficulty with retell; 2. 8-yr. old with ASD; Nonverbal IQ = 112; 3. 7 – yr. old with PDD; Nonverbal IQ = 92; Reading: difficulty with retell	Small group setting outside of general education classroom. Reciprocal questioning in cooperative pairs.	30–40 minutes 4 days a week for 3 weeks; approximate total = 7 hrs.	Frequency of question generation and unprompted responses to questions generated by peers. Participant satisfaction survey.	Increased generation of and response to questions. Prompting occurred throughout intervention but decreased. Questions became less generic and more varied and specific; Participants perceived the intervention as helpful and parents noted a difference in their children’s reading
Multi-component Studies
Kamps, Barbetta, Leonard & Delquadri (1994)	Multiple Baseline across subjects	3 children w/HFA 1. 8-yr. old; IQ = 101; 1/2nd grade classroom; Reading: at or above 2nd grade level 2. 8-yr. old; IQ = 71; 2nd grade; Reading: 2nd grade but difficulty with reading comprehension and completing tasks 3. 9-yr. old; IQ NR; 3rd grade; Reading: grade level on most academic tasks	General education 1st/2nd, 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms. Classwide peer tutoring.	25–30 minutes; 3–4 times per week; Number of sessions varied (range of 14 to 35 sessions); total = unclear or a range of 6–17 hours	Researcher-made measures of words read correctly per minute (and errors); response to comprehension questions. Duration of social interaction (i.e., initiation – response sequence)	Participants increased mean number of words read correctly per minute (19, 31, & 12 words); Number of errors decreased by one student (from 6 to 2) and remained low at 2–3 words per minute for the other 2 participants. Participants increased the percentage of correct responses to comprehension questions (47%, 24% & 67% at baseline to 76%, 68% & 90%). Increased duration of social communication.
Kamps, Locke, Delquadri & Hall, 1989	Multiple baseline across tasks	2 children with autism 1. 9-yr. old; IQ =50; Reading: good decoding but poor comprehension 2. 11-yr. old; IQ =50 and 50; Reading: good decoding but poor comprehension.	Self-contained 5th grade general education class. Peer tutoring in money skills, expressive language, and oral reading/comprehension. Oral reading fluency and comprehension.	20 minutes 3 times a week for approximately 6 weeks. Total = approximately 5–6 hours.	Number of words read correctly and errors per minute from a 2 min timed reading. Number of correct responses to factual comprehension questions	Participant mean reading rates increased following intervention (m = 19.6 and 30.2 at baseline to 34.2 and 39.7) and the number of errors decreased (m=3.7; m=1.9at baseline to m = 1.3;, m = .9) Participants increased the number of correct responses to factual comprehension questions (1.9; 1.3 during baseline to 3.8 and 3.5)