Reading and math achievement profiles and longitudinal growth trajectories of children with an autism spectrum disorder.

Wei et al. (2015) tracked the same kids with autism for three years. They looked at how reading and math skills grew from first to fifth grade.

The team used latent profile analysis. This method sorts kids into groups that share similar skill patterns.

Four clear groups emerged. All groups lost ground in passage comprehension over time, even if they started strong.

Math growth varied by group. Some kids kept pace with grade level, others fell further behind each year.

Plaisted et al. (2006) first showed wide reading scatter in autism. Xin et al. added the long view: profiles stay, but gaps widen.

McIntyre et al. (2017) also found four reading profiles in older students. They linked profile type to autism symptom severity.

Smit et al. (2019) seemed to disagree. They saw profiles shift over 30 months. The difference is age: younger kids move groups more than older ones.

Fleury et al. (2018) compared growth to typical peers. Both groups grew at the same speed, but kids with autism never closed the comprehension gap.

Do not trust a single baseline. Re-check passage comprehension every year. If a child stalls, probe language comprehension and background knowledge, not just decoding. Match math goals to the child’s profile: some need fluency, others need core concept work.