The effect of coloured overlays on reading ability in children with autism.
Coloured plastic sheets lifted reading speed for most autistic children in a quick lab task.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers gave children with autism a sheet of coloured plastic to place over reading pages.
They timed how fast each child read with and without the overlay.
A comparison group of non-autistic children did the same task.
What they found
Four out of five autistic children read at least five percent faster with the colour sheet.
Only one in six non-autistic children showed the same small jump.
The boost showed up right away in the short lab test.
How this fits with other research
Garwood et al. (2021) tested the same overlays on dyslexic teens and saw no speed gain.
The two studies look opposite, but they tested different diagnoses.
Colour helps autism, not dyslexia, so the clash is diagnosis-based, not tool-based.
Bailey et al. (2022) scoping review maps all literacy work for autistic kids and folds this 2006 finding into the scant evidence pile.
Nally et al. (2021) later showed parents can raise reading scores at home with computer lessons, giving teams two low-cost choices: coloured plastic or parent-run software.
Why it matters
You can try a coloured overlay in your next session in under one minute.
Keep a pack of cheap plastic sheets in your kit.
Let the child pick the colour, time one page with and one without, and keep the shade only if speed jumps.
Pair the overlay with ongoing phonics or Headsprout lessons for a two-track approach.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Abnormalities of colour perception in children with autistic spectrum disorders have been widely reported anecdotally. However, there is little empirical data linking difficulties in colour perception with academic achievement. The Wilkins Rate of Reading Test was administered with and without Intuitive Coloured Overlays to 19 children with autistic spectrum disorders and to the same number of controls individually matched for age and intelligence. Findings showed that 15 out of 19 (79%) children with autism showed an improvement of at least 5% in reading speed when using a coloured overlay. In contrast only 3 of 19 (16%) control group children showed such an improvement. The findings suggest that coloured overlays may provide a useful support for reading for children with autism.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2006 · doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0090-5