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Brief Report: Investigating Relations Between Self-Concept and Performance in Reading and Math for School-Aged Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

A typically developing student’s perceptions of his or her own capabilities (academic self-concept), is predictive of later academic achievement. However, little is known about academic self-concept in youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To understand whether students math self-concept and reading self-concept predicted their performance, 44 school-aged children and adolescents with ASD and 36 age-matched individuals with typical development (TYP) rated their perceived math and reading abilities and were administered standardized achievement measures. Results showed self-concept was predictive of performance in math and reading in the TYP group. For youth with ASD, there was agreement between self-concept and performance only in math. These findings suggest that educators should be cautious when interpreting the self-assessments of reading ability in students with ASD.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Institute of Education Sciences grant IES R324A120168, the Tupin Grant from the UC Davis Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, the Lisa Capps endowment for educational research with children with higher functioning ASD from the UC Davis Department for Psychiatry and MIND Institute, and the MIND Institute Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (U54 HD079125).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of California-Davis, 2230 Stockton Blvd, Sacramento, CA, 95817, USA

    James B. McCauley, Tasha M. Oswald & Marjorie Solomon

  2. University of California Davis Health System, MIND Institute, 2825 50th Street, Sacramento, CA, 95817, USA

    James B. McCauley, Tasha M. Oswald, Peter C. Mundy & Marjorie Solomon

  3. Department of Human Ecology, University of California-Davis, 131 Hunt Hall, Davis, CA, 95618, USA

    James B. McCauley, Michelle A. Harris & Kali Trzesniewski

  4. School of Education, University of California-Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Matthew C. Zajic, Lindsey E. Swain-Lerro, Nancy C. McIntyre & Peter C. Mundy

  5. Imaging Research Center, University of California-Davis, 4701 X Street, Sacramento, CA, 95817, USA

    Marjorie Solomon

Authors
  1. James B. McCauley
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  2. Matthew C. Zajic
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  3. Tasha M. Oswald
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  4. Lindsey E. Swain-Lerro
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  5. Nancy C. McIntyre
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  6. Michelle A. Harris
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  8. Peter C. Mundy
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  9. Marjorie Solomon
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Contributions

JM drafted the manuscript, performed statistical analyses and interpretation, and collected data for the study; MZ contributed to the coordination of the study, data collection, and drafting of the manuscript; TO participated in the coordination of the study, oversaw hiring and training of data collectors, and participated in the interpretation of the study results; LS-L participated in the design, recruitment, and coordination of the study and collected data; NM collaborated on the design of the study and collected data for the study; MH collaborated on the interpretation of the findings and drafting of the manuscript; KT collaborated on study design and the interpretation of the findings; PM designed and coordinated the study, and collaborated on statistical analyses and drafting the manuscript; MS oversaw statistical analyses, design, and collaborated on interpretation of findings and drafting of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to James B. McCauley.

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Conflict of interest

J. McCauley, M. Zajic, T. Oswald, L. Swain-Lerro, N. McIntyre, M. Harris, K. Trzesniewski, P. Mundy and M. Solomon declares that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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McCauley, J.B., Zajic, M.C., Oswald, T.M. et al. Brief Report: Investigating Relations Between Self-Concept and Performance in Reading and Math for School-Aged Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 48, 1825–1832 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3403-y

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