Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28856093›Full record

Trial reportNeuroImage. Clinical2017

From word reading to multisentence comprehension: Improvements in brain activity in children with autism after reading intervention.

Donna L Murdaugh, Jose O Maximo, Claire E Cordes, Sarah E O'Kelley, Rajesh K Kana

Open access · goldAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in NeuroImage. Clinical, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
0.4field-weighted citation impact, top 39% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Trial
  4. The Role of the Brain's Pragmatic Language Network in Reading Comprehension in Autistic Children.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025
    Article
  5. Reading comprehension improvement in autism.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024
    Article
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Donna L MurdaughDepartment of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Jose O MaximoDepartment of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Claire E CordesDepartment of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Sarah E O'KelleyDepartment of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Rajesh K KanaDepartment of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
University of Alabama at Birmingham · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundChildren with ASD show a unique reading profile characterized by decoding abilities equivalent to verbal abilities, but with lower comprehension skills. Neuroimaging studies have found recruitment of regions primarily associated with visual processing (e.g., fusiform gyrus and medial parietal cortex), but reduced activation in frontal and temporal regions, when reading in adults with ASD. The purpose of this study was to assess neural changes associated with an intense reading intervention program in children with ASD using three fMRI tasks of reading.

methods25 children with ASD were randomly assigned to a treatment (ASD-EXP) or waitlist group (ASD-WLC). Children participated in a reading intervention program (4-hour sessions per day, 5 days a week for 10 weeks). We utilized three tasks: word, sentence, and multisentence processing, each with differential demands of reading comprehension. fMRI data were acquired at each of two scanning sessions 10-weeks apart.

resultsAcross tasks, post-intervention results revealed that the ASD-EXP group showed greater activation in bilateral precentral gyrus and the postcentral gyrus, visual processing regions (e.g., occipital cortex, fusiform gyrus), and frontal regions. In the word task, left thalamus and the right angular gyrus (AG) activation was unique to the ASD-EXP group post-intervention. Sentence tasks showed differential activation of core language areas (e.g., IFG, IPL) post-intervention.

conclusionsOur results provide evidence for differential recruitment of brain regions based on task demands in children with ASD, and support the potential of targeted interventions to alter brain activation in response to positive gains in treatment. Children with ASD have a different reading profile from other reading disorders that needs to be specifically targeted in interventions.

Indexed as

ReadingAdolescentAutistic DisorderBrain MappingChildComprehensionDyslexiaFemaleHumansMaleNeuroimagingADI, Autism Diagnostic Interview-RevisedADOS, Autism Diagnostic Observation ScheduleASD, autism spectrum disorderASD-EXP, children with ASD in the treatment groupASD-WLC, children with ASD in the waitlist control groupChildren with ASDfMRIfMRI, functional magnetic resonance imagingGORT-4, Gray Oral Reading Test – Fourth EditionInterventionLFFG, left fusiform gyrusLIFG, left inferior frontal gyrusLIOG, left inferior occipital gyrusLMFG, left middle frontal gyrusLPCG, left precentral gyrusLSMA, left supplementary motor areaLSPL, left superior parietal lobuleLSTG, left superior temporal gyrusLTHAL, left thalamusReading comprehensionSORT-R, Slosson Oral Reading Test - RevisedV/V, Visualizing and VerbalizingWASI, Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence

Identifiers

PMID28856093
PMCPMC5565787
OpenAlexW2746446377

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.