“SpeakUp podcast – To celebrate World Autism Month, Anneke Flinn (Speech Pathology Australia) talks to Associate Professor Marleen Westerveld and Dr Jessica Paynter from Griffith University about the literacy skills of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder “.

We highlight why we should be concerned about the low literacy achievement of many children on the autism spectrum and explain some of the potential reasons for these literacy difficulties in this population. We briefly outline some of the findings of our research studies, and explain the importance of assessing emergent literacy skills during the preschool period (“assess don’t assume”). Finally, we provide some suggestions for intervention, including the importance of shared book reading intervention.