Processing of co-reference in autism spectrum disorder.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have previously been reported to have difficulties with reading comprehension. This study examined whether a difference in the speed with which individuals with ASD form connections between words (co-reference processing) may contribute to comprehension difficulties. No evidence was found to suggest that ASD readers differ to typically developing readers in the speed of co-reference processing. Therefore, this data would suggest that differences in co-reference processing are unlikely to account for reading comprehension difficulties in ASD.