Using picture books to support autistic children: a preliminary study

Objectives This study examines the impact of picture book backgrounds on the learning outcomes of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Typically Developing (TD) children.Methods A 2 (group: ASD vs. TD) × 2 (background: present vs. absent) experimental design was employed, involving 52 autistic children and 56 TD children. Participants were randomly assigned to learn from picture books either with or without backgrounds, and their learning performance was assessed.Results The findings revealed a stable and primary effect of group membership, with TD children consistently demonstrating significantly superior learning outcomes compared to autistic children, regardless of background modification. Furthermore, the effect of background modification was highly group-dependent. For TD children, the presence or absence of a background significantly influenced their performance. In contrast, for autistic children, background modification did not yield a significant difference in learning outcomes.Conclusions The results underscore that learner group (ASD vs. TD) is a more dominant factor than picture book design in determining learning performance. While TD children benefit from the contextual cues provided by backgrounds does not systematically enhance learning in autistic children. This suggests that educational interventions for autistic children may need to move beyond simple visual modifications and consider more individualized approaches that address underlying cognitive profiles.