REVIJA ZA ELEMENTARNO IZOBRAŽEVANJE JOURNAL OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 19–36, March 2024 USING GRM AND PECS FOR IMPROVING READING SKILLS IN STUDENTS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER Potrjeno/Accepted 6. 12. 2023 Objavljeno/Published 29. 3. 2024 CRISTIAN EDGARDO NAVARRO ARANA 1 , DANIELA IVON CALDERÓN JOYA 2 & YARLY PAOLA GARCÍA LÓPEZ 3 1 Minca Community Institute, Secretariat of Ed. of Floridablanca, Colombia 2 Integrated Carare School, Secretariat of Ed. of Santander, Colombia 3 Our Lady of Bethlehem School, Fe y Alegría Organization, Girón, Colombia CORRESPONDING AUTHOR/KORESPONDENČNI AVTOR/ lcdo.cnavarro@gmail.com Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Global Reading Method (GRM), Inclusive Education, Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), PROLEC-R. Ključne besede: inkluzivno izobraževanje, komunikacijski sistem za izmenjavo slik (PECS), metoda globalnega branja (GRM), motnje avtističnega spektra (ASD), PROLEC-R. UDK/UDC [028:37]:616.896 Abstract/Izvleček This case study analysed the impact of GRM and PECS on the reading skills of two children with ASD with severity levels I and II. A descriptive cross-sectional quantitative approach was used with a pre-experimental, pre-test, post-test, and single-group design. The PROLEC-R Battery was applied before and after using these strategies to measure the students’ reading ability. Results showed that although both participants improved in the initial and lexical reading processes, only the participant with severity level I reached a medium reading level. It was concluded that these methods were successful, but longer exposure to them will likely yield better outcomes. Uporaba metod GRM in PECS za izboljšanje bralnih sposobnosti pri učencih z motnjo avtističnega spektra V študiji primera smo analizirali vpliv metod GRM in PECS na bralne sposobnosti dveh otrok z motnjo avtističnega spektra stopnje I in II. Uporabljen je bil opisni presečni kvantitativni pristop s predeksperimentalno, predtestno, posttestno in enoskupinsko zasnovo. Baterija PROLEC-R je bila uporabljena pred uvedbo zgoraj omenjenih strategij za merjenje bralne sposobnosti učencev in po tem. Rezultati so pokazali, da čeprav sta se oba udeleženca izboljšala v začetnem in leksikalnem procesu branja, je le udeleženec z motnjo avtističnega spektra I dosegel srednjo raven branja. Ugotovljeno je bilo, da so bile uporabljene metode uspešne, vendar bodo z dolgotrajnejšo uporabo rezultati verjetno še boljši. DOI https://doi.org/10.18690/rei.2675 Besedilo / Text © 2024 Avtor(ji) / The Author(s) To delo je objavljeno pod licenco Creative Commons CC BY Priznanje avtorstva 4.0 Mednarodna. Uporabnikom je dovoljeno tako nekomercialno kot tudi komercialno reproduciranje, distribuiranje, dajanje v najem, javna priobčitev in predelava avtorskega dela, pod pogojem, da navedejo avtorja izvirnega dela. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). 20 REVIJA ZA ELEMENTARNO IZOBRAŽEVANJE JOURNAL OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION Introduction Inclusion has become a topic of global interest, in reaction to which many countries have been modifying their policies and making room for this in different contexts in which society operates, including various actors who contribute to changes in these policies that respond effectively to the needs of Students with Disabilities (SWD) (Rosa and Lima, 2022). However, inclusion has faced many setbacks in its path that have somehow contributed to inclusive policies not being developed properly within society. Therefore, exclusion still prevails in many contexts, specifically, in education, which still has shortcomings related to the processes that are carried out within Educational Institutions (EI); hence, no state actor, institution, social group, or family can think about inclusion as if it were a topic unrelated to their reality (Alfageme et al., 2016). Although multiple international organizations have promoted and protected the right to education since the United Nations General Assembly stipulated it (1948) as one of the fundamental rights, it is necessary to ensure an optimal training process in which fundamental skills are potentiated in people regardless of their disabilities. In some countries, there are still gaps in the ideal approach to teaching SWD since teachers receive little or inappropriate training in diversity acknowledgement (García, 2017; Ramirez, 2017), a situation which interferes when trying to offer quality education (Cooc, 2019; UNESCO, 2020). Unfortunately, although EI have worked on the implementation of new projects and approaches, without ignoring needs that vary with each context and population (Jiménez and Ortega, 2018), the acquisition of knowledge in SWD is nowadays becoming difficult because in some cases, it is not properly taught what should be learned; instead, entertainment or socialization activities prevail. Additionally, there might be banal thoughts and barriers within school processes, so it is necessary to stop catastrophizing the implementation of inclusive programs; instead, we must emphasize the importance of “seeing inclusion as a means that seeks to lead children to be freer” (Ramirez, 2017, p. 222), thus opening the way to the implementation of improvement plans and promoting efficient teacher training on the topic. Now, considering that a person with a disability is understood as one with impairments at any level that influence their optimal interaction with others (United Nations, 2006), effective strategies and competent teachers will be required to C. E. Navarro Arana, D. I. Calderón Joya & Y. P. García López: Using GRM and PECS for Improving Reading Skills in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder 21 provide these students with a quality education that promotes their full development in society. Currently, attention is directed to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) because it has been claimed that 1 in 160 children present this spectrum (World Health Organization, 2022). These students experience deficiencies at the level of communication and social interaction, emphasizing those that correspond to socio- emotional reciprocity (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Moreover, they relate to others in a particular way because they have difficulties with language and imagination (United Kingdom Government, 2014). However, ASD affects not only the field of communication but also that of behaviour, and taking into account that the symptoms related can manifest during the sensorimotor stage according to Piaget, it is also known as a “developmental disorder” (National Institute of Mental Health, 2022). Therefore, it can be arduous to carry out a detailed description of these students, leaving aside the possibility of establishing a single profile (Espinosa et al., 2018), resulting in a high workload for teaching staff who are unaware of the proper way in which ASD students should be taught. Hence, this study arises from the need to know the most effective strategies for the development of reading skills in children with ASD, and that can be a useful resource for teachers when teaching these skills to this population since many educators do not know how to do it or what strategies really work. Literature review Knowledge about ASD has evolved over the years and has therefore been directed towards a constant search for educational strategies that adequately respond to the needs or particularities that these students present at the behavioural, social, and communicative levels, and the reduced number of activities and interests they have (Schmidt, 2017; Varela and Machado, 2016). The literature focuses on the communicative dimension, alluding to the deficiencies that children with autism show in the acquisition and development of language, speech articulation, and reading difficulties. Hence, the literature claims that some strategies such as Dialogic Reading (DR) and Augmented Reality (AR) aim to strengthen language and improve executive and cognitive functions, while serving as a motivational complement (Baixauli et al., 2020). Likewise, the use of platforms such as AbaPlanet, Autism iHelp, Las Pelusas and Gaido Autismo have contributed to the teaching of reading to children with ASD (García et al., 2016). 22 REVIJA ZA ELEMENTARNO IZOBRAŽEVANJE JOURNAL OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION Nevertheless, two reading methods and one visual strategy based on the Alternative and Augmentative Communication Systems (SAAC) were recognized as the most effective. Reading methods The most relevant methods for improving reading skills are the Global Reading Method (GRM) and the Treatment and Education of Autistic Related Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH), which yielded efficient results in the processes of acquisition, development, and improvement of reading in children with autism. The TEACCH method stands out for being a fairly structured method where the learner recognizes the steps to follow (Toledo, 2015); moreover, thanks to its breadth and generalizability, it also contributes to different aspects of life (Vélez, 2017), covering not only the academic area in the improvement of reading skills in students with ASD (Martínez, 2017), and motor skills but also other aspects such as motivation and autonomy (Pinto, 2020). TEACCH is closely related to the GRM since it is effective in the development of reading because it is a generalized and representative method that associates images with words and is based on the pairing of a photograph or drawing with its respective word (Rodríguez et al., 2018) as well as the use of graphic signs (Barreda, 2020). Additionally, the GRM is attractive to students because of its natural and general way of acquiring the meaning of words at the user’s own pace, which has helped to address reading difficulties in students characterized by the Reading Process Assessment Battery-Revised (PROLEC-R) (Arteaga et al., 2019). Visual strategies One of the characteristics of children with ASD is an alteration in the sensory perception of things (Araujo and Araújo, 2021). Therefore, these students acquire and assimilate information better visually and require SAAC, specifically PECS, which is a unique augmentative and alternative teaching system that consists of showing an image of the desired element to a receiver, working on the association between the acoustic image and its meaning, looking for the child to identify the word exposed in any context (Ripalda et al., 2016). Now, considering the age of the participants in this study, from Piaget’s theory, the preoperational stage of cognitive development applies, where language development begins in the child through symbolic representation (Piaget, 1964). C. E. Navarro Arana, D. I. Calderón Joya & Y. P. García López: Using GRM and PECS for Improving Reading Skills in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder 23 So, most of the time, PECS will significantly contribute to the reading process (Muñumel, 2017) because it includes visual agendas and pictograms that promote the acquisition of reading (Cáceres, 2017) and enrich the GRM (Afonso, 2020). Thus, the PECS and GRM methods, when used together, can enhance reading skills in children with autism. Methodology This investigation was developed through a case study method that analyses from an external perspective the current academic reality regarding certain cognitive processes of children with autism. The main objective of this study was to analyse the impact of GRM and PECS strategies on the reading skills of two children with ASD at severity levels of I and II, belonging to the first and third grades of primary school, respectively. Accordingly, we came up with the following research questions: 1) which strategies mentioned in the literature review are the most promising for the improvement of ASD learners’ reading skills? 2) what are the differences in the participants’ reading processes before and after applying the strategies? 3) to what extent do the given strategies impact the participants’ reading ability development? Hence, this study implemented a descriptive, cross-sectional quantitative approach since this establishes a logical process of analysis of initial and final data, through the application of standardized tests, obtaining their respective results and conclusions (Newby, 2014). In addition, the design used was pre-experimental, including a pretest-post-test with a single group, in which the PROLEC-R Battery was used as a data collection instrument (Cuetos et al., 2014). The reading level of the children was evaluated by the researchers prior to the experimental treatment, giving way to the application of the GRM and PECS strategies, and culminating with a subsequent application of the test (Hernández et al., 2018). Procedure This study was carried out in nine stages to achieve its objective. In the first place, the research topic was chosen based on the difficulties exhibited by children with ASD when acquiring cognitive skills related to reading. Next, we carried out the literature review and the collection of information on the strategies that positively contribute to the reading development of students with ASD. 24 REVIJA ZA ELEMENTARNO IZOBRAŽEVANJE JOURNAL OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION Then, two strategies, the GRM and PECS, were selected based on the multiple successful results that demonstrate their effectiveness when implemented together. A d d i t i o n a l l y , t h e s a m p l e t h a t w a s t a k e n f o r t h e a p p l i c a t i o n o f t h e P R O L E C -R Battery was selected, using a non-probabilistic sampling for convenience. Later, the authorization and consent of the parents were obtained, along with the assent of the children selected for the study. Subsequently, the PROLEC-R was applied to the selected sample in the pre-test phase; once this was applied, the results were reviewed and analysed. Afterward, the GRM and PECS strategies were implemented for 30 consecutive days in one-hour interventions. Subsequently, the assessment instrument was reapplied, and later the results of this were analysed after implementation of the selected strategies. Finally, the results were reviewed to establish the conclusions of this study. Instrument: reading processes evaluation battery, revised PROLEC-R The instrument used was psychometric, known as the PROLEC-R Battery since its objective is to identify reading shortcomings. This test evaluates reading processes through 9 tasks that assess from the most basic to the most complex reading processes, and its application must be individual to students from 6 to 12 years. The first two tasks, Identification of Letters (IL) and Equal-Different (ED) are intended for the initial processes of letter identification. The following tasks, Word Reading (WR) and Pseudoword Reading (PWR) are intended for lexical processes. The next two, Grammatical Structures (GS) and Punctuation Marks (PM) aim to assess syntactic processes, and finally, the last three, Comprehension of Sentences (CS), Text Comprehension (TC) and Oral Comprehension (OC) are directed to higher processes or semantic processes (Cuetos et al., 2014). This instrument is scored with zero and one, the first for the wrong answer and the second for the correct one (Cayhualla et al., 2013). Regarding the values obtained in the main indicators, the instrument has specific scores to determine the category in which the evaluated person has been placed with r e s p e c t t o t h e i r r e a d i n g s k i l l s . I n t h i s w a y , t h e r e a d i n g s k i l l s o f s t u d e n t s c a n b e measured to indicate their degree of difficulty in one of the following categories: Severe Difficulty (SD), Difficulty (D) and Normal (N). C. E. Navarro Arana, D. I. Calderón Joya & Y. P. García López: Using GRM and PECS for Improving Reading Skills in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder 25 These data are presented according to the school grade of the evaluated person, according to the test scales; thus, only the data corresponding to the first and third grades of primary school was considered (see Table 1). Table 1. Scales that determine the category for reading ability Note. Reading process evaluation battery, revised PROLEC-R (Cuetos et al., 2014, p. 50) Table 2. Scales determining the category for the accuracy indicator First Grade Third Grade Tasks SD D ? N SD D ? N IL 0-12 13-14 15-16 17-20 0-15 16 17-18 19-20 ED 0-12 13-14 15-16 17-20 0-14 15 16-18 19-20 WR 0-27 28-30 31-34 35-40 0-35 36 37-38 39-40 PWR 0-22 23-26 27-30 31-40 0-28 29-30 31-34 35-40 PM - 0-1 2-4 5-11 0-5 6 7-9 10-11 Note. Reading process evaluation battery, revised PROLEC-R (Cuetos et al., 2014, p. 51) In the same way, regarding the accuracy indicator produced by the instrument, the scales that are defined for this are established to select the category of difficulty First Grade Third Grade Tasks SD D N SD D N IL 0-18 19-45 46 or more 0-33 34-69 70 or more ED 0-2 3-9 10 or more 0-7 8-17 18 or more WR 0 1-23 24 or more 0-29 30-60 61 or more PWR 0-5 6-20 21 or more 0-19 20-37 38 or more GS 0-6 7-10 11-16 0-9 10-12 13-16 PM 0 1-2 3 or more 0-5 6-11 12 or more CS 0-10 11-13 14-16 0-13 14-15 16 TC 0 1-5 6-16 0-5 6-9 10-16 OC - 0-1 2-8 - 0-2 3-8 26 REVIJA ZA ELEMENTARNO IZOBRAŽEVANJE JOURNAL OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION pertaining to the evaluated person, these being Severe Difficulty (SD), Difficulty (D), Doubts (?) and Normal (N) (see Table 2). Likewise, regarding the speed indicators obtained after the application of the instrument, categories are established based on the time each subject takes to carry out each of its items, these being Very Slow (VS), Slow (S), Normal (N), Fast (F) and Very Fast (VF) (see Table 3). Table 3. Scales determining the category for the speed indicator in seconds First Grade Third Grade Tasks VS S N F VF VS S N F VF IL 51 or 40- 17- 39 6-16 0-5 38 or 29- 37 13- 28 5-12 0-4 ED 225 177- 82- 35- 81 0-34 140 or 108- 45- 13- 44 0-12 WR 194 147- 52- 5-51 0-4 83 or 66- 82 31- 65 14- 30 0-13 PWR 208 162- 69- 23- 08 0-22 117 or 95- 52- 94 30- 51 0-29 PM 249 189- 69- 9-68 0-8 102 or 82- 43- 81 23- 42 0-22 Note. Reading process evaluation battery, revised PROLEC-R (Cuetos et al., 2014, p. 52) Table 4. Reading ability indicators by school grade First Grade Third Grade Tasks L M H L M H IL 46-57 58-104 105 or 70-84 85-143 144 or ED 10-11 12-23 24 or more 18-22 23-41 42 or more WR 24-29 30-75 76 or more 61-73 74-126 127 or PWR 21-25 26-51 52 or more 38-44 45-75 76 or more PM 3 4-11 12 or more 12-14 15-24 25 or more Note. Reading process evaluation battery, revised PROLEC-R (Cuetos et al., 2014, p. 54) Finally, considering the accuracy and speed indicators, which yield the scores that are reflected in the main ones, the level of reading ability is categorized according to C. E. Navarro Arana, D. I. Calderón Joya & Y. P. García López: Using GRM and PECS for Improving Reading Skills in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder 27 the points obtained and the current school grade; thus: Low (L), Medium (M) and High (H) (see Table 4). Instrument validity The reliability of the PROLEC-R is supported by the criterion, content, and construct validity indices, which demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of this test, considering that it measures the specific aspects that are intended to be evaluated. Therefore, the psychometric properties do indeed show adequate reliability indices, and this allows us to affirm that the test values are satisfactory, given that most such tests show their maximum reliability corresponding to a total Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.79 even though some test scales present lower values (Cuetos et al., 2014). Results Initial and final test analysis Main indicators To establish the initial state of the participants’ reading skills, the PROLEC-R battery was applied for the first time, without yet having implemented the GRM and PECS strategies; in this order, the following results were obtained regarding the main indicators. Both participants obtained scores placing them in category D for the OC task, and SD for the other ones (see Table 5). However, even though participant 1 was located in these categories, he achieved higher scores than participant 2; this could be related to the ASD level of severity. These first results might demonstrate that being in the SD category may happen because the teachers in charge of these children at school did not use the appropriate strategies to work with them or did not consider their distinct paces and learning styles, leading to poor or underdeveloped reading skills for the age and school grade of the participants. 28 REVIJA ZA ELEMENTARNO IZOBRAŽEVANJE JOURNAL OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION Table 5. Main indicators: initial and final test Participant 1 Participant 2 Initial Test Final Test Initial Test Final Test Tasks Score Cat. Score Cat. Score Cat. Score Cat. IL 3.3 SD 63.3 D 0.6 SD 48.6 D ED 0.6 SD 18.3 N 0 SD 12.0 D WR 0.4 SD 46.3 N 0 SD 33.6 D PWR 0 SD 11.4 D 0 SD 32.6 D GS 0 SD 2 SD 0 SD 1 SD PM 0 SD 0 SD 0 SD 0 SD CS 0 SD 0 SD 0 SD 0 SD TC 0 SD 0 SD 0 SD 0 SD OC 0 D 0 D 0 D 0 D Note. Cat. refers to Category. After the application of the GRM and PECS strategies, the PROLEC-R battery was applied again to assess the potential impact on these students. Differential results were found concerning those initially obtained in each of the tasks evaluated, corresponding to the main indicators. Although neither participant showed progress in the GS, PM, CS, TC and OC tasks, they did improve in the IL, ED, WR and PWR, being located in the categories D, N, N, and D for participant 1, respectively, and D in the same tasks for participant 2 (see Table 5). This indicated that participant 1 gave a higher performance in terms of reading skills compared to participant 2, who despite having obtained more favourable results on the initial test, did not place himself in any of the main indicators within category N. This could have been related to the test requirements that claim higher or greater values to those in higher school grades, which significantly influenced the results. This might prove that teachers should not generalize that because a child with ASD is in a higher school grade, greater requirements must be applied. This could end by hampering the learning process of these children, leading the student to develop frustration with or conflicts in learning, so barriers may appear when achieving efficient development of their reading skills. C. E. Navarro Arana, D. I. Calderón Joya & Y. P. García López: Using GRM and PECS for Improving Reading Skills in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder 29 Therefore, it would be pertinent that the necessary adjustments be made so that any student with autism that requires these achieves the proposed objectives considering their specific abilities. Accuracy indicators Regarding the accuracy indicators in the initial application of the test, it was found that participant 1 achieved a greater number of hits or hits in the IL, ED and WR tasks than participant 2. Nevertheless, neither achieved any hits in the PWR and PM tasks (see Table 6). Although there is a difference concerning the number of hits between the participants, both were again classified in the SD category, which shows shortcomings in the initial, lexical, and syntactic processes of each one. These results could be related to the fact that they attend EI with different approaches, prioritizing different objectives in their curriculum from the aforementioned reading processes, or perhaps that these institutions did not adapt their objectives to the characteristics of students with ASD. In the final application of the test, it was found that the requirement in terms of the number of hits for the school grade according to the standardized values of the test influenced the accuracy results for each participant, where even though both obtained a similar number of hits, participant 2 did not reach category N but did go up one category compared to his initial results since he was left in the ? category for the IL, ED and PWR tasks, and D in WR (see Table 6). Table 6. Accuracy indicators for the initial and final tests Participant 1 Participant 2 Initial Test Final Test Initial Test Final Test Tasks Hits Cat. Hits Cat. Hits Cat. Hits Cat. IL 7 SD 19 N 4 SD 18 ? ED 2 SD 18 N 0 SD 17 ? WR 3 SD 38 N 0 SD 36 D PWR 0 SD 36 N 0 SD 32 ? PM 0 SD 2 SD 0 SD 0 SD Note. Cat. refers to Category. 30 REVIJA ZA ELEMENTARNO IZOBRAŽEVANJE JOURNAL OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION However, the category ? does not imply that the reading ability of the participant is deficient since this is presented as an intermediate point between normality and difficulty. Therefore, it should be interpreted as aspects to be reinforced in the assessed participant. On the other hand, participant 1 made a significant advance regarding the accuracy of his reading skills, going from the SD to the N category in the IL, ED, WR and PWR tasks. This could show that the use of the GRM and PECS strategies is a fundamental support in improving accuracy in children with autism. However, syntactic processes turned out to be more challenging for both participants since they remained in the SD category in the PM task. Speed indicators Considering the results of the speed indicators before the application of the strategies, we observed that participant 2 took more time to complete the tasks corresponding to these indicators as compared to participant 1. Nonetheless, both were placed in the VS category in most tasks, except in PM, where participant 1 was classified in the S category. In addition, regarding the WR and PWR tasks, in the first one, participant 2 took 579 seconds, and 822 seconds in the second, while participant 1 took 745 and 2174 seconds, respectively (see Table 7). These tasks max have been more difficult for participant 1 because he took more time compared to his peer. Now, in general terms of this indicator, the fact that participant 2 spent more time could be directly related to its level of severity. Table 7. Speed indicators for the initial and final tests Participant 1 Participant 2 Initial Test Final Test Initial Test Final Test Tasks Sec. Cat. Sec. Cat. Sec. Cat. Sec. Cat. IL 212 VS 123 VS 623 VS 37 S ED 313 VS 158 N 713 VS 141 VS WR 745 VS 262 VS 579 VS 107 VS PWR 2174 VS 314 VS 822 VS 98 S PM 184 S 101 N 441 VS 253 VS Note. Cat. refers to Category; Secs. refers to Seconds. C. E. Navarro Arana, D. I. Calderón Joya & Y. P. García López: Using GRM and PECS for Improving Reading Skills in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder 31 After having used the reading strategies and obtained the results of the final test, it was observed that both participants spent less time on the tasks. Therefore, participant 1 was placed in the N category in the ED and PM tasks, and participant 2 in the S category in the IL and PWR ones. However, they remained in VS in some tasks; participant 1 in IL, WR and PWR and participant 2 in ED, WR and PM (see Table 7). However, it is necessary to highlight here the participants’ level of severity because although it is believed that the greater the severity, the greater the time spent on certain tasks, it was found that this was not a reason to slow down the development of the tasks since both participants improved their time on all the speed tasks in relation to the initial test. This could support the use of the GRM and PECS strategies implemented during the intervention. Initial and final reading skill Finally, considering the scores obtained by tabulating the accuracy and speed indicators in each of the two applications of the test, it was evident that neither participant could place themselves within the parameters for classifying their level of reading ability since they obtained low scores on the initial test. However, after the application of the GRM and PECS strategies, Participant 1 (P.1) gave a better performance on the IL (63.3), ED (18.3) and WR (46.3) tasks, reaching a medium level (M) of reading ability. In contrast, Participant 2 (P.2), despite showing improvement in some tasks, remained below the established criteria for all tasks in both applications of the test. That is, he did not meet the criteria established by the test to be placed in higher categories that support an optimal level of his reading skills (see Table 4). In this way, it was possible to compare the initial level of reading ability with the final one for each participant, which was positively influenced in the final application of the test, possibly thanks to the strategies implemented (see Figure 1) 32 REVIJA ZA ELEMENTARNO IZOBRAŽEVANJE JOURNAL OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION Figure 1. Initial and final reading skills. Discussion Based on the need to use effective strategies that respond in a timely manner to the particularities of students with ASD, who are quite visual and therefore rely on visual teaching materials, the use of SAAC plays an important role since this enhances oral language in these students (Fortea et al., 2015), specifically PECS, which, together with the GRM method, once again gave positive and promising results. The effectiveness of the selected strategies was demonstrated, validating the progress the participants made with respect to their initial reading skills (Rodríguez et al., 2018). Also, thanks to the uninterrupted exposure to the strategies and graphic signs, reading skills were influenced positively (Barreda, 2020). However, it should also be mentioned that the participants’ EI lacked teachers trained in inclusive teaching, or maybe these institutions did not prioritize the development of reading processes in ASD students. Also, participants’ automaticity could have affected the results even when they demonstrated awareness of certain basic linguistic knowledge. Finally, two limitations were recognized that arose throughout the study and that could have affected the results. In the first place, there was little time for implementation of the strategies, as can be seen in the case of participant 2, who 3,3 0,6 0,4 63,3 18,3 46,3 11,4 0,6 48,6 12 33,6 32,6 0 20 40 60 80 IL ED WR PWR PM Score Indicators P.1 Initial Test P.1 Final Test P.2 Initial Test P.2 Final Test C. E. Navarro Arana, D. I. Calderón Joya & Y. P. García López: Using GRM and PECS for Improving Reading Skills in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder 33 could have obtained better results considering that GRM and PECS are effective as long as the student’s learning style and pace are considered (Arteaga et al., 2019). The second limitation concerns the need to develop this study through an experimental design with more participants, so that clear results can be generalized, offering high validity to the study (Montoya et al., 2011). Nevertheless, ASD presents a wide spectrum of particular and innate cognitive styles that prevent a generalization regarding traits or skills (Villa, 2014). Conclusions Considering the difficulties experienced by children with ASD in the communicative field (Echeguia, 2016), and recognizing their visual learning particularities, we concluded that the use of GRM and PECS strategies were effective for developing and improving the reading skills of students with autism, mainly those with a severity level of I. Nevertheless, those with a severity level of II should be exposed to these strategies for a longer time so that they can achieve better results. Similarly, we concluded that students with ASD reached a medium level in initial and lexical processes, but failed to advance in syntactic and semantic processes since the latter two are more complex and demanding according to the scales of the PROLEC-R test for the school grade and the chronological age of the participants. Therefore, students’ needs must be considered to provide them with quality reading instruction. Given the positive results obtained in this study, GRM and PECS are proposed within EI as strategies that teachers can implement in reasonable adjustments for those students who require it. 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Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news- room/fact-sheets/detail/autism-spectrum-disorders Authors: Cristian Edgardo Navarro Arana, BA in ELT, Spc. in Inclusive Ed., Master's Student in TEFL EFL State Educator, Minca Community Institute, Secretariat of Education of Floridablanca, 34th Avenue, 107th St. - 52, Floridablanca, Colombia, e-mail: lcdo.cnavarro@gmail.com Predavatelj angleščine kot tujega jezika, Zavod Minca Community, Sekretariat za izobraževanje Floridablanca, 34 avenija, 107 ulica - 52, Floridablanca, Kolumbija, e-pošta: lcdo.cnavarro@gmail.com Daniela Ivon Calderón Joya, Psychologist, Specialist in Inclusive Education Pedagogical Support Educator, Integrated Carare School, Secretariat of Education of Santander, 8th Avenue, 5th St. – 17, Cimitarra, Colombia, e-mail: daneca2718@gmail.com Vzgojitelj pedagoške podpore, Integrirana šola Carare, Sekretariat za izobraževanje v Santander, 8 avenija, 5 ulica – 17, Cimitarra, Kolumbija, e-pošta: daneca2718@gmail.com Yarly Paola García López, Psych., Spc. in Incl. Ed., Master's Stu. in Research Methods in Ed. Pedagogical Coordinator, Our Lady of Bethlehem School, Fe y Alegría Organization, 13th St., 13th Avenue – 03, Girón, Colombia, e-mail: yarlygarcia1498@gmail.com Pedagoški koordinator, Šola Gospe iz Betlehema, organizacija Fe y Alegría, 13 ulica, 13 avenija – 03, Girón, Kolumbija, e-pošta: yarlygarcia1498@gmail.com