Early research by former MCPER staffers Michael Solis, now an assistant professor of education at the University of Virginia, and Farah El Zein, an assistant professor at Cleveland State University, indicates that embedding the perseverative interest—or an “unwavering focus on a specific interest”—of a child with autism spectrum disorder in reading instruction can improve engagement and reading comprehension. Solis and El Zein developed an intervention that embeds a child’s interests into a story. To read the full story on this work, visit the University of Virginia website.
