The goal of this study was to explore the development of reading comprehension in young children on the autism spectrum from pre-school to the third year of schooling. Fifty-seven children on the spectrum were first assessed on a range of meaning and print-related emergent literacy skills prior to school entry (Time 1). Forty-one children completed follow up assessments in the first year of schooling (Time 2), and 19 completed assessments in the third year of schooling (Time 3). Fourteen of

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... 9 Time 3 participants, 14 could read passages and of these seven (50%) showed poor reading comprehension. Consistent with previous research findings, pre-school receptive vocabulary was a significant predictor of reading comprehension in the third year of schooling. Results highlight the potential for identification of pre-school predictors in future research that could inform early detection of children at risk of future reading comprehension difficulties.