Despite growing numbers of bilingual children acquiring Chinese in early childhood, little is known about emergent Chinese literacy before formal instruction. We examined 116 Beijing kindergarteners: 79 early Chinese-learning bilinguals from diverse non-Mandarin L1 backgrounds (ages 2–5) and 37 native Chinese peers (ages 4–5). Experiment 1 revealed asymmetric age-related patterns in the bilingual children: phonological knowledge (character–syllable mappings) was above chance by age 2, while visual-graphic discrimination remained at chance until age 4, then reached near ceiling by age 5. Experiment 2 compared 40 of these children (ages 4–5) with native peers on literacy measures. Bilinguals achieved native-like orthographic awareness (d = .11) despite significant gaps in word reading (d = 1.05), vocabulary (d = 1.13), phonological awareness (d = 1.29), morphological awareness (d = 1.33) and rapid naming (d = 1.28). Vocabulary uniquely predicted reading for both groups (β = .53), highlighting its critical role in early L2 Chinese literacy.

The social-communication and behavioural difficulties experienced by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are well documented in the research literature; however, relatively little attention has been paid to their commonly experienced reading difficulties. In this article, we synthesise the findings of the research to date and provide practical recommendations for school psychologists and counsellors tasked with assessing and supporting children with ASD who experience reading difficulties. Central to these recommendations is the need for comprehensive multidisciplinary assessment tailored to each child's needs, at all times avoiding common assumptions regarding literacy and learning in children with ASD.