Do ASDs Affect Reading Speed?

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Personally, I have reading speeds from 141-227wpm (with an average of about 179). Although I'm a pretty slow reader, I sort of make up for it by having a high comprehension rate (usually).
I know that at least part of the reason why I am such a slow reader is because I subvocalize, but I have trouble believing that I'll ever be able to turn it off... The way I see it, words are abstract symbols meant to signify actions/things/etc, and (at least in the English language) often have multiple meanings (or there are multiple words for a single thing). From what I've heard, in general, people with ASDs are visual thinkers. So, following that vague line of logic (if you can call it that), it would make sense that people on the spectrum would have more difficulty with reading efficiency, due to difficulty with connecting meaning to words, right? I cannot speak for everyone, but I feel as though, I am completely unable to comprehend words that I read without subvocalizing. Which reminds me of a similar problem I often experience when I listen to people talking - I hear what they are saying, but for some reason or another, I don't understand a word of it. It's like my brain forgets to translate the noises that they're making. I'm sure that this happens to NTs as well, but I wonder if it may be more frequent in people with ASDs?

What about you guys? Do you think that autism affects your reading speed? Do you notice similar disparities between your reading speed and comprehension rate?

Some sites to test your reading speed/comprehension:
http://projects.wsj.com/speedread/
http://legge.psych.umn.edu/mnread/DEMO_RS/
http://www.myreadspeed.com/calculate/
http://www.readingsoft.com/
http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/marketin ... ed-reader/

I can decode words at a normal speed.

How fast I comprehend the words I decode (and whether or not I comprehend them at all) varies based on stuff like subject matter, level of abstraction, amount of implied meaning rather than explicit statements, the complexity of the word structures (sentences, paragraphs), and how ideas/narrative/description are organized.

In general, I think I'm slower at comprehension than decoding. I'm not sure how I compare to others, though, because my ADHD complicates things (it would make me a slow reader even if I had no issues with language at all).

There is not much subvocalizing when I read.
I see phrases as whole things without hearing the individual words in my mind.

I read at about an average speed.

My reading speed is so variable that giving a single number for it would be very misleading. It's certainly impaired for much of the time.

Is that because of my ASD or not? Well, here's the reasons why my reading speed is impaired:

1. I often get hung up on unclear or seemingly incorrect details in what I read. It's hard for me to continue reading until I've cleared the block, which could take a minute or forever. My reading style is extremely linear, I can't easily skip around or "speed read," when I do that I feel I might miss something. That seems to be down to the Aspie tendency to hyperfocus on the detail at the expense of seeing the overview.

2. Often I catch myself failing to turn the written words into thoughts. I turn them into spoken words in my head, but that's as far as the process goes. To get round this, I usually have to force myself to write my own version of the material as I read it, in my own words. This works quite well, but naturally it slows me down a lot. I don't know what that is. Could be ADD, or maybe it's the Aspie thing of finding it difficult to read and comprehend stuff that I have no natural interest in. After all, that seems to be what the educational system is all about. My education certainly was, and that was when I first noticed a problem with reading. Possibly it got me into that awful habit of reading without turning the words into thoughts. It sometimes pervades my attempts to read books about subjects that genuinely interest me, though there are a few such books that I've managed to read pretty quickly with no difficulty.

3. I get daunted by lengthy texts. I keep feeling that it's going to take forever to complete the mission - naturally, being aware of the reading problems I've described, it's a reasonable thing to feel. And in my experience, most books are largely made up of unnecessary woffle, which makes my brain keep wondering why I'm wasting my time. I've often said that most books would be a lot more accessible to me, and just as informative, if they were condensed down to clear, concise pamphlets. It could be a product of ASD - I recently heard that Aspies have a tendency to "cut to the chase," but I'm not sure.

4. Related to the above problem, I have trouble with long paragraphs. My eyes get lost in the wall of text. If the paragraphs are a few lines each, it divides the work up into manageable chunks. Probably the reason I like WrongPlanet is that so much of it is presented in a bite-sized way that I can deal with. I've read here about Aspies who hate walls of text, so again maybe it's an autistic thing.

Summary: my average reading speed is low, but it depends on a number of factors. Some of my reading impairment is very likely due to ASD, and I suspect all of it might be, but I'm not sure yet.

I am a strong reader but I don't know how strong or how fast, both of my brothers and father are dyslexic so I'm certainly way faster than them. I'm probably way more prone being distracted and being slowed down that way.

I'm a very slow ready with extremely high comprehension.

I read pretty damn slow. A 300 page novel would probably take me 6 months to read.

this test says my wpm is 207, and my comprehension is 73 percent. sounds about right

some things are a lot easier to read than others, i sometimes used to read 1000 page fantasy novels in a couple days. but if it's something that i'm not interested in then after a while i'll stop being able to focus on it at all. it sucks

I have a 'visual processing delay'. Not sure of the exact speed I read, but, I apparently process/comprehend 3 to 4 times slower than the average reader of my age, when reading silently. When reading aloud, I read/process/comprehend most efficiently/expeditiously. Ironically, I am a visual thinker/learner, etc. and I have an Eidetic memory. I have been told by my therapist that my visual processing delay, and all of my additional processing issues, are likely related to/associated with, or, are sub-diagnosis stemming from ASD (if I have that right).

My mother and sister are ferociously fast readers, while my dad is about normal, and I'm almost exactly as you describe.

My reading speed is relatively fast, yet my comprehension is poor as I answered a mere 5 questions correctly from the 11 listed.

The average came in about 200 on the tests I did so a bit below average. But I was good on the comprehension questions so I've got that going for me.

I'm a fast reader. The above test clocked me at 395 wpm and a reading comprehension of 91%. Can't comment on how accuarate that is, but I have taken a speed reading seminar and beaten an NT who used their techniques by just reading in my normal way.

Now you mention it, when I read aloud I seem to do better with comprehension. Seems counter-intuitive, I'd have thought it would just make things more difficult. Makes me wonder whether the reason autistic people have echolalia is that it helps them to process what they hear.

My reading speed in the tests vary from 220 to 380 with reading comprehension around 80% (consider English is not my native language and I use Polish most of the time).

However it works only when there is no distractions. I can still read (decode words in head) at the same speed with background noise around too but I won't understand anything and I will have to return to the point when the distraction started and read again - slowly - to understand.

It also depends how interesting the text is. I read much faster if I can easily picture what the text is about compared to texts saying about abstract things.