I identify as 'autistic' because I have Aspergers, yet many of us on that end of the spectrum are primarily verbal processors, and hyperlexic. I experience a Mathematics LD also, and clumsiness under stress that indicate a minor visual-spatial deficit, that my male-enculturation has perhaps somewhat mitigated.

I can visually rotate objects in my mind, but I am unsure whether what I call visual rotation is what you call it? I feel I can judge distances well, but I cannot find something on a packed shelf in a hurry, or even quickly at all. I think it could be residual effects of a gaze-cue thing, a slight skew however rather than a visual spatial problem of the magnitude some other report.

All of this contravenes the stereotype we ALL 'think in pictures'. I pace in circles and mutter to myself to get my best thinking done, ideas 'flow' in this way for my almost as a stream of consciousness yet they are often very useful ideas.. the quality in my thought generation improves.

I don't mean to be too tangential to your topic, just to point out you may need controls to sort out whether your participants are truly

-HFA's (report mutism and  learning problems with speech in early childhood.. yet somehow 'catch up' to Aspies in adulthood, or reveal their ability later in life as an ability they had all along, yet their avoidance or inability in early childhood indicate HFA's may develop propensity to learn in the visually-spatial way you address,

or

'Aspies'. Often Hyperlexic. I am, yet perhaps I would not have failed algebra from the time I recieved my first class, and be retaking basic statistics at university next semester for my fourth time... if pictures had been used? (I finally get it, so don't feel bad for me :P )

In adulthood we can seem identical and many are misdiagnosed.

For such a slight difference in presentation, it is important to establish correct diagnosis because best practice in treatment models would be substantially different, if not opposed between the two 'High-Functioning' categories.

But please reconsider the comment 'children with autism have strengths with technology and visuals, the spectrum is far more diverse than that and such expectations cause some of us huge problems in being understood and treated, and even face social pressure around it that is unfair.

Also: I am sensory-seeking, I crave touch. Haircuts are like manna from heaven to me. Think of the stereotype of having to strap an ASC ('Condition' not 'Disorder') child down for a haircut, or ASC adult jumping a mile when you touch them.

Touching me actually 'grounds' or centres my thoughts somehow, and keeps me present in a social situation.

If we go mute, its because of social exasperation- not difficulty with speech.

Although I guess social difficulty with our pervasive literal interpretation of speech, delay in prosody recognition and verbosity may be considered speech delays?

But we are not particularly frustrated with self expression anywhere near like HFA's report.

I avoid gaze because I LIKE staring at things and find mysef captivated by people's faces- and that gets me into all kinds of trouble. As a male, the older I get the creepier it looks to others too. Not worth it. It is a very intense experience, but fascinating not painful like HFAs seem to indicate.

So, my sensory-processing 'disorders' seem to be the opposite of the stereotype, and maybe that's because they haven't made any films about us experience traits at that level of extreme, and no-one has written a book about traitwise application from my end of the extremes as successful as Temple Grandon's.

Yes I know you probably refer to 'Classic Autism'. I just wanted to highlight the need for specification with the pronoun, instead of just saying 'all children with autism'.

The specificity/pedantry of my comment is both traitwise, but please accept is emphatically given because many of us suffer greatly from narrow stereotypes around what autism is. Aspergers is a kind of autism. I am actually traumatised by untold experiences of being mistrusted, or denied legitimacy, refusals to engage with me conducively and escalating aggressions toward me, even as I plead with people to consider my traits in the face of an impending meltdown, in social contexts, starting with the simple phrase 'Oh, you're not autistic'. It means they don't believe ANYTHING, and often bullying ensues.

In terms of literature, I can only think of the Indian ( I think) mother who has successfully used pictures to teach her severely affected child to write, read and speak, and has monetised the system she formulated

http://www.parents.com/blogs/special-needs/2015/03/31/news/rpm-the-life-changing-method-that-helped-my-non-verbal-son-to-talk/

I know you'd be across that.

Here's a few studies generated from a list mentioning that. Let me know if it was helpful. I assume you may have done all this and seek advanced research methodology to add to your dataset. But just in case :)

Gidley Larson, J. C., & Mostofsky, S. H. (2008). Evidence that the pattern of visuomotor sequence learning is altered in children with autism. Autism Research, 1(6), 341-353.

Blog article but solid referencing;

http://www.thinkingautismguide.com/2010/06/questionable-autism-approaches.html

Tostanoski, A., Lang, R., Raulston, T., Carnett, A., & Davis, T. (2013). Voices from the past: Comparing the rapid prompting method and facilitated communication. Developmental neurorehabilitation, 17(4), 219-223.

From 'the horses' mouth' (so to speak);

Mukhopadhyay, S. (2003). Rapid Prompting Method. lecture, Pasadena, CA, August (video-recording, produced by Helping Autism through Learning and Outreach).

Plenty more with 'Rapid Prompting Method' in the search bar

Try this article:

Douglas, K. H., Ayres, K. M., Langone, J., & Bramlett, V. B. (2011). The effectiveness of electronic text and pictorial graphic organizers to improve comprehension related to functional skills. Journal of Special Education Technology, 26(1), 43-56. Retrieved from http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/863236728?accountid=14872

Try this article:

Douglas, K. H., Ayres, K. M., Langone, J., & Bramlett, V. B. (2011). The effectiveness of electronic text and pictorial graphic organizers to improve comprehension related to functional skills. Journal of Special Education Technology, 26(1), 43-56. Retrieved from http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/863236728?accountid=14872