Help your child with Autism Spectrum Disorder to thrive with reading
Help your child with Autism Spectrum Disorder to thrive with reading
For all of us the benefits of reading are unsurmountable. Improved concentration, focus, sleep quality, stress levels, increased knowledge, better analytical and comprehensive abilities are to name a few. But did you know that the act of reading actually stabilises our emotions? Reading with children with special needs is not always a straightforward task for a whole host of varied reasons, but to spend that time to fire their imaginations through literature has an incredible amount of benefits.
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) mainly have challenges with communication and social interaction, as well as repetitive behaviours and interests. Many children with ASD have trouble with reading comprehension and verbal language. The good news is that with the right tools and strategies, children with ASD can thrive academically and socially.
Understanding Reading
Reading is the understanding of meaning in print (reading comprehension). Reading comprehension involves decoding (word recognition) and language comprehension.
Children with ASD often have fundamental language acquisition delays and reading comprehension difficulties. The more you can introduce them to literature, the more we can start to overcome the difficulties.
‘A substantial number of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have poor reading comprehension; estimates from recent studies range from 38–73%’ Davidson and Ellis Weismer 2014; Henderson et al.
Why can my child read fluently but not understand the meaning?
Often children with ASD are experts at memorizing sight words but don’t attach meaning to the words. ASD children often read with ease, and sometimes fluently. This makes us overestimate their reading ability. However, often these decoding skills are now part of a ‘sight dictionary’. Sadly, comprehension is severely limited.
Unlike decoding, most, if not all, individuals with ASD will have challenges with various aspects of oral language comprehension. Oral language comprehension forms the foundation for reading comprehension. So in turn, they will have difficulty with text comprehension.
It is not just a processing flow problem, but rather, an underlying problem that can relate to internal cognitive wiring, cognitive abilities, and social/ language knowledge.
As a parent or carer, it is essential that you work with your child when reading, to explain the context and reinforce their learning. In turn, this is a great benefit to your child’s social interaction and comprehension.
TOP TIPS TO PROMOTE READING
- Create a relaxing and comfortable and quiet environment
- Start early - read to your baby or toddler on a regular basis
- Show how the book flows to a child with special needs
- Talk about the pictures, characters, or what they like, engage them
- Talk about the story, ask your child questions, explain in simple terms
- Narrate the story in your own words
- Read aloud sometimes
- Praise and reward your child’s progress
- Use pictures and flashcards
- Create interest and act out the action words
- Put labels on objects and toys in their environment
- Let your child read the same story again and again - repetition is good! Repetition is how a child learns.
- When your child loses interest, put the book down and start again at a later time for a short period
Education
Both adults and children with ADHD tend to lose interest, miss details and connections, often misinterpreting text, lose track of where they are on the page, and become easily distracted. Even for older children to read to younger ones, that can be a comfort on all levels using the top tips above. Younger children often look up to older ones and would relish that time together. Studies show that reading promotes cognitive development and improves language and social skills, this is essential for ASD children who can apply their learning to real-life situations.
