How ASD impacts reading
- Students with ASD often struggle with reading comprehension.
- They struggle with stories or passages that include the use of figurative language, as they are very literal thinkers.
- Students with ASD often have trouble making inferences, especially those that relate to a character’s feelings.
References
Brum, C., Hall, L. J., Reutebuch, C., & Perkins, Y. (2019). Reading comprehension strategies for high school students with autism spectrum disorder. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 52(2), 88–97.
Henry, A. R., & Solari, E. J. (2021). Developing social knowledge to support reading comprehension in elementary students with ASD. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 54(4), 306–314.
Recommendations for instruction
- As with all students, it is especially important to build background knowledge and vocabulary for students with ASD. Graphic organizers are especially useful for students with ASD before, during, and after reading.
- Since students with ASD often have special interests and like routine it can be helpful to encourage series and familiar genres when reading.
- It is helpful to identify and discuss figurative language from within the story or passage with students with ASD.
References
Brum, C., Hall, L. J., Reutebuch, C., & Perkins, Y. (2019). Reading comprehension strategies for high school students with autism spectrum disorder. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 52(2), 88–97.
Henry, A. R., & Solari, E. J. (2021). Developing social knowledge to support reading comprehension in elementary students with ASD. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 54(4), 306–314.
ASD Sample lesson plan
While Ahmed is able to decode words and read fluently, this passage might still be challenging for him to comprehend. Ahmed has trouble relating to the feelings, actions, and emotions of characters, which is typical of children with ASD (Brum et al., 2019). Because of this he might have difficulty with understanding the range of emotions that Mrs. Mallard goes through in this passage. Another thing that could cause confusion for Ahmed is the use of figurative language in the passage (Henry & Solari, 2021). Finally, some of the vocabulary is also difficult in the passage and may be challenging for Ahmed to understand.
There are several supports that could be put into place to help Ahmed succeed with this passage for his English class.
- Before reading the passage, it would be important for Ahmed to understand the meaning of the words in the passage and for difficult vocabulary to be explicitly taught (Whalon & Fleury, 2023).This is especially true for words that relate to Mrs. Mallard’s emotions since making inferences about feelings are already difficult for Ahmed (Henry & Solari, 2021).
- It would also be important for his teacher to explain the uses of figurative language in the passage ahead of time as well. Phrases such as “the storm of grief” might be confusing for Ahmed as children with ASD often take texts literally (Henry & Solari, 2021). This could be done by providing examples of common figurative language phrases such as “as stronge as an ox,” “faster than a spreading bullet,” and “busy as a bee.” By pre-teaching these phrases to Ahmed, his teacher can also help him connect pieces of this story to his own life (Henry & Solari, 2021).
- While reading the passage, it would benefit Ahmed, both socially and for his comprehension, to have a partner to read the passage with. This could be done similarly to the CSR-HS, and Ahmed and his tutor could work through the passage together and stop at specific points to ask true or false questions (Brum et al., 2019). While the CSR-HS model is meant to supplement instruction, parts of it could be applied to the classroom as well.
- Graphic organizers could be used both during and after reading the passage to help Ahmed. This could help him identify how Mrs. Mallard’s feelings and emotions change throughout the passage and help him understand her viewpoint (Henry & Solari, 2021).
- Finally, to assess Ahmed’s comprehension of the passage he could be given some choice as to how he would like to show what he knows. Since assignments that require interpreting and writing are challenging for him, it would be beneficial to offer him the choice of using art or theater to express his knowledge as well (Brum et al., 2019).
With the support listed above, I believe that this would be a good lesson that Ahmed would be successful with and be able to better comprehend the passage.
References
Brum, C., Hall, L. J., Reutebuch, C., & Perkins, Y. (2019). Reading comprehension strategies for high school students with autism spectrum disorder. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 52(2), 88–97.
Henry, A. R., & Solari, E. J. (2021). Developing social knowledge to support reading comprehension in elementary students with ASD. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 54(4), 306–314.
Whalon, K., & Fleury, V. P. (2023). Autism and Early Literacy. In Handbook on the Science of Early Literacy (pp. 336–346). essay, Guilford Publications.