This story is one of hope and encouragement for parents or any caregivers who have a child with Autism. I am a reading specialist and took up a request last year from a parent to work with his child who had Autism. The concerns from the parent were that his 7-year-old son had not been making any progress in school (child was in school since age 3) in learning to read. Specifically, the child did not know more than 10 sight words, had no understanding of phonics, and was unable to write words or simple sentences. The school made little or no effort to help him progress. At first, I noticed it was very difficult to administer assessments that would provide valid results since the boy was very active and had difficulty focusing. However, I decided it would certainly be worth some effort to see if he would respond to good reading instruction that other children are typically provided in school during first and second grade (with appropriate adaptations made for this child).
Instruction started at a first grade level and included activities such as making words, directly teaching all key phonics skills (the boy loved coloring, so I tried to integrate as many sheets/materials as possible that involved coloring and phonics) listening to stories on tape from reading textbooks and then having the boy read the same stories aloud, orally discussing stories with the student (often about the characters, setting, events, etc.), providing reinforcement stories for the child to read with his parents between lessons, and also using a research-based technique called emotional thermometers (this strategy helped the boy identify and relate to simple emotional states of characters in fiction stories and increased comprehension dramatically). I am proud to report that in less than one month, the boy was making amazing progress and was actually reading simple stories, writing some complete sentences, and reading many sight words. After about 11 months, the child had progressed more than a full grade and a half. The lesson is this: children with Autism can and do learn when given a chance.
Chicago, IL