Upload
others
View
2
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
READING COMPREHENSION AND AUTISM:
SELECTED TOPICS
Erin Lash, MS CCC-SLP
Patricia McCoy, MA, CCC-SLP
West Virginia Autism Training Center at Marshall
University
Today we will…
Define reading comprehension
Understand how features of autism affect
comprehension
Learn about intervention ideas and techniques
tailored to the needs of learners with Autism
Spectrum Disorders
Explore resources that address specific learning
strategies
Reading is…
“A form of dynamic thinking [that] includes
interpreting information through the filter of one’s own
knowledge and beliefs,
using the author’s organizational plan to think about
information (or imposing one’s own organization on
ideas),
inferring what the author does not tell explicitly,
as well as many other cognitive actions.”
National Reading Panel (2005), p.28
Reading Instruction
Includes 5 basic skills:
Phonemic awareness
Phonics
Fluency
Vocabulary
Text Comprehension
Notes
The Benefits of Literacy Skills
Literacy Skills are critically important:
They allow for fuller participation in
education
Enhance employment opportunities
Facilitate the use of technologies
Support personal expression and social
relationships (texting, social networking, etc)
Allow access to enjoyable leisure pursuits
(reading for enjoyment, surfing the internet,
etc)
Can increase functional communication
skills.
Increase socials skills by providing mutual
interests to discuss.
DSM IV Criteria for Autism
(a) Delay in, or total lack of, the development of
spoken language (b) marked impairment in the ability to initiate or
sustain a conversation with others
(c) Stereotyped and repetitive use of language or
idiosyncratic language
(d) Lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe play
or social imitative play appropriate to
developmental level
Notes
Learning Characteristics
of Autism
Visual vs. auditory learner.
Expressive and Receptive Communication
problems.
Difficulty predicting the order of events.
Difficulty with organizational skills.
Difficulty reading social information.
Fine and gross motor skill difficulties.
Concrete vs. abstract learner.
The Reader on the Spectrum
Research suggests that children on the spectrum have a
wide range of reading accuracy skills.
o Many are hyperlexic
o Hyperlexics do not struggle with word
reading but with word meaning and
comprehension
Weaknesses tend to be in the areas of reading
comprehension and vocabulary.
Those are the areas we will concentrate on today.
Challenges in teaching literacy skills
May have limited access to speech or language
o Spoken language is the foundation of
written language
o Limited vocabulary and syntax skills
Limited world knowledge
Limited means to express themselves
Limited opportunities for literacy learning
o Often have reduced expectations
Notes
The Benefits
Literacy skills are even more important for individuals
with autism who have limited speech
To expand communicative options
To increase perceptions of competence
To increase self-esteem
Provide visual supports to enhance language
learning and facilitate speech production
To be an effective comprehender, the reader must
track through sentence from left to right
decode or recognize by sight each word in
sequence
access meaning of words
process all words in sequence to derive
meaning of sentence
relate meaning to prior knowledge to
comprehend text
What good comprehenders do:
Know why they are reading
Understand the point
Relate to prior knowledge
Relate to other text
See cause and effect
Interpret characters’ actions and emotions
Understand the author’s intentions
Predict
Infer
Summarize
Mark, highlight
In Summary: readers must understand vocabulary, style,
structure, characters, and much more….
(Drawing a Blank, Emily Iland)
Notes
Readers who struggle
May have difficulty understanding vocabulary, style,
structure, and characters.
They may have difficulty understanding deception,
metaphors, sarcasm, irony, and using imagination.
They may fragment information and focus on details,
rather than understanding the “big picture”.
Have difficulty adapting to new situations or changes
in text with flexibility.
May have difficulty responding to what they have
read.
May have difficulty thinking about how they read.
Have difficulty connecting personal experiences with
what they have read.
Have a wide range of reading accuracy skills while
reading comprehension is generally impaired.
In essence: Have difficulty with the essential
components of good reading comprehension, which
includes:
using their experiences and knowledge of the
world, knowledge of vocabulary and language
structure
Using their knowledge of reading strategies
Make sense of text
Know when they have problems understanding
and how to resolve those problems as they
occur. (National Institute for Literacy: 2012)
Deficits in reading comprehension for readers with
autism can be masked by:
Good decoding and fluency
Understanding of concrete facts
Good memory
Notes
Being re-taught at home
Research shows that around age 10, learners with autism
who are poor readers lose interest because of weak
comprehension skills.
A Closer look at the reader on the spectrum: some
specific challenges
Restricted Interest Areas
Readers with autism may have restricted or limited
areas of interest.
They may focus on details or fragment information
based on their interests.
Our Challenge: Incorporate interest area whenever
possible.
Literal Thinking
Readers with autism can be highly literal thinkers.
This may affect reading comprehension in the following
ways:
Prefer non-fiction over fiction material
May focus on details and miss intentions and
implied information
Abstract concepts related to interactions will
be missed or misunderstood
Abstract Concepts
Difficulties recognizing simple relationships
between people and events
Misleading conclusions from what they read
Focus on unimportant details
Have difficulty understanding deception, sarcasm,
and irony.
Notes
Lack the development of imagination.
Communication Problems in Autism
Responses to questions may be delayed due to slow
response time
Choral reading may be difficult to due pacing
Difficulty initiating responses verbal responses
Understanding word meaning and usage
Particularly multiple word meanings and
idioms
Vocabulary: Language Competence and
Comprehension
Language is the basis for literacy
The text we read is oral language in visual form
Most vocabulary is learned indirectly
Children engage daily in oral language
through conversations with others (especially
adults)
The more oral language experiences children
have, the more word meanings they learn
Children learn vocabulary as they listen to adults read to
them.
Conversations about books help them learn
new words and concepts.
They relate these new words to prior
knowledge and experience.
Children learn vocabulary by reading extensively on their
own
Notes
They are exposed to new vocabulary and learn new word
meanings.
There are basically 4 types of Vocabulary
Listening vocabulary: words we know that we hear
Speaking vocabulary: words we know when we
speak
Reading vocabulary: words we need to know to
understand what we read
Writing vocabulary: words we use in writing
Direct teaching
Many readers require some direct teaching of vocabulary
Particularly for “new” or difficult words
Children with ASD often need extensive direct
instruction in specific word meanings, word-
learning strategies, and figures of speech.
Children learn to combine what they know about
speaking and listening with what they know
about print, and become ready to learn to read.
What’s UP?
“UP”: A word that is easy to understand, right?
Does it mean?
Toward the sky?
At the top of the list?
There are actually more than 30 definitions for the
word “UP”
Notes
Idioms, Multiple meaning words, and figures of
speech
Some “early reader” books explain idioms and
make them fun!
They also provide an excellent “teaching
moments”.
Let’s look at a few examples:
o Amelia Bedelia
“Change the towels in the green
bathroom….”
“Dust the furniture…..”
More examples of teaching idioms, multiple meaning
words, and Figures of Speech
Mr. Granite is From Another Planet!
“….I’m all ears, Mr. Klutz said. You are
not, I told him. You have eyes, a nose, and
a mouth, too. It would be weird to be all
ears. It’s just an expression, said Andrea,
rolling her eyes. It means Mr. Klutz is
listening.”
“Mr. Granite is going overboard with this
green stuff”, said Ryan. He’s falling out of
a boat? I asked. No, dumb head, I mean
he’s getting carried away. I don’t see
anyone carrying him away, I pointed
out……”
“Finally, Mr. Granite turned into a driveway.
Well, I don’t mean he became a driveway.
That would be weird. He just rode his bike
up into a driveway next to a house…”
Notes
Joint Attention
The process of sharing one’s experience of
observing an object or event, by following gaze or
pointing gestures.
Attention is a prerequisite for learning.
The reader with autism may not pay attention to a
shared object such as a book or point to pictures or
words.
It is critical for social development, language
acquisition, cognitive development, and reading
comprehension.
Social Skills
Individuals with autism may have social skill
deficits.
Skill deficits may include, but are not limited to:
limited play skills, establishing and maintaining
friendships, shared enjoyment, limited opportunities
for social interactions………
Social Skills
Readers must identify with the characters’ social
experiences and they contribute to the story.
Readers need to be aware of the emotions of the
characters and how they play a part in the
development of the story.
Theory of Mind
“Knowing what others’ know”
Recognizing that others can have different
information and views from one’s own
Being able to accurately guess the thoughts,
beliefs, emotional state and intentions of
others
The inability to understand a character’s thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors and motivation, as well as
interactions between characters may adversely affect
understanding and comprehension.
Notes
Executive Functioning Issues
Readers with autism:
May have difficulty or inability to plan and sequence
activities/assignment tasks.
Difficulty organizing thoughts and materials.
Difficulty multi-tasking
Difficulty adapting to new situations with flexibility.
So they may have difficulty adapting to flexibility and
changes in the text,
Guiding Questions for Before, During, and After
Reading Activities
What should we ask ourselves first?
What are the important concepts that the student
must understand to comprehend the story?
Knowledge of topics
What are the key vocabulary words? Clarifying
multiple meanings of words
New words being introduced
Language considerations idioms, similes, metaphors
What is the background knowledge base from which
the students will draw? Life experiences, other text,
world knowledge
Based on your knowledge of the student, what
relevant experiences does the student bring to
support understand the story?
Notes
Direct instruction
A structured approach that provides systematic and
detailed directions.
Includes teacher modeling, unison reading, with
systematic review and practice.
Increases the time students are engaged in learning,
Incorporates reading and comprehension in both
whole group and individual instruction.
Also Includes:
o Teaching specific words before reading
o Teaching specific words over extended
periods of time
o Teaching specific words “actively”
o Working with the new vocabulary in many
different way
o Repeated exposure to vocabulary in different
contexts
Activating background knowledge
Teaching background knowledge (about a topic or
concept) better prepares them to learn.
The more they know about a topic, the easier it is to
connect their background knowledge and improve
comprehension.
Activating Background Knowledge
Define a purpose for the reading assignment
Make initial predictions about the text
Brainstorm ideas and associations and write them
on chart paper
Ask the students to share past experiences
Picture walks through a story.
Story retelling with visual aids
Notes
Primer passages as a Pre-reading Strategy
Provide a clear title for a passage that does not have a title
or is unclear.
EXAMPLE: Mr. Granite is From Another
Planet
2. Prepare a primer passage that contains all of the main
ideas of the passage to be read.
Wahlberg and Magliano (2004).
3. After reading a primer passage, ask readers to notice
the title again, and make a link between the title of the
selection to be read and the primer passage. This
connection serves as an anchor to help the reader with
autism focus on relevant information.
4. After reading, discuss with the reader how the primer
passage, the title and the passage itself all relate to one
another.
Wahlberg and Magliano (2004).
Think-Alouds
As the teacher reads a passage to the entire class, he/she:
o Discusses words that may confuse an adult.
o Models his/her comprehension and thinking
strategies:
Including: making inferences, asking
questions, making connections to
personal background knowledge, and
predicting what might come next.
Talks about ideas that confused, things
they wondered about
Notes
Students are encouraged to practice talking about their own
thinking.
This strategy may help to develop
metacognition, which is basically “thinking
about thinking”.
(National Institute for Literacy, 2012)
The Synonym Strategy
Type a selected text (paragraph or passage) into a
Word document.
Ask the student to pre-read the text and use the
computer to highlight any words he or she does not
know.
Have the student read the text with the substituted,
familiar words in place of the unfamiliar words. See if
the selected substitute words make sense.
Check for understanding of the passage with the
synonyms in place.
This strategy is effective for learning new vocabulary.
Graphic Organizers
Graphic organizers provide a visual representation of the
story sequence and content
Story Retell
Readers with autism may simply restate the facts of
the text without an understanding of the story itself.
Notes
Readers with autism may be uncomfortable with
the direct question/answer interactions.
Story Retelling Strategies
Start with a familiar story
Provide a template or graphic organizer
Allow reader to doodle or draw during retell
Provide pictures/photographs to facilitate the retell
Allow reader to write or type the retell
Visual check list
Checklist for Reading Assignment:
When reading, think about
Who ___________
Where _________
When __________
What happened?
First ___________
Next ___________
Then ___________
Ending _____________
Asking Questions
Give the reader with autism sufficient time to
respond
Speak the questions along with presenting them in
written form.
The reader with autism may say, write or circle the
answer.
Notes
WHO-did-what?
Using basic nouns and action words, combine into
complete and simple sentences.
Sequences events to show how events and
characters interact.
Should help understanding of goals, actions, and
conclusions.
Reciprocal questioning
A strategy that teaches students to ask question of a
partner and of the text.
Students read from familiar story books in pairs,
using visual supports and checklists of strategies to
follow.
The teacher models how to ask questions as they
read.
This strategy also promotes social interactions, as
students with ASD are more likely to respond to
texts after seeing and hearing peers respond.
(Whalon & Hanline, 2008)
Strategies for Older Students
Demonstrating reading comprehension mastery
may be difficult to evaluate using typical question
or paper tests
What about these ideas?
o Do a multi-media presentation on the subject
o Create a comic strip about the main
character, including flashbacks.
o Create a poster advertising the story or
location
o Do a brochure about the location or topic
Notes
Create a map of the location as main characters
travel through the story.
Create a timeline for the story
Retell the story in your own words
Research an idea presented in the story or by the
main character
Do a short play about the story
Create a public service announcement about the
characters or story content.
Create a reward plaque for a character
Make a list of clues about the story and ask others
to solve the “mystery”.
A Look at Specific Examples………
How might these books, passages, and worksheets be
interpreted by our children on the spectrum?
What might our children on the spectrum find difficult?
“Early successes in battle gave the confederacy reasons to
be confident.”-
The south won some battles so they were feeling good.”
“More Confederates arrived and soon the tide turned in
their favor.” –
“More soldiers came and things looked better for them.
They were winning.”
A short story with the retell being sequence story events.
A Group Activity
Look and listen for any red flags.
Notes
The TALE of TWO TEACHERS: A True Story
Some applications in REAL LIFE.
General education-Fourth Grade
Uses the basal reading series
Daily, whole class read alouds
Skills linked to specific literature books
Three days per book
No testing
Teaches above and beyond the basal to reinforce
skills
Self-Contained Intermediate Class
A sample week:
o Monday: read the story aloud to the students.
Reread the story together (choral or turn
taking)
Talk about “wh”: who, what, where,
how, why
Related activities are set up in the
reading centers for the week
Homework: read the story at home
o Tuesday: review the story
Introduce vocabulary words. Look up
each word, complete word and picture
activities.
Possible addition to spelling word lists
o Wednesday: Review the story.
Complete a story map, looking for the
main idea and characters.
Complete a timeline if possible.
o Thursday: Vocabulary and story review
Review vocabulary from the story and
retell the story in your one words.
Write one sentence about your favorite
part of the story or detail from the
Notes
story (activities are chosen to show
understanding of 2 details or main idea)
o Friday: Review the story.
“Fun” activity related to the story
(graphic organizer, hands on activities,
movement or game activities, etc.)
The students demonstrate how they
relate to the character or characters in the
story.
Notes
Resources
Carsondellosa.com
Carson-Dellosa Publishing, LLC, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, is a
leading supplemental curriculum solutions provider for both educators and parents.
Founded by two teachers, the company boasts a 35-year history of enhancing a
child's learning potential and environment through quality curriculum,
supplemental learning materials, and classroom resources.
Evan Moor Materials
High-interest topics.
Short, 4-page, brochure-style card stock format provides reluctant readers with a
non-threatening format that's less overwhelming than a textbook or a paperback.
Step-by-step lesson.
Before-, during-, and after-reading strategies
Focus reading strategies, such as drawing conclusions and identifying cause and
effect, guide students through the different ways of understanding and accessing
different types of text.
Reproducible student pages
Audio CD:
Thinkfinity.org
WV Department of Education
Education.com
Each book listed in the catalogs gives, suggested grade and interest levels, a
synopsis, a sample of the skills the book can be used to address, and
methods for developing a wide range of language learning.
Carnahan, C., (2010). Quality Literacy Instruction for Students with Autism
Spectrum Disorders. Shawnee Mission, Kansas: AAPC Publishing
Gately, S., Facilitating Reading comprehension for students on the autism
Spectrum. Teaching Exceptional Children, Jan/Feb 2008.
Iland, E., (2011)., Drawing a Blank: improving Comprehension for Readers on the
Autism Spectrum. Shawnee Mission, Kansas: AAPC Publishing
Kluth P., (2008). A Land We Can Share. Baltimore, Maryland: Brookes
Publishing.
Kluth, P., (2003). You’re Going to Love This Kid.
Baltimore, Maryland: Brookes Publishing.
Schoenbart, Adam J. “Reading Comprehension Strategies for Children with
Autism Spectrum Disorders”, Teachers College, Columbia University (ASHA
Literacy Gateway)
Quill, K., (2000). Do Watch Listen say. Baltimore, Maryland: Brookes
Publishing.
Vickers, B., (2008). Recognizing Different Types of Readers with ASD. The
Reporter, 14(1), 6-9. Indiana Research Center for Autism (IRCA).
National Institute for Literacy, Partnership for Reading, Put Reading First:
Kindergarten Through Grade 3. [email protected].
Gutman, Dan: Mr. Granite is from Another Planet
HarperCollins Publishers, 2008
Parish, Peggy: Amelia Bedelia, HarperCollins Publishers, 1963
AND: OUR FRIENDS AT DUNBAR INTERMEDIATE AND Marlinton
Elementary SCHOOLS