Reading Comprehension Challenge

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My teen cannot understand what he reads.

Are others out there facing this situation?

I don't have your issue these days, but I do have one suggestion that worked very well for us: turn on the closed captions on your TV. If your teen watches TV at all, this will help associate the written word with a verbal one (the question is, does he process verbal language well?) At any rate, it can't hurt and is worth a try. I will say that my (much younger) son struggled a while and then suddenly it clicked for him.

Good luck!

Quote Paraphrase: Use TV subtitles.

We have used these for several years and they are helpful. He is super smart. He is in honors level Algebra and college level music therory. The schools provide no reading program that is effective for him. Tho many have been tried, e.g., Visualization and Verbalization--a form of Linda Mood Bell. He has been working intensively with an educational therapist, and this is promising.

M's therapist understands the relationships among Autism, neuroscience and Dyslexia. However, he is difficult to afford and presently away for an extended period of time. So I am attempting to work with my son alone and failing because at 14 he has listened to his mother enough and absolutely needs to hear other voices--not more of mine.

I need funding. Does anyone know of private funding or grants that might help someone with Autism who can't understand what he reads. Regional Center says they don't deal in education. The public schools have no reading program except for decoding--just calling out the words. But that is useless to him.

What helped me as a book called "Reading Detective".

QUOTE: "Reading Detective"

Thanks for the suggestion. I looked it up on Amazon, and it looks interesting.

The therapist had been working with words that trigger disorientation. This is a concept developed by Ron Davis, a man with Autism and author of a book about Dyslexia and Autism. I find these trigger words to be at the core of the problem.

It is frustrating. My background is ESL teaching so I know how to break language down into tiny baby steps and create effective lesson plans--including teaching the trigger words. But this is just not a time in my son's life when he can listen to his mom about daily life and academics for too long.

Are there perhaps not-for-profit foundations out there that specialize in Autism and reading challenges? It appears essential that educational therapy be grounded in sound neuroscience and the experience of overcoming the specific reading challenge inherent in Autism.

Does Autism Speaks speak about reading comprehension? Do they fund specialists who can help over come Autism Dyslexia?

You might have to take the school district to due process to force them to pay for an outside dyslexia program. Have you read Wrightslaw From Emotions to Advocacy? There's a lot in there that will tell you how to build a case.

You're welcome. Dyslexia aparently is very common in people with AS or autism. I wonder if I have it myself but was just never diagnosed because I was in a crappy school. When my mom homeschooled me, she would often read the text to me while I drew, painted or played with a pet. When I had to read a story, my mom would often look for it on audio book. I would paint or draw while I listined too it. I never found reading pleasureable until I found books I liked such as Mrs. Frisby & the Rats of NIMH and Plague Dogs. I read Mrs. Frisby & the Rats of NIMH in like two days. I think it was easy to get through because I was so famaliar with the movie. Jurassic Park was also a very easy read too even though it made the movie seem like a completly diffrent story.

Try watching a movie bassed from a book and then read the book. I could never get through chapter books as a kid or teen becuase I felt I had to finish it in one sitting. I started by reading simple children's picture books about my special intrests and then working up to chapter books gradually. Goosebumps were all the rage when I was in grade school but I could never get though them. I read one at the libary a few years ago in one sitting. I had no idea they were that easy to get through. Shrek was a book originaly and not very long. So were Jumangi and the Polar Express.

My daughter has reading comprehension issues. We have been trying to brainstorm on what exactly the issues are. she is only 8, but she cannot read even a K level book. She can read the words one by one but cannot tell you what they said. We have been using "blocking". A system that only shows a bit of text at a time so that her brain doesn't get overloaded by a ton of text on the page. If she even sees more than 1-2 sentences on a page she will flat out refuse to attempt to read it. You can also use an index card to help with this. Although I haven't found that it helps-at least not yet.

My daughter is a "pattern" thinker. She has been able to put together very intricate puzzles since she was quite small. She is also good at hidden pictures. I tend to think her brain is just dominant on that "pattern" thinking and struggles with verbal thinking. So reading words on a page is torture for her. I don't think this is dyslexia but maybe I am wrong. I do know that it is going to be very hard for her to progress in school without being able to read more than a sentence at a time.

She has also found ways to hide her lack of comprehension-by looking at pictures, etc. If I put the closed captioning on the tv she would not try to read the text on the screen. Matter of fact, when I have tried this, the moving text drives her mad and she will just not watch tv at all.

I think the first step is to ask the school to pay for an outside program - simply saying "we don't offer that in-school" isn't enough. It may be difficult to get them to pay for the specific program you are using, unless you have documentation that it improves your son's reading - however, it is their responsibility to fund something that works.

If they refuse, find a legal advocate.

We've had good growth this past year in reading comp.

We've done

1) Visualizing and Verbalizing (daily)

2) I read books to him and every page or so stop and ask visual questions or comp check questions. I also act out parts of it as I read so he has some visual framework to work from

3) Vocabulary building- he wasn't retaining a lot because he had big vocabulary gaps. He could read at a 4th grad level but didn't know many of the words he was reading

5) Sequencing exercises. He didn't naturally look for a sequence of things or predict what would happen next in a sequence. We did TONS of sequencing activities

6) Independent reading for practice, easier level books. Then had him do an activity to match what he read, like draw picture, answer a few questions, etc

Zette, due process looks like it will need to happen.

M. is presently homeschooled. I'm negotiating with the middle school to let him in non-language based classes only so he can learn to read without being pressured to perform in English and social studies class. M's therapist and I both see anxiety about reading as harmful as the actual reading deficits.

Magic Meekerrat--

Re: Dyslexia and homeschool.

Yes! The Ron Davis dyslexia book says dyslexia is usual with Autism. However, I have found very little written or researched on the subject of Autism and dyslexia outside of Davis.

For my son, dyslexia is the most damaging consequence of Autism.

Why do researchers and educators pay so little attention to this crucial issue?


I love your mom's homeschool. The drawing strategy seems so low key and organic to the thinking process.

Mama to Grace re difficulties in following text on the page.

M has a hard time following text too. It is typical of adults ashamed of their illiteracy to become masterful at hiding their inability to read. I know of a man who had been married for years who said, "Even my wife doesn't know."

I hope Grace will get some good educational therapy.

http://youtu.be/GXkAIUuAYrw

Above is a short video on hyperlexia from my Reading Channel on YouTube. See www.youtube.com/user/vids4autistickids.

To combat this issue, your son will need both speech and reading work. My older son with classic autism has this issue, but it has greatly improved through lots of work with him.

Please check out my free Speech Channel and free Reading Channel on YouTube. Also, I would try readingrockets.org for free information. Finally, I would always use closed captioning or English subtitles whenever he watches TVs. Videos seen over and over with English subtitles might be appealing to him.

Check out "favorites," "comments," "uploads," and "playlists" on the recommended channels. Good luck!

Thank you Blond Ambition for your resources. I enjoyed the excellent video on hyperlexia. This is part of my son's problem too.

I see your DS is 7. I homeschooled my DS with many effective supports and interventions until 4th grade. He was reading on grade level when he was 7, 8, and 9.

When I became too exhausted to homeschool him anymore, he went to a highly acclaimed Autism school in Southern California. And that was the end of my input and beginning of his reading downfall.

So we are attempting to recover and progress from there.

His underlying issue is language comprehension issue--both on the page and with living, spoken language. I believe he needs ear training, much as a typical music student requires ear training to acquire relative pitch. DS has perfect pitch, so he did not need training for relative pitch when he started his musical training. However, he needs systematic ear training to hear language.

When he was homeschooled I shadowed him to social studies and science classes with a group of 7 typical homeschoolers. I taught him to take notes--rewarding him with nickels for each word of the lesson or classroom discussion he could write in his notebook. After some months, he was able to take down full sentences of speech. I believe if he had continued his ear training in the classroom after homeschool, he would be OK. However, that school had a strict "no fly" zone so to speak enforced against parents like me whom they saw as intrusive "helicopter parents."

Now he is 14 and struggling to participate in the world with below grade-level reading skills and an inability to catch the drift of conversation. All avoidable consequences of Autism in my view.

Thanks for all the input about your reading experiences.

I just found and ordered a new 2011 book on the subject: Drawing a Blank by Emily Iland which cites research and offers guides to diagnosis and treatment for poor reading comprehension for people with ASD. Iland says regular assessment tools do not assess reading comprehension.

In 2 hours the school will test my son's reading with these regular assessment tools. I am hoping Ms. Iland might provide Los Angeles City School District (LAUSD) with names of tests that will assess his comprehension.

It seems strange that huge LAUSD might not know about testing for reading comprehension. Does a anyone out there who works within LAUSD know if they have the know how and will to use comprehension testing that works with ASD readers?