Son is frustrated with English!

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My son is have such mental blocks learning to read English. He is a fluent English speaker, and fluent and literate in another language that has very few (if any) "exceptions" in how words are written and pronounced, and learning to read English is driving him crazy. He gets so upset with the phonics "rules" because there are so many exceptions. He had a total meltdown yesterday because he can't tell when it's the "silent e" rule, and then he had another one on a different day when he found out "ow" can say "oh" as well as "ow." He also has a tendency to read a word correctly three times in a page and then try to sound it out and get it wrong the fourth time.

Anything that's worked for other kids when learning to read English? Anyone else have this problem with the rules and exceptions and remembering words?

Aha, well. I'm a native speaker of English and I have significant issues with this as well. (Although that's mainly due to dyslexia.) The way I've learnt to deal with it is... not particularly effective unless you have a very good memory. I just try to memorise all of the rules and the exceptions to them.

Constant practice is also a helpful thing.

The silent e, shouldn't really be thought of as silent, but as an operator. It changes the sound of the other vowel in the word. For example in "kite", it changes the i from an "ih" sound, as in "kitten" to an "eye" sound. It's the same with "bike".

With "care", and "nine".

A lot of the variation comes from the fact that English language accents have changed throughout time and from region to region as well, so in some regions two words might rhyme, while in others they don't. Varying literacy rates have also affected how the language is written.

He should view the phonetic rules as best guesses, and when they fail him, he should make his own guess with respect to the context of the sentence.

For example, has he ever heard a word that is pronounced "tuh-mar-ow"? No? Then what's the closest thing it sounds like "tuh-mor-oh" so it's probably the word "tomorrow".

Would he be interested in watching videos? The old 1970s Electric Company TV show was developed to expressly to help kids learn the rules and exceptions of English language. Between the Lions is another, but geared more towards younger kids. (the newer version of the Electric Company is geared towards younger children but IMO is less successful.)

What helped my son the most (he's a native English speaker) was to read along with an audiobook, or to have subtitles (for us it's the closed captioning for the deaf) on the TV. I don't think he internalized a single rule but instead used that huge Aspie brain capacity of his to memorize each word individually.

Electric company is here: http://archive.sesameworkshop.org/tec/ and full-length videos can be purchased via Amazon.com.

Between the Lions is here: http://pbskids.org/lions/

How old is your son? My boys (5 & 8 yo) love the PBS show Electric Company. They do lots of work on those sticky english language things, like "Silent E is a ninja". Maybe it sounds silly to rely on a TV show to help but they have really come up with some creative ways to help kids recognize some of the common stumbling blocks. A term my son's teacher last year used I think it great. She calls the words that don't obey the rules, "Attitude Words". They have attitude because they don't follow the rules, see . That one little term has helped us A LOT. We don't have to argue when we come across an exception to a rule, we just call it an attitude word and move on.

Thanks for all the great tips! He's 9, but I think he'd love the Electric Company show. I had forgotten all about it.

http://www.freevideosforautistickids.co ... Links.html

You might check out the various on-line courses that I've listed among the "reading links" on my website. I also have links to free ebooks on a different page of the website. Then there are various homeschool programs on a different page of the website.... A whole lot of stuff and most programs offer a free trial or are completely free.

You can also check out my free Reading and Grammar Channel on YouTube ( www.youtube.com/user/vids4autistickids ). Be sure to look at the "favorites" for teaching tips, "playlists" for things for the kids to watch, and "subscriptions" and "friends" for other channels I like.

You might also check out my free Speech and Vocabulary Channel ( www.youtube.com/user/vids4autkids3 ).

Also, has his vision been tested recently? He may need glasses.

Finally, always use "closed captioning" or "English subtitles" whenever your child watches TV or DVDs. Most kids with autism are visual learners and can learn a lot of words by sight.