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KC in TX
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| Posted: Sept 27 2005 at 9:28pm | IP Logged
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My son is high functioning autistic. When we do our read alouds he does not pay attention. I will ask him if he's listening and he will outright tell me no. Then he will try to focus on the story, but then I can see his mind drift away. Should I just keep reading and hope he is somehow getting exposed to the language? Or is there something I can do to help him focus on the reading. I know that he can get more out of a story if I read it over and over again (such as we do for FIAR), but I want to read him some great books such as Charlotte's Web for the exposure to the language. Help!! We're working on finding things that can help him focus on things, but I find getting him to focus on reading is getting more and more difficult.
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KC,
wife to Ben (10/94),
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And, my 2 angels, Rose ('08) and Mark ('09)
The Cabbage Patch
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MEBarrett
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| Posted: Sept 28 2005 at 8:06am | IP Logged
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Does he have better comprehension when he reads himself? I have this problem with Ryan as well and I am hoping someone has a magic solution. I have tried everything from expensive reading schools to stopping after each sentence to ask him if he understands.
It doesn't make for pleasant reading times.
He also has serious problems when he reads to himself. His reading level is fine, he just has no understanding of what he reads. It effects every aspect of school.
Any suggestions????? Anyone????? Please?????
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Mary Ellen
Mom to seven beautiful kids
Tales from the Bonny Blue House
O Night Divine
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Bridget
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| Posted: Sept 28 2005 at 9:16am | IP Logged
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Forgive me for jumping in where I'm cluelss here. i was wondering if reading a short portion and having the child illustrate while you read would help. Or, you illustrate as you read. The high fumctioning autistic children I know are quite visual and like to draw.
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Bridget, happily married to Kevin, mom to 8 on earth and a small army in heaven
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KC in TX
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| Posted: Sept 28 2005 at 2:00pm | IP Logged
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Mary Ellen--I have done the exact same thing and I agree, it doesn't make for great reading time. My other children are fine, but then they are what we call neurotypical.
Bridget--My son is very visual, but doesn't really like to draw. He's just starting to read so I'm not sure if he understands what he reads yet. I know that he does some things because certain things will make him laugh.
I have spoken with our OT about this problem and she is trying to help us. She just started it today. I'm so thankful for her because she told me to just tell her what LB is having trouble with and she would work on it during their sessions (i.e. lower case letters).
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KC,
wife to Ben (10/94),
Mama to LB ('98)
Michaela ('01)
Emma ('03)
Jordan ('05)
And, my 2 angels, Rose ('08) and Mark ('09)
The Cabbage Patch
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Taffy
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I have been struggling with this problem for a LONG time and finally feel close to a solution. I will share what we're doing and you can judge for yourself if it's helpful for your situation.
I don't know how old your HFA (high functioning autistic) son is KC. My oldest is my autistic fellow. I am not sure if he's high-functioning or not but he's almost 9 now. Trying to get him to narrate anything is like pulling teeth... near impossible! Vic just doesn't share his insights on the world very easily.
The initial recommendation usually seems to be to ask him about what he's seeing, doing throughout the day. Vic won't tell me unless I ask him specific questions. We're working on it but it's not helping with the narrating problem.
And Bridget, using drawings to narrate is often suggested as well and seemed a good idea. What I found, however, was that Vic would simply pick a word that he recognized from what was said and draw a picture of that... not exactly something I'd consider as showing comprehension.
What is finally helping me see a path to a solution (and better story comprehensions and narrations) was something that Elizabeth says on page 56 in "Real Learning": "Your first objective is to develop a sense of story. Help the child to understand that a story has a beginning, middle, and end - that it imparts meaning."
BINGO! This is the crux of why Vic, a child who started teaching himself to read at age 2, was still preferring books designed for preschoolers. He doesn't understand the point of stories! I was surprised as he'd always enjoyed being read to and reading as a pre-schooler. But I knew from his math work that he has a tough time with sequencing.
Sequencing is almost always tough for the autistic individual. Vic is fairly adaptable and less rigid about daily routines than his younger brothers who are neurotypical. But, even though his math skills are fine in general, he has a very tough time in determining order... what happens first, second, etc.
So I started using picture sequences and had him narrate the pictures. There are workbooks that are available with these. I'm referring to the sets of pictures that illustrate a simple sequence. For example: the first picture would be of a seed being planted, the next picture would show a sapling, the last would show a tree. I had Vic put these pictures in order, make a "book" (one picture to a page) and rewrite the "story" in his own words. I was shocked with how tough it was at first but a light is beginning to click! He is finally becoming more interested in books that are closer to being age appropriate.
The next task is to have him put the things that happened in the story in the right sequence. He is showing that he understands the words well enough. He was stuck on the concept of what a story is as he has so much trouble keeping the order of events in mind. In other words, he is seeing each sentence as a seperate entity and is having trouble as seeing the paragraph/story as a whole.
The book Teach Me Language by Sabrina Freeman has a LOT of helpful advice, WELL worth the money.
We're still early with this new approach. If you've tried something like this already and have observations I'd be curious to hear them so that I know if we're on the right track or not. 
Cheers,
Liz
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KC in TX
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| Posted: Oct 04 2005 at 10:05pm | IP Logged
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Taffy wrote:
| In other words, he is seeing each sentence as a seperate entity and is having trouble as seeing the paragraph/story as a whole. |
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That sentence just gave me an AHA moment. I think that's what's going on with my son. Wow. I need to think about this. You have given me a great idea and I am going to evaluate this. Thank you for taking the time to tell me all of this. We are working a bit on sequencing, but I think we need to do some more. Let me know how things are going on your end with this approach.
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KC,
wife to Ben (10/94),
Mama to LB ('98)
Michaela ('01)
Emma ('03)
Jordan ('05)
And, my 2 angels, Rose ('08) and Mark ('09)
The Cabbage Patch
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MEBarrett
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| Posted: Oct 05 2005 at 6:11am | IP Logged
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Taffy wrote:
Sequencing is almost always tough for the autistic individual. Vic is fairly adaptable and less rigid about daily routines than his younger brothers who are neurotypical. But, even though his math skills are fine in general, he has a very tough time in determining order... what happens first, second, etc.
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That is Ryan! What a great idea to work on the sequencing. I have always been puzzled by his ability to do math well but not understand which numbers come first. You mention workboooks. Can you recommend any that you liked particularly.
Thanks so much for pointing me in this direction.
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Mary Ellen
Mom to seven beautiful kids
Tales from the Bonny Blue House
O Night Divine
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4Real Forums : Special Blessings
Topic: How can I get my child to focus?
