How can I encourage a child with autism to read?

Are your students with autism interested in reading? If they are, that’s fantastic! If they’re reluctant readers with no interest in stories, don’t worry - I have some tips & ideas to help you engage them.

Some children with autism don’t enjoy listening to stories. They wander (or run) away when we sit down with a book. They don’t enjoy sitting and looking at books. Perhaps they don’t like a parent reading a bedtime story to them. So how can you interest these children in learning to read?

You need to use their interests!

If your students or child with autism are at the early stages of learning to read, find stickers or print pictures of something which motivates them, put them onto pieces of card and make matching activities. Start with beginning sounds, then move onto words. At this stage it doesn’t matter if they are memorising whole words and can’t decode them (not true to Science of Reading, I know), because your goal is to get them interested in written words (to read my practical tips and strategies on introducing phonics click HERE). Some interests, like horses or cars, are easier to find pictures of than others, so you might need to be quite creative in sourcing images.

In front of your students/child read everyday things such as cereal boxes, shopping lists, leaflets, (safe) news items, etc. Seeing you reading will help them see that reading has a purpose.

For more experienced readers find non fictions books and even encycopedias about their interests. I’ve found lots of bargain animal encycopedias and non fiction books for my son in online 2nd hand book stores.

For older kids, who know how to stay safe online, let them research their interests online. Even if listening to all the facts they find out bores you to tears, you need to become interested in what they are reading about if you want them to be engaged with redaing.

Make DIY activities

Buying lots and lots of books becomes expensive, especially if the books are quickly discarded or if they get messed up. By folding a sheet of printer paper in half and in half again you can quickly make a simple 4 page book. Write some facts about a topic of interest. Involve your students/child in drawing the cover of the book or in writing facts in it.

Buy scrapbooks and collect magazine or internet printed pictures, stick them in the books and write facts about them.

Some kids will enjoy making lapbooks about a topic they enjoy. Make it a project they can work on over a week or two, and display the book when they are finished. There are lots of youtube videos on how to make lapbooks if you’re not familiar with them.

Give your students opportunities to amke posters, leaflets or booklets. They don’t need to be works of art! The important part of the activity is enjoying creating something for themself and others to read.

Don’t try to force them to like fiction!

It’s great to expose students to different genres of books, but if they really loathe fictional stories then don’t force it. Take a break, and try again a few weeks or months later. Having to read Shakespeare plays to pass English exams never convinvced me to enjoy Shakespeare, but my sister who loves his plays (she went on to get a degree In English Language & Literature though). I bet you know some educated adults who prefer reading non-fiction over novels, and you probably know some who only read novels.

If we want out hard to engage kids and teens to grow to enjoy reading then we need to respect what motivates them to read.

Resources to check out:

Phonics Activities

High Frequency Words

Reading Comprehension

I hope you find these ideas & tips helpful!

Best Wishes

Kirsten

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How to teach Decoding to students with autism