Reading Comprehension
by Dr. Noelle Balsamo | Monday, Jun 18, 2018
Reading comprehension is a common challenge for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This may be confusing for some parents whose children could be described as “early” or even “advanced” readers. As these children progress through primary school, they are expected to move beyond basic decoding skills and begin to “read for meaning,” and the discrepancy between what the students can read or “decode” and what they understand or “comprehend” is revealed. Although no two students with ASD are exactly alike, pervasive social communication deficits can lead to a breakdown in comprehension of both oral and written language. By incorporating just a few strategies into your existing story time routine, you can help your child develop important foundational skills to support overall comprehension.
Activate Prior Knowledge: Rarely do we dive into a new novel without first previewing the cover, skimming the book jacket, or remembering other stories by the same author. Prior to beginning a new story, encourage your child to use previewing strategies such as a “picture walk.” Picture walks allow readers to preview important images and get acquainted with the story’s structure before they are required to actively read or listen to the text. Share comments about salient things you notice and invite your child to do the same. Acknowledge novel text features, such as quotation marks or figurative language that may confuse your reader. Help your child to “make connections” between what they see in the new book to a previous story or experience from their own life. Making connections will help your child build background knowledge to draw upon in future readings. Make predictions of what the story might be about and support your child to do the same. Predicting requires the reader to notice important picture and textual cues that they can rely on to support understanding when actively reading the connected text. For children who have difficulty taking risks or making mistakes, emphasize that there are no right or wrong answers when making predictions.
Think Aloud: Think alouds allow us to verbalize the internal dialogue that proficient readers naturally do to construct meaning from text. By narrating our thought process, we can model important self-monitoring strategies. Normalize mistakes and model how to fix them; acknowledge any skipped or misread words and model strategies to repair breakdowns in comprehension. Parents can “wonder” out loud about the plot or pause to make connections to an event or character in the story. Describe the mental imagery or “visualization” created in your head and encourage your child to do the same. Visualization supports comprehension by cueing readers to attend to descriptive language and keeps the child actively engaged. Ask guiding questions, such as “What color shirt is the character in your head wearing?” to support your child in developing this important skill.
Reciprocal Questioning: Parent and child can take turns posing and responding to questions related to the story. By posing questions to your child, you invite your child to recall important details while assessing comprehension of the story. By allowing your child to formulate questions for you, you encourage a more thoughtful analysis of the reading and reinforce their understanding in response. Ask questions that require your child to attend to important characters, settings, and events. Build confidence by beginning with concrete questions (who, when, where) that can easily be derived from the text. Build up to questions that are not explicitly stated in the text (why, how) requiring your child to make inferences or “read between the lines.” Making inferences can be especially challenging for children with ASD who struggle to understand the perspective, emotions, and intent of others. Prompt your child to notice clues from the story, such as facial expressions or character traits, that support inferential thinking. Take turns “retelling” the story emphasizing main idea, relevant details, and sequencing of events.
By enhancing story time with these simple strategies, you create opportunities for your child to be actively engaged in reading and participate in meaningful dialogue that supports comprehension of both oral and written language.