Help with tips to get my ?ASD 6 year old to read....

[JackJacksmummy]

My DS is 6, just gone into year 2.
He is currently on SA+ and we suspect asd but not severe.

He is still doing reception stage work for most things, mainly reading, writing and numeracy, he is better at the physical aspects of work - he is a kineasthetic learner.

He seems to have forgotten most of his phonics - he is ok with the single letter sounds but doesn't get any of the digraphs so even sounding out is not really working. He won't even attempt to try tricky words like "the"

He is on the red level of Oxford reading tree and struggles with that, I have to sound every word or he will just make up the story from what he sees or remembers.

I really don't know how to help him, my other 2 were free readers by the end of year 1, we have always read to them all as we all love reading except him.

He is also on the lowest level of reading - bag, bad, am, an and the - he spelt bad as bab and bag and ban.

I suspect he is dyslexic too but school won't assess until he is a bit older.

[schobe]

We're nowhere near this stage but people on here always highly recommend headsprout: seems to have changed its name to mimio

[StarlightMcKenzie]

DS is doing well on mimio. You can't just hand your child over to the computer to sort though, you need to supplementary work, but the 'syllabus' is scientifically approached and it is a pretty efficient way to teach. You'll also probably have to supplement the rewards, and repeat episodes many times until you have got the time down to a reasonable length and over 90% accuracy.

[JackJacksmummy]

Is this free online software? I am at work atm so cant check it out too much but will tonight :)

[DiamondDoris]

No advice really as I am in exactly the same position as you OP - my DS is 6, delayed developmentally and suspected ASD - he is at the level of your DS. I don't think phonics suits him, he is a visual learner and has a superb visual memory - he has 1 to 1 with a volunteer mum for reading and she keeps saying he's making progress - well, I don't see it! He sounds out "the" because he doesn't understand that with some words you can't use phonics - I really think my DS thinks "what the f* am I doing?" - he doesn't see the phoneme as building blocks to words. IMO the kineasthetic approach is useful (but you will have to research this yourself maybe), substitution and removal of words can be quite good fun. Puzzles and flashcards. When I do do phonics with him, I say the sound and he fishes for the letter with a homemade "fishing rod" (pencil, string with magnet attached and paperclips on the letters) - he enjoys this. Part of the struggle though, is getting them interested in the first place and then they usually give up all too soon, rewards don't work with asd/suspected asd children. Basically, my DS is illiterate and I'm worried!

[StarlightMcKenzie]

No, it isn't free, but the first three episodes are if you want to give it a trial.

[JackJacksmummy]

snap, snap snap!! Diamond

I was awake for 3 hours during the night trying to find whys to help him.
He spent about 10 mins (which is a record for him) doing handwriting exercise (think reception pencil control - following swirly lines and zig-zags) He loved it but when it came to the words he gave up.

I worry so much for him, especially when the other 2 are well above average which means to us we hope we have done something right.

Thanks Starlight - will definitely take a look

[sazale]

I'm in a similar position with my DS 5.7 months and just gone in to year 1. He is still doing phase 2 of sounds and words which he will have started at the beginning of reception and is meant o take 6 weeks to complete! His iep target for this year is to complete level 2! Waiting for meeting with SENCO as I'm not happy. They won't acknowledge he's struggling. He also strugglings with writing due to extreme hypermobility in his and has social anxiety which is being exasperated by the demands of the work expected from him. He has a phonological speech disorder which makes him at high risk of literacy probs as getting the speech processes right comes before moving on to gaining reading skills.

This is an interesting booklet from I Can.
www.ican.org.uk/~/media/Ican2/Whats%20the%20Issue/Evidence/1%20Communication%20Disability%20and%20Literacy%20Difficulties%20pdf.ashx

It discusses the impact of speech and language difficulties on literacy. As well as phonological disorders it covers children with semantic pragmatic difficulties which can often occur as part of ASD.

[DiamondDoris]

It's not fair that we have to research methods, games, the reasons behind the "dyslexia" when the schools try a one-size fits all approach to reading and writing, namely synthetic phonics. ASD children cope better with whole words and tangible ones, especially nouns for things. I think you have to concentrate first on noun recognition (flashcards, nouns in a sentence, removing and replacing and so on) - phonics can follow afterwards and more complex-type words as well. Of course I'm no expert, I'm just a mum who researches online, day and night. The lack of reading and writing impacts on everything else. Has your son got an IEP OP? Have you spoken to his teacher/the school about your concerns? They also won't test my son for dyslexia.

[JackJacksmummy]

Yes he has had IEPs from the beginning of year 1. He has 1:1 for 20 mins a day and then goes to a SEN facility once a week which has just started.

When we saw the ed pysch I mentioned dyslexia and they tended to agree but said they wont assess til he is at least in Juniors next year.

I'm regularly in the Senco's office talking about him lol!

[cansu]

Dd learns whole words. She has a brilliant visual memory and I feel it's daft to ignore this. She still does phonics work though as I am hoping it might click eventually.