Autism and reading issue.

[PinotAndPlaydough]

My year 2 daughter is currently going through the rigmarole of an autism diagnosis.
We had parents evening the other night and her teacher said that she is working way above her age range in literacy, she’s reading at a level that they would expect her to be at half way through year 3, she has good comprehension and loves to read at home.
All great except they need her to use more expression when she reads. She uses some but they are saying she should be using different voices for characters and she just can’t seem to do it. She gets upset and angry everytime I encourage it. She’s finding the books she’s reading too easy but they won’t consider moving her up to the level she should be on until she does this.

I’m trying to work out if this is just something she struggles with (she’s shy and hates acting or any type of preforming) or if this could be an aspect of autism where she simply can’t do this.
Any advice would be greatly welcome because we are both getting frustrated!

My DD had exactly they same issue. We did lots of modelling to her, by reading passages in different voices, and explaining how it was all pretend. When she could stand it, we got her to repeat passages, but a lot of the time we just kept her reading books at a lower level than she could really manage, and let her read what she wanted at home.
It just took time, and she did get it eventually. Again, lots and lots of us reading aloud to her, not just fiction, but articles from the newspaper etc, so that she could pick up which words to emphasise etc.
I would suggest maybe letting her hear newsreaders speak, but the news these days is very detailed and often too gory/horrible for Y2 children- Newsround might be better when she's in KS2.

We read a lot at home, she reads her own books and I read to her every evening. I wonder if I should read a few pages in a robot voice so she can hear what it sounds like!
Will try newsround and see what she thinks. You’re right that it’ll probably just take time, unfortunately moving up reading levels has become a big thing in her class and she knows she’s on the wrong one. I just need to find a way to get her to at least try and change her pitch and tone that doesn’t cause a huge meltdown.

Speaking in a monotone voice is not an unusual difference for a person with autism. There is no way she should be prevented from moving on with her other reading because of that. It is because she can't 'hear' the difference. the same way that some people can't read facial expressions. He teachers really need to attend some autism awareness training if they are seriously not letting her "pass" a level, due to something to do with her diagnosis.
I would both challenge them on this, but also I would not place too much emphasis on the school reading scheme books and just continue to encourage her love of reading by using library books and books she owns.