ASD and reading comprehension?

[Handywoman]

My dd aged 7 (?ASD with quite subtle difficulties) decodes very well. Her reading is thought to be NC level 3c. She handles new text with confidence and points out things like the 'slient b' in doubt even if it is the first time she's seen it. So far so good.... but for about a year she has struggled to enjoy books beyond the simple ORT level. She struggles with:

Deciphering conversational text, specifically following 'who said what to whom' and the general 'gist' of conversational text. The second issue seems to be unusual rules like irregular plurals and collective nouns (e.g. the plural of squid being squid - which caused an outburst of anger with the book ending up on the floor). The third issue is the non literal language. Last night she stopped and exclaimed that the pirate character Long John '...could not be called Long John because he is not long'. All this causes her frustration and has to be acknowledged immediately - we can't just accept it and carry on with the story (dd has become more 'rule based' over the past year). The enjoyment of books seems to constantly fall by the wayside as a result.

Has anyone else noticed this and are there any ideas out there about what to do about it? I realize I am fortunate to have a child who reads so well (other dd is Dyslexic and books are a slog) but I just want my dd's ability to translate into some enjoyment of books. Any tips gratefully received....!

HW x

Mimio reading comprehension might help?

Yep, we have similar issues with Dd3.
She is 10 and can decode very fast, fast enough to use expression and this has fooled teachers/ta's for years.

She has mastered the art of finding answers to comprehension questions within the text without actually comprehending the text.

Inference is a huge problem for her.

Hopefully now that this has come to light she is going to get some additional support at school.

Someone on here mentioned a book called language for thinking which might be worth a look at.

My friend who is a SALT has lent me some books but they are all picture based and Dd3 needs text based ones.

I would recommend a chat with your SENCO dont ignore it, it probably wont right itself with maturity.

Good luck

Thanks, INAL, it's helpful to know it happens elsewhere. Funny you should mention the expressive reading. DD has read very expressively since reception. It used to be a joy to hear her read, but now there are too many 'things' getting in the way!

Might have to have a chat with the SENCO at some point. Her teachers will never believe me that reading is in any way problematic, due to her NC level (her teachers were pretty glowing about her academic achievement at parents evening). We do have a recent SALT report saying that her poor ability to handle non-literal language (1st centile) may hold her back with reading comprehension. Might have to go via SENCO with this.

Star, thanks for the heads up with mimio site ? although it's a bit tricky to navigate? Might need to change browser. I have tried Reading Xpress but this was above her level.

Thanks and have a [hbiscuit]

HW xx

thanks from me too -saved me posting the same OP!

I'm a TA (as well as a parent of a DC with ASD) and can heartily recommend Language for Thinking. I used it with my charge and it is a very good tool for improving language comprehension and can be used at many levels. My DS also used it at his school. It's generally used within schools but you could use it at home.