how to use reading to help language development (DD with autism and s&l delay)

[chocjunkie]

Can I ask you wise ladies for advice please?

DD (4.10, autism and severe s&l delay; she tested recently on 0.1 percentile for receptive) is in reception and slowly, slowly is starting to read. she can recognise a fair number of words (sight-reading) and is now blending 3 letter CVC words beautifully (yeah!). but of course with her s&l delay, she often does not understand what she is reading.

I have been thinking about using her emerging reading skills to help her s&l development but don't really know how. and no idea if this is a good idea anyways .

any ideas?

I have a book called 'when babies read' which is specifically about this point. The author's son was autistic, but also had hyperlexia so was an early but non-comprehending reader. She has a programme to teach children reading and comprehension/language at the same time.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search/ref=pd_lpo_ix_dp_am_us_uk_en_gl_book?index=blended&keywords=audra%20jensen%20when%20babies%20read&tag=lpo_ixdpamusukengl_book-21

It's a good book although we've not used the programme yet. DD has gone off words at the moment, and is more about copying actions.

www.amazon.co.uk/When-Babies-Read-Hyperlexia-High-functioning/dp/1843108038/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358157491&sr=8-1

Sorry, this link might work

thanks - I am off to amazon to have a look :-)

Is DD seen by SALT in school? Have the school been provided with resources? I have some resources provided by DS2's SALT - chronologically he is older (6.9) but he has the narrative skills of a 3 year old. If you PM me with an email address I can send them to you - they are in pdf format.

Pre-Teaching Vocabulary resource (PTV)

Black Sheep Press, Story Starters

Black Sheep Press, Four-Part Sequences

You could try googling the above - I don't know if they are freely available.

thanks keeping. DD is seen by salt but there is nothing around the reading and s&l language development bit (but her reading is very new thing though). but thanks for your offer - have PMed you.

Hi choc my dd2 had severe language delay until age 5. We used books for age 2-3year olds including millions of Spot books. We used to talk loads around the books including focussing on things like prepositions and 'who' and 'what' (starting with what happened last) and where. You could talk around much easier books but add in key words to help her use all the language and skills she has, including her emerging decoding skills. You could make up games by picking out a key word, blending it phonetically and getting her to discriminate is in the text by doing something silly, for e.g you could write the word out and get her to shout out Bingo stylee to make use of her strong visual and reading skills and add them in to the process. If your dd is having SALT they can probably advise you further and more specifically.
Good luck, HW x

Reading and comprehension are different. DS2 did not know his alphabet when he started reception 2 years ago but has made rapid progress and reading age was 14 months above chronological age 6 months ago. Google 'Blanks Levels of Questioning'.

Some people with ASD are true visual thinkers. If your daughter is, it would seem to me that she has a better chance of learning English via text, than by abstract sounds. Language itself is just a way of combining symbols to represent thoughts. The brain doesn't really care which type of symbols are used, they all get the language centres developing. And once you have any type in your head, you have more chance of getting a second language going.

Deaf families use visual signs, deaf-blind children are taught language through tactile means, PECS are well-known, some children are taught through Paget-Gorman which is visually represented spoken English. We learn a phonetic writing system, and in China people use logograms. Everyone knows that a yellow M means burgers.

I read through a page of text quickly and then use it, much more efficiently than if listening to it on audio. So I, like most educated adults, probably have better (faster, more accurate, more flexible) visual receptive language than auditory.

Choc, your post has worried me a bit. Ds is also in reception with a diagnosis of pragmatic language disorder. He doesnt recognise many letters yet, cant describe whats on the page (pictures) so we are doing rhyming books not phonics yet. He has no idea what reading is.

We have been told he is on target for reception year. Apologise for the hijack but do you think i'm being fobbed off and should be concerned.

Your DD sounds as though she is getting a real grasp of things

tbh, mrcrumps

tbh, mrcrumps, i have no idea what the target for a child without SEN let alone the targets for your DS. is he statemented or does he get any other help from school? i would talk to school i think to get the bigger picture.

mrcrumps I would say your ds would need his own targets setting in an IEP if this is where he is at. Does he have an IEP?

hw x

Yes , he has an IEP but a lot is to do with social behaviour, he gets things wrong sometimes and he is working on 'Black sheep' to learn he/she but thats been since Sept. One of the county speech therapists is due to see him soon so i think i might question where he is heading. He is quite well behaved and can manage on the language he has so the school dont seem to see a problem unless he does something silly which involves disturbing another pupil He gets 1;1 time with a keyworker if he is irritable and to help with his letters so does get what they call an 'intervention programme'.

We are no way near being able to have a two way chat even though he can make his needs very clear but the school say thats very normal for his age so it makes me doubt my concerns and things might fall into place.

maria, thank you for your post. had a bit of a light-bulb moment. DD is very much a visual learner. in addition, she struggles massively with auditory processing (I always wonder if her low receptive language is not just as much a listen problem as it is a receptive language problem iyswim) so yes, making use of written language might really be a much better way for minichoc to learn language.

mrscrumps, have you considered applying for a statement for your DS?

Thanks Choc, i have absolutely no chance of getting a statement in our area because DS pootles along quite happily doing his own thing and doesnt disrupt the lives of anyone else. We have had a few probs with the other children working out his trigger words which can set him off into a frenzy if they keep repeating them but apart from that schools been ok-ish even though he was the one punished for lashing out over the word thing.

I have a terrible feeling that until he gets to maybe 7/8 and he is assessed on the national standard tests that we are just going to be treading water.

I'm not even sure if any amount of help would actually teach him how to converse. His vocab has grown, they use visuals ie lots of sign to re-inforce requests. The lack of reading and academic progress is not in any way classed as an issue

The phrase boys are far slower seems to be a very popular one when the school talk to me. They know my other DC are DD's so i cant argue as i have no idea tbh!!!

Thanks again Choc

mrscrumps, I think a lot of mum on here have been told that their DC would not qualify for a statement and yet, their DC are now statemented. it can be a long drawn out battle. DD has a statement but getting the contents right was a massive struggle, took almost 15 months and an appeal. if you think your DS does need one, then take things into your own hand and apply for a statement yourself (IPSEA has a model letter HERE.

We have started doing basic exercises with pictures. For example, if DS read the words 'a car', we gave him 4/5 different pictures and he had to choose the right picture. Our aba consultant asked us to check ds's comprehension this way when he first started decoding words. She also recommended 'edmark reading and comprehension programme' which I am very impressed with. We have paid for headsprout reading and comprehension before, although DS is doing well with the reading part, he just can't do the headsprout comprehension. So we invested in 'edmark comprehension'. It is ridiculously expensive, but it is money well spent and we have not regretted once for spending that much money.

thanks someone.

we did the trial with headsprout but she got really stimmy about the sounds on there. will look up the edmark programme.

dd understands most 3 letter words. e.g.when she reads leg, she shows me her leg BUT when she reads e.g. 'had' she thinks it is a 'hat'. in that sense, she misunderstands a lot of the words iyswim.

thanks someone.

we did the trial with headsprout but she got really stimmy about the sounds on there. will look up the edmark programme.

dd understands most 3 letter words. e.g.when she reads leg, she shows me her leg BUT when she reads e.g. 'had' she thinks it is a 'hat'. in that sense, she misunderstands a lot of the words iyswim.