ASD Kids who knew alphabets before school and how they are now

[Bpeep]

Anyone was in similar boat and how is your child doing at school.
My son is 3 and is on the ASD assessment pathway. Now he can say and recognize alphabets, number 1 to 10 some shapes and colours correctly. His speech is limited to two or three words sentences without grammar and prepositions, tense. For now he can answer yes or no question about 70pc correctly.

Please let me know how true is this. One of my relatives told me this.
Kids on spectrum learn alphabets quickly just like registering images, but struggle to make and read words as they move to higher classes. I am now feeling this statement as true. Because my kid learned alphabets and number before 28 months, but he has not moved after that. What is your experience with yours kids who knew alphabets before three and were they able to read and write language appropriately.

One child on the spectrum may recognise alphabets before 3 but not progress to reading but that doesn't mean it's true for all autistics. Each child is different.

I could read fluently at 2, I read novels at 5 wasn't diagnosed as autistic until 41. Child one could read at 2-3, child two didn't read until 7 and child 3 knew the alphabet at 2-3 and read fluently at 4-5

I think you are fixating on this unnecessarily. All children are different and all children with autism are different.

My son had delayed language skills and could hardly put two words together and he certainly didn't know his alphabet before the age of 3. But he has learnt to read and write and now has GCSEs in both English (4) and maths (3) although it did take him a long time to get them.

I spent a lot of time with my son in his early years, sharing books and talking about the pictures and getting him to look for things in the pictures.We were also advised to play games that helped develop concentration like Pop up Pirate. He also went to SLT sessions regularly.

This explains autism quite well:

the-art-of-autism.com/understanding-the-spectrum-a-comic-strip-explanation/

Encourage his interests and support them.

What he probably is having a great deal of trouble with is comprehension. He can answer Yes or No which is a great start. You need to let him play and love alphabets - give him numberjacks to watch, alphabet blocks, number toys etc.

But then roughly assess his language. He speaks in one word at a time? Then only speak back to him one word at a time. Do not assume he understands. WAIT a LOT for him to speak in anticipation - not so long it is uncomfortable, but give him time to try language. Do it by playing alongside him in what he is interested in and do not over talk to him. WAIT and see what he is playing with e.g. a Number jigsaw. Help him to make it, get the next piece and slowly give it to him and name it e.g. ‘Oh, I!”

Do simple fill ins and songs e.g. One, two... (let him say three) A, B,... (let him say C)

Get the HANEN book - it is available online.

My son is teenager with an asd/adhd diagnosis. He knew his alphabet before starting nursery school, had advanced speech and always read well from a decoding point of view. His problem has been comprehension of text and not taking it in he is the same with social cues. He doesn't like reading and I have to really encourage him.

ds learned the alphabet several times. and forgot a few times as well. he knew more alphabet sounds than words. he did not learn to blend or segment until 4.7though. he was behind his older classmates, but not behind age expectations really. once he learned to read he progressed quickly, similar to his older peers.

dd: can't honestly remember when she learned the alphabet. she was more a sight reader. learned pre reading skills very early. (print carries meaning, (she wanted the sound the duck made so jabbed my finger on the black squiggles that make mummy go quack, not on the picture of the duck) read left to right, top to bottom. using initial letters to distinguish between three words. (mummy, daddy and her name)

she struggled with the other stuff... what do you think happens next how is so and so feeling, etc. also had to be prompted to use phonics.

ds does not read a lot, currently in secondary, but dd has always read everything.

When you say he knows alphabet, do you mean like "Ay, Bee, See, Dee"?
Children learning to read and blending sounds need to know the sound a letter makes, so "ah, buh, cuh, dduh" etc
It's pretty hard to pronounce cat if we read it as "See-ay-tee"
This is important whether or not the assessment leads to a diagnosis, all children need to know this.

Your son sounds very similar to mine at that age, from what you describe. He learnt to read along with the rest of his class in mainstream school, neither much faster nor much slower. Once he learnt, he was a keen reader.

He is 15 now, diagnosed ASD, still in mainstream school, predicted good grades in all his GCSEs.

As I'm sure you know, though, every kid is different and there is no set path for any of them.