Aspergers and reading

[debs40]

My son is a good reader for his age (nearly 7) and will read his school ORT books happily enough.

He's actually on reading levels which are pretty easy for him at school and can read more complicated stuff.

However, he really doesn't like to read at home so much (save for Star Wars related stuff) and I have noticed that he absolutely is not interested in books where they have started to reduce the pictures even though he would like the stories - you know the Astrosaurus type thing.

I don't push these things at all but it has occured to me that he is very visual and might struggle with pages of full of words even though his reading ability is good.

Has anyone noticed this connection with ASD and reading? It may just be age appropriate but I wondered about processing etc

I was in your shoes until recently except that although DS1 was a year ahead with his verbal language (ie. vocabulary etc.)he never fully got to grips with phonics and was rubbish at decoding unfamiliar words.

He enjoyed looking at annuals, encyclopedias (and warhammer catalogues lol) but did not READ for pleasure.

I did extra work at home on his phonics and bought him children's graphic novels to read (these also got my older son into reading).
IMO its not just the reading they need to get used to it is story structure and all sorts of other ideas like time concepts and symbolism.
Pictures help with this. I think some children with ASD need an extended period of pre-reading skills building in an enjoyable way before they really get into books.

My advice is don't rush to get rid of the books with pictures just buy or borrow a good range of titles he would be interested in (Star wars very popular here too!).

DS2 has just turned nine and last night I had to turn off his light at ten as he couldn't stop reading (Horrible Hiccup the viking). At times I NEVER thought he would ever do that.

PS I read to mine every night for years to keep them interested in stories (and develop concentration and listening skills) before they could read fluently, quite challenging stuff like Wolf Brother etc., I am quite sure that helped too.

Hi, dd1 is the same, she's almost 6 and reading at the age of a 8 year old at school but finding the books easy, she did manage to read 'fantastic Mr Fox' but was less interested because the lac of pictures. She is fed up of the books at school because the subject is boring, she's started reading books about Dinosaurs or cars rather than story books.

Thanks! It is funny with these things - I can see issues in his learning - or potential issues and when I ask, I find there's always someone who has had the same experience!

I think you can become more attuned to what will work/what will be an issue with your ASD child. Just need school to switch on to it too.

Wiggly thanks for the encouragement. We still read to DS too and he shares a room with his 4 year old DS so there are lots of good picture books shared.

I'm happy for him to read those and anything he likes, but it is just one of those things you think mmmmmm, I can see problems coming.

It is interesting you mentioned structure etc as he had a book at his usual level yesterday and it was a poetry book and his reading sort of fell apart - one picture for whole poem etc

I know DK do superheroes books.

He likes to think he's moving up the levels on ORT but I have let him stall a bit as I'm worried that the move to books with fewer pictures will really freak him!!

Very helpful guys thanks!

DH used to draw comic books and now makes animated films for a living so we love pictures in our house (incidentally he didn't click with reading 'til he was about eight either but is a keen reader as an adult).

I collect old Ladybird books and they are great, the text is very informative, the pictures very clear and the layout is the same in every book, I don't think they can be beaten for children who like factual stuff.

That is interesting and DS loves to make comics himself!!

The Ladybird stuff is a good idea too.

Thanks

DS1 is 6 and autistic and a very confident reader, but has the same problems you describe in your son. We've found that books with colour pictures appeal to him a lot more, even when there's not so many pictures. He does have language and communication delays, too, so his ability to follow a complicated plot is quite limited.

I was invited to choose his school reading books for him, today, since he's refused a few that he's had, lately and chose him something humorous, instead of the usual dry fair that ORT provides at the higher levels and he loved it, even though he was tired and antsy and struggling to sit still and read. What I noticed him doing on more text dense pages (which he wouldn't even have attempted to read several months ago, since he had arbitrarily decided that 6 lines was his limit) was putting his hand over the page to reveal a few lines at a time.

If you can find any, the Colour Young Puffins books are really nice and include some Jeremy Strong books which have larger than life characters in, without being all horrid henry-ish. DS1 does enjoy these and will happily read them to me. A lot of the red/green/yellow/blue bananas books are very colourful, too and the higher levels are a little more challenging.

Thanks for the tips ouryve. It is good to know I'm not way out on a limb with these thoughts.

I find books with just words a struggle now, even as an adult.

Mine's 15 now and still an avid reader. He used to use a bookmark to help him focus on a chunk of text at a time, blocking the paragraphs.