I think I'm lucky to live in Norway, where kids aren't even expected to learn their letters until age 6. My son was behind despite these more relaxed standards, and he basically refused to try to read -- it was hard work that gave him a feeling of failure. The only thing I did at home was encourage a love of books. My husband and I love to read so were good role models, and I read to the kids for at least half an hour every night, ask questions about the text and illustrations, etc.
Something "clicked" for him before Christmas, and he began reading lists of 10 words for special ed. He was 8-1/2 at the time. At first most of those words were ones he already knew. In January, we were told he could handle new 3 letter words as long as they didn't have two consonants next to each other. In February, he was able to read short and simple books. Now, in March, he read 70 words of text in his mainstream class' Social Studies book. His assistant wasn't even going to suggest trying, but he took the initiative himself!
So my point is, don't get discouraged. Sometimes when a child is finally ready, progress will be fast.
Just ordered the 100 Easy Lessons Book. In fact, I ordered 2 copies so dh and I can divide and conquor! Thanks so much. I will also look into the DVDs. My boys are 4 but for letter sounds i stumbled on the leap frog DVD series and had the same results as the above poster. Its just a cartoon but the letter factory got them interested in letter sounds and Nikolas identifies letters by their sounds more than by their name. He can do both and could at age 3. He is starting to have word recognition and I have this feeling he is going to be reading before he can have a conversation. I would really recommend them. the word factory may be the one you want, it sounds out words. My boys aren't as interested in that one but I don't think they are quite ready for it. You can get them at walmart or toys r us.You can also check out the site from www.starfall.com which is a free site with reading activities....also www.mayer-johnson.com has good free activities. If you want to invest in a good home program you can check out Reading Really Rocks (don't have their site on hand) it is a reading program specifically for kids with autism....I used it with John and my kids in class and they did great.This question goes to those folks whose children have already learned to read.
My boys are in kindergarten and learning to read. Both boys are a bit behind their peers. I think that C is picking it up faster than R, but C is purely site reading. C has no tolerance for sounding out words. I know at school they struggled with teaching him letter sounds. When the teacher would show him the letter, he would name the letter. He had trouble understanding that when the teacher showed him an M that she didn't want him to say M, she wanted him to make the M sound. finally, he is getting the sound thing when asked for a letter sound, but has no patience for doing that in reading. He just wants me to tell him the word and not sound it out. He's learning quite a few words, but the whole phonics thing is a bust. R, my NT son, doesn't have as many site words as C, but gets the concept of sounding things out even though he isn't great at it yet.
I'm curious as to how other ASD kids have learned to read and what techniques you've used at home to help this process along. The boys each have to read us one book before they go to bed, but I'm sure there are other things we can be doing. We use the starfall.com site on the computer and bought their books as well. I'm guessing that since visual learning seems to be a common thread for ASD kids that I'm not the only one that has struggled with phonics. Any and all advise welcome!
I taught my non-ASD son to read using the book, "Teach your child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" - title's a bit cheezey, I know, but it's a great system. I tought my son to read at 4.5-5 years old using this book. It's based on 'direct instruction' - meaning, it's full of scripts that you simply read to the child, and have him perform the exercises, and you're coached on how to react to various common errors, etc, all the way through. Worked for me. My son is now in 1st grade and reading above grade level, despite having not gone to kindergarten.
Kristy,
My guy is little - just under 3. His sister just turned five and had the leapfrog DVD series. She was not that interested in it and I did phonics with her and she can already read easy books - she will start kindergarten in the fall. My PDD-NOS 35 month old though LOVES the leapfrog DVD's. And now he knows all the letters and their sounds. It is phonics but it is in DVD form so it is visual and also as an added benefit musical. Don't know if you've tried them yet but my little one loved them. The first in the series is The Letter Factory - this does letters and sounds. Then talking words, talking words 2 and the story book factory - there is also a math one thrown in there.
http://www.amazon.com/Leapfrog-Learning-Talking-Factory-Stor ybook/dp/B000EHQU1W
This is a good topic. My dd is repeating kindergarten this year and is or (was) one of the best readers in her class. She relies 101% on sight words. She knows what sounds the letters make (and has for years), but she can not do phonics. I guess it is not generalized. She can memorize songs..she even sings in Hawaiian (which she only learns at school), but I guess it is the whole decoding/processing things. Listening to dd read is pretty comical because if she doesn't know the word, she guesses and comprehension and content doen't really concern her.
Her Kindergarten teacher is using the 100 Easy Lessons book in class and she swears by it. I am not sure if it is helping Katie or not. One thing that we are working on is comprehension. So we read a story together and then I ask questions and ask her to summarize the story..beginning, middle and end. She can read all the simple readers, but is having trouble making the next step!
Aloha, Renee
I second what Fred says, I used the same book at age 5.5 for my DD, who at 11 reads/comprehends at a 7th grade level. I am now using it for my almost 6 yo DS, and he is picking it up quickly. The lessons are really short and the child can experience success with almost every thing you prompt them to sound out. Give it a try, maybe a few min. a night before bed. :)Kristy,
I know you already ordered, but you might want to read the reviews of the book on amazon. It is a great system, but there's one thing that might trip up an autistic kid - they use 'symbols' to represent some sounds, that aren't really letters (for example, the CH sound is represented with a symbol that looks, basically, like C and an H connected together. They aslo use visual 'prompts' to remind the kids about the idiosynchrasies of the English language. For example, they'll show long vowel sounds with a bar over the letter, or silent vowel sounds with a smaller font (game).
These conventions are used throughout about 75% of the book and then gradually phased out. My non-asd son, as the system promises, barely noticed as the training wheels were coming off. I wonder if an autistic kid would be able to generalize as easy, or if they would get hung up on the different representations of the sounds.
mamasquash,
What was different about that system that made it more suitable for autistic kids?
It was set up so that kids can learn to read without necessarily giving you a verbal response. It is based on the 100 site words and is very concrete in nature.Here are some more literacy websites. The first one might be the most helpful, because you can choose the level, from beginner ABC (no words, just sounds) to practice with more advanced "silent letters" and "consonant digraphs" (ch and th).
www.iknowthat.com/com/L3?Area=L2_LanguageArts
Word match, word search and word builder. You choose the level. You don't have to register. My kids quickly learned to click "maybe later" when the registration page comes up. The site has a lot of other great learning games, too (math, logic, etc).
http://www.starfall.com/ - We had a lot of fun here yesterday, on the ABCs "Let's Get Ready to Read" section. Click on each letter for pictures (with sound and animation) of stuff that starts with that letter, and activities. Train lovers will like the letter T.
http://www.getreadytoread.org/ (Gus and Inky online movies with built-in early literacy activities)
http://www.earobics.com/gamegoo/gooey.html