Poor Reading Comprehension in Students on the Autism Spectrum
Question I have an student (high functioning) who is in 2nd grade and reads at a grade 4 level. While his level is 4, his comprehension is extremely poor. Is there some way to push his reading forward, yet address his comprehension issue? Some of the other teachers believe that I should not push him in his reading level …they said the focus should be on comprehension. I would like for him to continue reading at the level he is challenged at, while addressing his comprehension. What are your thoughts? Answer Children with ASD level 1, or High-Functioning Autism, struggle with some aspects of language, and as a result, reading comprehension is affected as well. They are mainly visual thinkers, so they find it difficult to think with words and understand them. Here are some tips to help with reading comprehension in these "special needs" students: 1. Use fictional stories carefully: ASD children find it difficult to understand stories about things that are n