Use this site to access recordings and presentations from National Conferences
Autism Society records most keynote and concurrent sessions at their annual conferences. You can see and hear those recordings by purchasing full online access, or individual recordings.
3337
Improving Reading Comprehension for Good Decoders with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Saturday, July 12, 2008: 10:45 AM-12:00 PM
Tallahassee 1 (Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center)
The core features of autism may also impact reading comprehension, affecting learning at every level. Few intervention strategies are tailor-made especially for readers with Autism Spectrum Disorders who are good decoders with poor understanding, but intervention in this area is a key to progress, particularly from about 4th grade on. This session will demonstrate how the features of ASD affect literacy and comprehension and offer specific, practical strategies to improve reading comprehension for those with ASD.
The most effective strategies and interventions for learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder will be tailored to their strengths while addressing their needs. Many strategies that are effective for students with learning disabilities are
not productive for students with ASD. In the area of reading comprehension, for example, activation of prior knowledge backfired, but anaphoric cuing (attaching pronouns to the antecedent nouns while reading) was effective. Educational professionals and parents need to know that many recommended educational techniques have not included students with AS in the research. Research-based best practices will be highlighted based on the limited research findings available.
Promising strategies will be described in detail. Ideas to expand language and literacy include vocabulary development, captions, highlighting, and personalizing. Explicit strategies for teaching summarization and inference will be shared. Finally, a litmus test to guide educational professionals and parents in selecting strategies will be offered.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how the features of autism affect reading comprehension and literacy
- Identify research-based best practices to improve comprehension in readers with ASD
- Learn specific strategies tailor-made to the ASD profile to improve reading comprehension
Content Area: Education
Presenter:
Emily D. Iland, M.A.
Author, Advocate, Consultant, Past president, ASLA
Emily Iland, M.A., is an award-winning author, advocate, researcher and leader in the autism field, and the mother of a young man with ASD. Emily is the past president of the Autism Society of Los Angeles and is an adjunct professor of Special Education at California State University, Northridge.
