What makes reading for understanding especially challenging for children on the autism spectrum? Autism Spectrum Disorders are a cluster of developmental disorders characterized by deficits in communication and social interactions as well as cognitive processing deficits. Learners within the spectrum exhibit a range of strengths and weaknesses, with a full range of intellectual abilities from… Read More Reading for Meaning and Autism Spectrum Disorders
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Effective Vocabulary Instruction that Increases Reading Comprehension
Semantic gradients is a group of related words placed on a continuum that allows students to make connections between known words and new vocabulary. Reading Rockets has fun and engaging activities that help students deepen their understanding of related words. Research states that vocabulary instruction is an essential skill that students need to improve reading… Read More Effective Vocabulary Instruction that Increases Reading Comprehension
Evidence Based Instructional Practice-Why Conduct a Preference Assessment with My Students?
Often students with autism are not able to indicate their preferences and dislikes. Things that are reinforcing or rewarding for one student may be really unpleasant for another student. As teachers, we cannot assume that our favorite things and activities would also be preferred by others. Conducting a preference assessment is important and critical to… Read More Evidence Based Instructional Practice-Why Conduct a Preference Assessment with My Students?
National Professional Development Center for ASD Releases New List of Evidence-based Practices
The center has recently completed an expanded and updated review, Evidence-Based Practices for Children, Youth, and Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (Wong, C., Odum, S. L., Hume, K., Cox, A. W., Fettig, A., Kucharczyk, S., Brock, M. E., Plavnick. et al. 2013) which yielded a total of 27 practices. Evidence-based intervention practices (EBPs)… Read More National Professional Development Center for ASD Releases New List of Evidence-based Practices
ABA Meets AAC
Techniques used in applied behavior analysis can complement as well as supplement the strategies that are effective in teaching communication to non-verbal children. Many of the techniques used during discrete trial instruction can also be used during “teachable moments” and incidental language learning opportunities. Research Techniques used in applied behavior analysis can complement as… Read More ABA Meets AAC
Check Your Schedule! Why Your Visual Schedule may Not be Working in Your Classroom
Difficulty transitioning from one activity to the next can be a problem for some children with Autism (Waters, Lerman, & Hovanet, 2009). That is why visual prompts (typically in the form of visual schedules) are usually recommended to treat difficulties with transitions for children with Autism. Research Do you have a student specific visual… Read More Check Your Schedule! Why Your Visual Schedule may Not be Working in Your Classroom
Teaching Literacy to Students with Autism in the Inclusive Setting
The limited research that exists to guide teachers in providing reading instruction to students with autism suggests using the evidence-based instructional practices named in the National Reading Panel report (2000) that include phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and text comprehension. Research While students with autism are increasingly being included in general education classrooms, they… Read More Teaching Literacy to Students with Autism in the Inclusive Setting
