Autism and Reading Part 1: Lessons to be Learned from Special Kids

Tim Shanahan

Regular readers of this blog know I get lots of questions. I do my best to answer them. Occasionally, I have no idea the answer. If a topic is straightforward, I investigate and usually can craft a response that I hope manages to be both informed and helpful.

Other times, I may decide that a query that puzzles me may not be worth the candle. Not that the topic isn’t important to the questioner. Only that even a terrific answer would hold little value for a wider audience.

And then, there are those times when an interrogative has the three I’s. It’s important, it’s interesting, and it’s something about which I’m ignorant.

That sums up this week’s topic.

Usually, I don’t reveal questioner’s identities. This time I sought her permission to do just that. Despite the query, it’s something that she knows more about than me.

According to Google Books, “Emily Iland, M.A., is an award-winning author, advocate, filmmaker, researcher, and leader in the autism field.” She is also the mother of a son on the autism spectrum – so she knows the topic both professionally and personally.

Early in my career I worked with severely autistic preschoolers, my university center operated the autism clearinghouse for the city of Chicago, and I have a family member on the spectrum, also. Nevertheless, my knowledge of the intersection of reading comprehension and autism could best be characterized (if it merits characterization at all) as non-existent.

The reason for Ms. Iland’s question was that she is in the process of revising her book, Drawing A Blank: Improving Comprehension for Readers on the Autism Spectrum (2011).

I gave the literature a quick once over, responded to her with a brief summation of what stood out to me along with a list of studies, and thought that was it. She responded with more than a thank you. She offered a valuable earful that I found fascinating. It made me want to look again at those studies.

She wrote:

“We are still suffering from a dearth of robust research about this topic! I have a 40-year-old son with autism spectrum disorder who astonished us with spontaneous reading and spelling at age 3. The comprehension issue was always there but interfered with learning from about age 10 onwards. Since I’ve piqued your interest, I’d like to share my perspective with you.  

“When kindergarteners sit on the rug for reading time, and the teacher asks, “What’s going to happen next?” all the typically developing children have a pretty good answer. No one taught them how to predict, but they know how to gather up context clues and draw a conclusion at age 5. 

“The child with autism usually doesn’t answer because they don’t know what’s going to happen next and can’t guess. Who notices that they have no answer 100% of the time? No one. If the child does answer, it’s usually way off the mark and perhaps related to their special interest in dinosaurs, etc.

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