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Autism can present a broad range of challenges, especially when it comes to learning. Although autism doesn't always affect a child's ability to learn, it often affects the way a child learns. And that can be especially important when it's time to teach an autistic child to read and spell.

Kids with Autism Learn Differently

Autistic kids often have difficulty learning in traditional ways because their brains just don't process information in the same way that other children's do. They are wired differently.

For example, many autistic children are visual thinkers-they think in pictures instead of words. Other autistic children learn better through sound, and still others learn best with touch. Many have problems getting sequences to stick in their memory banks, like long strings of words, numbers, or multi-step instructions. And differentiating between certain sounds can be difficult for the autistic child, which makes learning to read especially hard.

If this description sounds like your child, I have good news. When you use simple, step-by-step, multisensory techniques that actively engage children in the learning process, teaching your child to read and spell does not have to be a daunting task.

6 Tips for Teaching Children with Autism

Here are six teaching tips to help you teach reading and spelling to your child.

1. Use Direct Instruction

With direct instruction, lessons are carefully sequenced and explicit. The student is told exactly what he needs to know. Each reading and spelling lesson should include three simple steps:

A review of what was learned the day before

New teaching of a single concept

A short practice of the new teaching

2. Focus on Incremental Lessons

Break every skill down into its most basic steps and then teach the lessons in a logical order, carrying your child from one concept or skill to the next. Each step should build on steps your child has already mastered, ensuring that there are no gaps.

3. Teach One New Concept at a Time

When teaching children their letters, start with the phonograms and teach them the ones that are easiest to learn and that they can put to immediate use, like M, S, P, and A. Teaching one concept at a time respects the child's funnel and helps learning stick. It also helps keep lessons short.

4. Use Multisensory Techniques

Since autistic children do not all learn in the same way, it is important to teach every lesson using sight, sound, and touch. Visual learners like to see what they are learning. Auditory learners prefer to hear oral instructions and then discuss what they have learned to solidify the material. Hands-on learners absorb knowledge best when they can touch and manipulate objects.

A magnetic white board with moveable letters works wonders for both kinesthetic and visual learners. Saying the word or letter out loud is important for auditory learners. Actively forming the letters in sand or rice, or tracing the shape of the letter on a textured surface like sandpaper or velvet, is another effective technique for some children. And allowing your child to choose his own favorite textured surface makes the activity that much more engaging.

Since many autistic children also have difficulty with fine motor control and need easy, simple, and repeated activities to help them develop this skill, these types of kinesthetic exercises will help in this area, too.

5. Provide Concrete Examples

Autistic children often have difficulty processing abstract ideas. Color-coded letter tiles provide concrete examples of reading and spelling concepts.

Also, many autistic children cannot process excessive verbal input. Demonstrating blending and segmenting using letter tiles allows the child to understand the process without being overwhelmed with long verbal explanations.

6. Reward Your Child's Progress

It is important to make the lessons mastery-based and to include a visual way for your child to mark her progress, such as a chart where she can paste stars for each lesson learned.

And don't forget to use words of encouragement every step of the way. Simple encouragement like "Good job!" or "You did great!" or "Excellent!" goes a long way toward building confidence and self-esteem in children, motivating them to keep learning.

Notes from Parents of Autistic Children

"When our twins were diagnosed with autism, we knew that we needed to play to their strengths in looking for curriculum. I quickly discovered that they do better when they are naturally motivated to engage. All About Reading and All About Spelling do just that, and the programs scream "autism-friendly." This is wonderful curriculum!" - Cindy, mother of two children with autism, and blogger at My Life as a Rinnagade

"My mildly autistic son struggled severely in school. Watching him flounder was breaking my heart, so I pulled him out to home school. We were recommended to All About Reading and All About Spelling by a random acquaintance. I love your products! We have done All About Reading Levels 1-3. The stories are so engaging! My son always asks to do reading first because he knows he will be reading a great story or doing a fun activity. THANK YOU for this amazing product!" - Jessica

"My 13-year-old nonverbal, autistic son is spelling and writing thanks to All About Spelling!! I had initially bought this to use with my 10-year-old who has difficulty with spelling, but when I saw the materials I thought, Hey, I can modify this to use with Matthew (my 13-year-old). I am so thankful for your program! I would love to share this story with other moms of special needs children in case they are wondering, as I was, if this would work for their child." - Tara

Does your child have autism? What has helped for reading and spelling instruction? Let me know in the comments below!

Photographs by Cindy Rinna and Jill M.

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Teaching Reading and Spelling to Autistic Children-6 Great Tips!

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Autism can present a broad range of challenges, especially when it comes to learning. Although autism doesn't always affect a child's ability to learn, it often affects the way a child learns. And that can be especially important when it's time to teach an autistic child to read and spell.

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Making a shopping list together will encourage your little one to speak about their favourite meals and foods.

Sit down with your child and start making a list of their favourite foods. Look for pictures of the things on the list, then cut out pictures and labels and stick it next to the item on the list.

Chat as you go and ask your child lots of questions like "What do you like for breakfast?" or "What's your favourite?"

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Words for Life | National Literacy Trust

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Making a shopping list together will encourage your little one to speak about their favourite meals and foods. Sit down with your child and start making a list of their favourite foods. Look for pictures of the things on the list, then cut out pictures and labels and stick it next to the item on the list.

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Do you remember your favourite books as a child - you know, the ones you read time and time again and knew practically every word of? Maybe you were lucky enough to regularly read stories with your family and had someone to read you a bedtime story before you drifted off to sleep? You won't have known at the time, but those experiences were building vital building blocks for your future.

Reading, being read to, and sharing books in the home helps to build a child's vocabulary and understanding of the world. Research shows children who start school with good vocabulary and communication skills make friends more easily, have fewer behavioural issues and are more likely to do well academically. A strong, early foundation in language has even been linked to better mental health as children get older.

Reading with your child, or encouraging your child to read independently for just ten minutes each day can make all the difference. Here are some tips to help children of all ages to enjoy reading and to get reading more often.

Your child doesn't have to read an entire book in one go! Any time spent sharing or talking about a book is beneficial, even if it's just a couple of minutes at a time. If they have to close the book early because it's time for tea, or they're just losing interest, that's okay. Reading can take a lot of mental energy and taking breaks gives children a chance to slowly build the mental stamina they need, so that soon they will be able to read for longer stretches of time.

National Literacy Trust research has found that, when used appropriately and with an adult, technology can provide an important route into reading for many children, including those in the early years, and boys. Feel free, at times, to use your mobile phones, tablets, computers, laptops and other devices to engage your child in reading and activities that can help them build their vocabulary. This can include a multitude of activities, such as:

* Telling a story using pictures on your phone

* Video calling friends and relatives to engage children in conversation

* Using YouTube to find the lyrics to nursery rhymes

* Using apps to read e-books or listen to audiobooks (many organisations are providing them for free during school closures)

These activities, or similar ones, can be used with children of all ages. Young children will learn best when doing these activities alongside you, and you can help your older child by showing them how to use the technology appropriately. All children benefit from seeing and hearing their parents and carers do things. This helps them understand how to do it themselves. Technology is also most effective when it is linked to other things your child is learning, and when it is balanced with other learning activities.

Research shows that children who engage regularly in conversational turn-taking with an adult learn faster when they're older. Taking every opportunity to chat with your child will help them build the language and vocabulary skills they need for school. Let your child pick the topic they want to talk about, listen to them, ask questions and share your ideas. You can use daily activities to spark conversation with your child, such as getting dressed or making a meal. You'll learn a lot about your child's interests!

Pictures are a great support for young and struggling readers. They are enjoyable to look at, capture children's attention and help them make sense of what they are reading. If your child is unsure about reading all the words in the book, they can start by telling a story using the pictures. Ask your child to describe the pictures they see, ask questions about what the characters are doing and why they might be doing it, and see if they can guess what might happen next. By the end of the book, you may find they have created a whole new and exciting tale!

Tara Parker is Senior Programme Manager for Early Years at the National Literacy Trust, where she supports families to engage in their young child's communication and language development.

For further information check out the rest of Starting Primary School which has lots of ways to help prepare children for different aspects of school life - both practically and emotionally.

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Top tips to support your child's reading at home

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Language development expert, Tara Parker, suggests some top tips to help you make the most of your child's reading time.

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Kindly written by a Qualified Teacher (1st Class Hons in Primary Education) who works with children with SEN including autism, ADHD, and dyslexia. She says that, "Teaching is the only thing that gets me up in the morning." Read her comments and tips about how to help a reluctant reader below:
Reading should be a fun, relaxing activity that children can do anywhere. At home, at school, on a train/bus/car etc. However, some children, including those with special or additional educational needs (autism, dyslexia and ADHD) can find reading challenging. This is especially true if their phonics skills, such as segmenting and blending words were not secured in the early years of their life. I have found that those children feel less confident and are often reluctant to read, especially in front of the class. Here are my top tips to boost confidence and enthusiasm in reading:

1. Children with SEN, including those with autism, ADHD and dyslexia are often very visual learners. When reading with your child, start with books that they are interested in and that have lots of colourful pictures. Use the pictures to support their understanding and talk about what is going on in the picture before you begin with the text. This will provide children with the context and can help them predict the words in the text.

2. Go through the text beforehand and underline digraphs, (2 letter sounds such as 'ar', 'ea') and trigraphs (3 letter sounds- 'igh ', 'air') so it is easier for them to see the separate sounds and blend them together. Eg. Ch-i-ck. Highlight words, particularly tricky words that are repeated, to support the child in recognising and remembering the word.

3. Often, children forget to 'read' the full stop mark. By highlighting full stops (in another colour to the tricky words), your child can be reminded that they need to take a breath and pause before beginning the next sentence and that the full stop is a significant part of the text.

4. When reading to a child, always choose a book that you are also interested in- your child will feel your enthusiasm for the book and a 'boring' book will not help enthuse or encourage independent reading.

5. Share the reading. This means alternating between you and your child so your child can copy your expressions and tone of voice when reading a story.

6. Don't forget to consistently praise your child, especially if they have made a mistake and then corrected it themselves. This is where the learning is happening!

7. Many children, including those with SEN (autism, ADHD, and dyslexia) have a special interest or favourite book. Use this book as a reward so your child sees reading as something to look forward to!

8. Relax and enjoy your time together. Happy reading!

We LOVE Katie's teaching philosophy. She says that, "children are wonderfully creative. They have the ability to imagine what we, as adults, can never imagine. When given enough time, effort, love and attention, and when we celebrate their incredible strengths, they have the ability to learn and develop at rapid speeds. Teaching and learning intertwine as one, as both the teacher and child do both in the shared experience. Only when you learn about the child, can you teach that child. The personal experiences that they cherish are those moments that the teacher needs to know in order to encourage and gain the necessary bond for effective learning. This is something I truly believe in." To read Katie's profile and to book her for your children, please

At SENsational Tutors Ltd , we aim to inspire a love of learning through fun and exciting activities. We offer tailor-made support packages in London to transform the wellbeing of children and parents. Sessions can be combined with additional behaviour or communication support, if necessary.

Fore more ideas about how to boost your child's love of learning, read our blog on How to help your child develop a love of Maths

Register to receive information about our services, including our FREE webinars!

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How to inspire your child with SEN's love of reading: tips for parents - SENsational Tutors Ltd

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A wonderful blog kindly written by Katie Tang, a Qualified Teacher who works with children with autism, ADHD, and dyslexia. She says that, "Teaching is the only thing that gets me up in the morning." In this blog she shares her comments and tips about how to help a reluctant reader at home.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Kindly written by a Qualified Teacher (1st Class Hons in Primary Education) who works with children with SEN including autism, ADHD, and dyslexia. She says that, "Teaching is the only thing that gets me up in the morning." Read her comments and tips about how to help a reluctant reader below:
Reading should be a fun, relaxing activity that children can do anywhere. At home, at school, on a train/bus/car etc. However, some children, including those with special or additional educational needs (autism, dyslexia and ADHD) can find reading challenging. This is especially true if their phonics skills, such as segmenting and blending words were not secured in the early years of their life. I have found that those children feel less confident and are often reluctant to read, especially in front of the class. Here are my top tips to boost confidence and enthusiasm in reading:

1. Children with SEN, including those with autism, ADHD and dyslexia are often very visual learners. When reading with your child, start with books that they are interested in and that have lots of colourful pictures. Use the pictures to support their understanding and talk about what is going on in the picture before you begin with the text. This will provide children with the context and can help them predict the words in the text.

2. Go through the text beforehand and underline digraphs, (2 letter sounds such as 'ar', 'ea') and trigraphs (3 letter sounds- 'igh ', 'air') so it is easier for them to see the separate sounds and blend them together. Eg. Ch-i-ck. Highlight words, particularly tricky words that are repeated, to support the child in recognising and remembering the word.

3. Often, children forget to 'read' the full stop mark. By highlighting full stops (in another colour to the tricky words), your child can be reminded that they need to take a breath and pause before beginning the next sentence and that the full stop is a significant part of the text.

4. When reading to a child, always choose a book that you are also interested in- your child will feel your enthusiasm for the book and a 'boring' book will not help enthuse or encourage independent reading.

5. Share the reading. This means alternating between you and your child so your child can copy your expressions and tone of voice when reading a story.

6. Don't forget to consistently praise your child, especially if they have made a mistake and then corrected it themselves. This is where the learning is happening!

7. Many children, including those with SEN (autism, ADHD, and dyslexia) have a special interest or favourite book. Use this book as a reward so your child sees reading as something to look forward to!

8. Relax and enjoy your time together. Happy reading!

We LOVE Katie's teaching philosophy. She says that, "children are wonderfully creative. They have the ability to imagine what we, as adults, can never imagine. When given enough time, effort, love and attention, and when we celebrate their incredible strengths, they have the ability to learn and develop at rapid speeds. Teaching and learning intertwine as one, as both the teacher and child do both in the shared experience. Only when you learn about the child, can you teach that child. The personal experiences that they cherish are those moments that the teacher needs to know in order to encourage and gain the necessary bond for effective learning. This is something I truly believe in." To read Katie's profile and to book her for your children, please

At SENsational Tutors Ltd , we aim to inspire a love of learning through fun and exciting activities. We offer tailor-made support packages in London to transform the wellbeing of children and parents. Sessions can be combined with additional behaviour or communication support, if necessary.

Fore more ideas about how to boost your child's love of learning, read our blog on How to help your child develop a love of Maths

Register to receive information about our services, including our FREE webinars!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to inspire your child with SEN's love of reading: tips for parents - SENsational Tutors Ltd

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A wonderful blog kindly written by Katie Tang, a Qualified Teacher who works with children with autism, ADHD, and dyslexia. She says that, "Teaching is the only thing that gets me up in the morning." In this blog she shares her comments and tips about how to help a reluctant reader at home.

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Phonics Bloom create interactive online phonics games to help teach children the relationship between letters and sounds and develop the skills needed to read and write. All our resources are designed by an experienced team of teachers and parents.

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Phonics Games for the Classroom and Home - Phonics Bloom

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Play a range of online phonics games, helping teach children the relationship between letters and sounds and develop the skills needed to read and write.

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