Difficulty with comprehension

• Even if a student is able to decode text with ease, students with autism commonly struggle to make meaning from what they have read due to language impairments, abstract thinking deficits, and and difficulty making inferences.

Limited Vocabulary

• Students with autism struggle to develop vocabulary beyond concrete, literal terms and can prevent them from understanding the full meaning of a text.

Sensory and Attention Issues

• It is common for students with autism to have sensory needs and/or sensitivities as well as difficulty regulating and sustaining attention which can hinder their ability to develop literacy reading skills.

Interest in Reading Material

• If texts do not align to the student's interest or are too complex, motivation can drop dramatically.

• Because students with autism often have fixed or restrictive interests, it is often necessary to find reading material in line with their interests in order to sustain attention/motivation.

Poor Narrative Language Skills

• Many autistic students experience delays in expressive and/or receptive language which has a direct impact on reading comprehension due to issues with word meaning or understanding how language conveys ideas.

What is ReadingBear.org?

• Reading Bear is a free online program that teachers phonics and vocabulary to early readers by systematically introducing all the main phonetic patterns of English using engaging, multimedia instruction.

Why is it useful for students with ASD?

• Reading Bear uses a multisensory approach (text, audio, and visuals) to teach phonics skills. Students with autism require multiple means of input, especially when paired with visuals, to best process information.

What is it?

• Teach Your Monster to Read is a free online, game-based program designed to supplement phonics and phonemic awareness instruction.

• It provides personalized learning and targeting practice to close gaps in instruction while providing feedback to parents and educators.

Why is it useful?

• This program is particularly helpful in supporting phonics instruction for students with autism because it offers:

  • visual and auditory reinforcement

  • engaging, game-based learning

  • structure and predictability

  • simple instructions

  • easy customization

  • multisensory input

What is it?

• Otsimo Special Education is an educational app designed for special needs students, especially students with autism and language impairments.

• The interactive, game-based set up engages students in practicing phonics and phonemic awareness skills in a context suited to their needs.

How is it useful?

• Otsmio Special Education was designed with special education students, specifically those with autism in mind by incorporating the following:

  • Speech/language therapy and AAC tools

  • Blending visual and auditory learning tools to allow for multisensory learning

  • Interactive game-based learning

  • Individualized learning that adapts to student learning.

What is it?

• "Visuwords" is a free, online website that creates visual concept maps to define and explain any term typed into the search bar.

• The word maps use color coded lines to show word relationships such as synonyms, antonyms, parts of speech, and word families.

Why is it useful?

• Visuwords defines and provides examples of words using color-coded branching diagrams, which appeals to the strong preference for visual learning by most students with ASD.

• The word maps created are interactive (clicking on any word in the word map will expand the map). This increases engagement and promotes independent learning.

What is it?

• IXL is an online learning platform that provides personalized practice and curriculum support to students in grades K-12. It is an adaptive program, meaning it adjusts to student skill level and progress.

• Each grade level offers targeted practice in vocabulary skills (context clues, categorizing, morphology) according to grade level standards.

Why is it useful?

• IXL can help students with ASD strengthen vocabulary skills by:

  • using a clear, predictable format

  • adjusting to student level to prevent boredom or frustration

  • providing audio support (text to speech)

  • providing immediate feedback and reinforcement.

What is it?

• Boom Cards are interactive (web or app based) lessons and activities in the form of a digital flash card deck that can be built by teachers, therapists, or parents.

Why is it useful?

• Boom Cards are perfect for developing vocabulary in students with autism for the following reasons:

  • interactive and multisensory practice learning new words.

  • feedback is provided immediately

  • visual supports

  • self-based

  • repetitive and predictable

What is it?

• Raz-Kids is an online learning platform consisting of over 800 books on a variety of topics and themes. All texts are full of interactive features such as text highlighting, animation, text-to-speech, built in comprehension strategy practice, and after reading quizzes.

Why is it useful?

• Raz-kids has built in incentives to motivate students to read and complete activities.

• The content is customizable which allows teachers to assign texts and activity to match student interests and increase engagement.

• Built-in during reading comprehension strategies guide students through processes needed to make meaning from text.

What is it?

• News2you is an online, weekly newspaper that reports on current events in an accessible format (differentiated into four levels) geared towards the special needs population and those with reading difficulties.

Why is it useful?

• News2you is designed to build comprehension by connecting students to real current events happening in the world around them using features such as added visual supports and symbols, a flexible online platform, and options for whole group learning and discussion.