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After my students have become familiar with the task of integrating a series of words to form an inference, I may begin to show them how we can make inferences and then correct or adjust them to accommodate new information. The first one I usually start with is a card on which the last word is covered. The kids see the following words:
- metal table
- white coat
- stethoscope
- rubbing alcohol
- bandages
Usually, they will decide that the setting is a hospital or a doctor’s office. Then, I reveal the missing word, which is “puppy.” After a moment, I ask if anyone wants to change their inference. Someone will always raise a hand and tell me that it’s a veterinarian’s office. Briefly I acknowledge the new idea, and casually mention that I often revise my ideas as I collect more information. This is when I first mention the word “detective” and announce that “I’m a reading detective” – but I don’t say more than that, not for now.
Kids always enjoy the word grouping cards, and often ask for them during down time or transitions. Eventually, when everyone in the class is familiar and comfortable with this routine, I introduce the same concept in worksheet form. I have a file folder filled with one-page worksheets for just this purpose. Each page has about five word groupings, and a space for the students to write their inference. Kids are permitted to work in pairs or individually to read, think, and label each word group. Sometime during the morning, but not always immediately after completing the worksheets, we have a share-out session to compare the inferences we’ve made. More discussions happen, and that’s a good thing.
Becoming “Word Detectives”
A month or so into the worksheet routine, I introduce the idea of looking for word groups within text as we read. For some time now, I’ve collected short passages, and written many of my own, with descriptions of settings or characters. Each passage is accompanied by four possible inferences from which kids will pick the most reasonable. I take a passage and the four choices and put it on the document camera, then cover it so the kids can’t see what’s written. It’s the Big Secret, I tell them, that only good readers know about authors. With the Big Secret, anyone can become a better reader.
“You know,” I say, “writers use word groups to convey ideas about the setting, the characters, events, even emotions. They show us things instead of telling us. “ When the students are looking at me blankly, I continue. “Our job as readers is to be detectives. Word detectives, gathering words as we read and making inferences using them.” Ordinarily, there is some puzzlement and, not infrequently, a look of panic on the faces of students on the Autism Spectrum, for whom metaphor is as alien as Mars.
Words are clues to meaning
I do not leave them in suspense. “We’re going to start collecting words, but we’re not going to pick them up and put them in a basket or anything. We’re just going to be on the lookout for them, and when we come upon them in a story, we will underline them. Like this,” I say, and uncover the passage under the document camera. “Watch me!”
I read the passage aloud, running my finger under the words. When I’m done, I uncover the multiple choice set, and read each possible answer aloud. I then identify what type of thing I’m looking for: setting, character, or event. Once that has been established, I announce that it’s time to go back and gather some words to help find the right answer.
I have a pencil or a highlighter handy, and, while the kids are watching, I re-read the passage. When I come to words related to setting, I pause. “Is this a key word? Should we gather it?” I highlight or underline each word that I can use in a word grouping. When we finish the second read, I ask the kids to help me read just the words I’ve underlined. We read them together. What, I ask them, can we infer from this group of words we’ve gathered?
What is happening?
Deshawn was so excited! All of his friends had arrived, and the pile of presents on the table was HUGE! His mom had decorated the porch with balloons and there was even a piñata hanging from the tree in the back yard. When she brought out the cake and lit the candles, everyone started singing.
So in this passage, I would have underlined the following words: friends, presents, balloons, piñata, cake, candles, singing. I would then have the kids read those words out loud together, and ask “What is happening?” It may take a few tries, but soon they’ll come up with “It’s a birthday party!”
(Modification : For children with auditory processing deficits, which are common in students with autism, it is sometimes helpful to give the kids large post-its upon which they can copy the underlined words. This allows them to read the word group and make an inference instead of saying or listening to the words, which may be difficult.)
The task of gathering words requires a new step for the students, and it’s important to highlight the isolated step of determining a purpose for the reading. We cannot gather words unless we know what we are looking for, and establishing the purpose needs to be explained. I try to stick, in the beginning, to the three categories we’ve been using all along: setting, character, and event. Later I will add emotion, but not until the kids have developed some expertise in the strategy.
Take your time, it’s not a race
Many readers with autism experience incredible difficulty identifying a purpose for their gathering at this point. It is perfectly ok to give them the purpose for the first two to four weeks of this process, and only then to ask them to figure it out for themselves. I find that the smaller the chunk of task learned at a time, the smoother it goes. Since we aren’t in a race, but are, rather, ambling slowly through the learning process, teachers should feel free to pause, to regroup, to break the work down into smaller segments, and to add their own modifications.
The transition for pre-made word groups to self-organized ones will take time. We work on building a comfort level with this new component of the inferring task for awhile. I use short passages under the document camera and have the kids help me in a shared reading; I offer them opportunities to practice in guided reading groups, and only when they are ready do I allow them to work independently. I write my own worksheets with short passages, double-spaced, for the kids to use in their practice.
Re-teach if necessary
Every time we add a new component to a multiple-step process, we need to give kids time to become accustomed to it. During this phase of instruction, I provide multiple opportunities for short bits of practice during the course of a day. I may add a quick passage to underline after I tell my morning anecdote, or perhaps we will all practice our word gathering for 5 minutes right after math. When kids appear to be stuck or struggling with purpose or what to gather, I will go back and re-introduce the word cards or word grouping worksheets for a five-minute warm-up session.
Under no circumstances do I want my students to become so uncomfortable or insecure about their skills that they shut down at this very important stage of learning. Going back and re-learning should be as acceptable in my classroom as getting a drink if one is thirsty. I do not want anyone moving forward unless s/he is ready.
This ends the first stage of teaching readers with autism to make inferences from text. I will write the second step and post it later, after you’ve had time to digest and, perhaps, try it on your own.
Related posts:
- The problem of the read-aloud
- Autism and hyperlexia, part 1: Anaphoric cuing?
- Fiction with a purpose (but one at a time)
- Say what? Asking questions as one reads
- Out, out, damned plot! Keeping track of “Who…did what?”
2 Comments
From Jeanne
Comment #1: Sounds as though the kids are motivated to participate in the detective work. But I was puzzled as to how the need for defining the objectives of the word search is conveyed. How do they get from a passage with no words underlined to “setting,character,and event?”
Comment #2: How do you convince kids to abandon inferences that don’t hold up with additional info? I was reading with a boy about the first moon landing. When we got to the point where the book said that a landing module was going to separate from the space capsule, the kid said “One man will go to the moon and the other two will stay in the space capsule.” Knowing that that wasn’t gomg to be how it was, I said “Let’s read further in the book and see – I think maybe two men landed on the moon and one stayed in the space capsule.” The boy maintained his own “inference,” and we never read further in the story because he evidently didn’t want to explore. Crucally, I wanted to convey the idea that information can be found in books, but didn’t wanted to imply that books are never wrong.
Jeanne
Your inference lesson is very interesting. Sounds like these are pretty high-functioning students. What ages? Would you do this with 8-10 year olds that aren’t quite as verbal?
Ann