http://readerswithautism.com/2009/10/when-a-reader-with-autism-needs-to-respond-to-literature/
By Sara Finegan
What happens when a reader with autism needs to respond to literature?
My focus in reading comprehension instruction this fall is all about responses to literature, and by this I mean writing in depth about what we read.
An essential component to the basic reading response is the way we connect to events, people, or emotions in a story. When we teach students about connections, and model how we make them as we read, we often focus, in the lower grades, on personal connections. I often talk about how I can relate to Mrs. Weasley in the Harry Potter books, because I have a bunch of children of my own, worry about them a lot, and have to throw together meals quite often.
Being able to make personal connections to characters or events is important, because it is a sign that we are getting into the story. I often talk to my students about how reading a piece of fiction is an opportunity to try on a character’s life, or experience another world or community. When we are able to recognize the links between ourselves and others, we on the way to being able to imagine how we would handle a situation in a story, solve a conflict, or respond to events.
Many children with autism are able to make personal connections with just a little push in the form of modeling or direct instruction. Sometimes, partnering up with another reader helps them work through how it’s done.
But many kids with autism, particularly those who have weak social skills or whose internal lives dominate their daily activities, are simply not able to do so, and I don’t see the point in trying to force the issue. Some may, at different developmental stages, be able to do so; others won’t. C’est la vie.
This doesn’t mean that they cannot make connections to text; it just means they aren’t going to readily make personal 
connections to text.
If a reader with autism has a particular area of interest or fascination, giving him or her fiction books related to that subject is a great way to build comprehension skills. If Daniel is really, really fixated on dragons, there are about 7 different series out there about kids and dragons. Maybe it’s magic and wizarding – again, many, many series. Quirky kids? You’ve got mounds of novels, from Diary of a Wimpy Kid to Encyclopedia Brown to…well, you get the picture.
When kids read books along certain themes, they can demonstrate comprehension and do really well writing responses to literature that draw connections between characters, settings, or conflicts.
Give a child books from the series Dragon Slayers Academy, Dragon Keepers, and Dragon Chronicles. By the time she or he’s read several, you’ll be able to support, with direct or indirect prompts, conversations about the different attitudes the characters have toward dragons, the different ways dragons are portrayed, different kinds of problems characters have about or with dragons, and plenty of other ideas.
Teach a child how to write a comparison/contrast paragraph or two, and you’ll be amazed. (In another post, I’ll show how to teach this type of writing using a formula that anyone can follow, and which works really well with our readers with autism.)
I once had a student who only wanted to read Star Wars novels. We must have had 10 or 15 in the classroom, and Ben was able develop many connections between the worlds and time periods in those novels and our world. He wrote once about how Jedi school compared to California middle school; he particularly enjoyed writing a description of the difference between WWE and Jedi duels in another reading response. With just a little support, he was able to relate very well to the stories he so enjoyed in a way that complied with state standards for reading response.
What we need to do for our readers with autism is to accept and acknowledge that some things are too difficult…right now….and to find alternatives that make sense to both the reader and to us. Creative thinking leads to success.
Related posts:
- Reader with autism and figurative language, part 1
- Autism and hyperlexia, part 1: Anaphoric cuing?
- Autism and hyperlexia, part 2: Helping Bobby read
- Don’t stop advocating for the child with autism!
- Intermezzo: Reader’s theater and the reader with autism
