Reading

The first step here is exposing your child to books.  Even looking at the pictures and turning the pages is a great introduction to reading.  If your child only gets this far, you’ve given them a gift of a recreational activity they can engage in for the rest of their lives.  Honestly, you know you flip through the catalogs when they come in the mail…we all do.

When my boys were little, we had foam letters and numbers that they could stick to the tub wall.  One day, after seeing it on a baby video, Michael put up three letters: C O W. He had seen the word spelled on a video and repeated it himself.  This is actually pretty common, especially for kids with autism who often love letters. 

Cow is a word that you can’t sound out.  Michael knew it by sight.  Sight words are often taught in school, although usually they are commonly used words like: the, they, were, are, etc… If your child likes this and feels a sense of accomplishment from learning these words, you can write them on index cards and practice. If your child masters a bunch of sight words, they will be able to read some things and you can teach specific words you want them to know.

The real way to be able to read absolutely anything put in front of you is to add phonetic awareness.  This is the technique of learning the sounds associated with each letter and sounding out the words.  Phonics can be used for lots of simple, and more complex words.  With Michael, we asked him to say it slowly and then say it fast.  For example: slowly C A T, and fast is the whole word: CAT.

Michael can read at a functional level now. It is helpful on his communication device, lists of tasks to be completed, instructions, etc… 

Listening

Even if your child is never able to read independently, you can read to them which can be a beautiful bonding activity.  When Michael’s kindergarten teacher suggested we read with our kids for a certain number of minutes, this felt out of reach for us. Instead of skipping it, I read to him while he was in the tub.  He was happy and was getting exposure to books every day.

Just for Fun

We had several of what we called button books.  They allow your child to track along with you as you read and then when a picture shows up, they push the corresponding button. Michael loved this as a shared activity and then began to read them on his own as he got older.  Be forewarned: you will hear the sounds associated with those buttons many, many, many times.  Sorry, not sorry.