My Marvel

I brought home Unmasked by Dr Octopus from the library, 

but never had a chance to sit down and read it with my son, 

we've been so busy with his school work. 

But he surprised me by using this as part of his precarious 
footstool balancing act in his bedroom, 
which means he at least turned its pages. 
And when I asked if he was still reading it, he echoed 

"still reading it."

I have always believed in letting a kid read whatever appeals 

to the kid. And I think many comics are fine reading materials.

In fact,  I would love, love, love it if my boy really gets 

into Spider-Man comics. They have good stories,

 a sensitive hero, emotional dilemmas galore, 

and his peers would be willing to talk about them. 

Of course I'm getting way ahead of myself and him here. 

Still, if the bright pictures can at least grab 

his attention long enough for him to read a few pages, 

I'll be very happy.

Comics have always been a good choice for reluctant readers, 

especially boys, and they may well be custom made for some 

boys on the spectrum.  

But while I'm fine with his choice, I have no idea what he 
makes of it. Does he follow the words? The pictures?

We used to alternate reading aloud-he would do a page, then

one of us would read a page. Now he usually reads aloud to 

his dad, but at his and his teacher's request, I let him read

to himself. I try to quiz him after each page (not easy, since

I can't see the page-I usually preread). He is slow to respond,

hard to prompt, and I usually have to have him read aloud a

significant portion of the page after all.
When I asked him about Unmasked, he said "Peter Parker
went aaachoo." We discussed why Peter did that and
that Peter became Spiderman. So he did get something
from it on his own .  .  .


-Spider-Mom