Saturday, September 17, 2016

Technical Difficulties

Contrary to my profile, my son with autism is 
now sixteen. He still struggles with 
comprehension. And I struggle with my
computer and blogger. Hence, no posts
in forever. Now and then I add to the
Facebook Page, mainly local events.
Reading Comprehension is a many-
faceted beast. Most of us don't realize
that. I sure didn't. For someone with 
autism, there can be many stumbling
blocks.
An early goal (age six maybe?) was
helping him differentiate between fact
and opinion. In reading, this is similar
to dividing texts into non-fiction and
fiction. This, of course, is the barest
beginning.
In an old post, I talked about having him
act out texts. At this point, this is more
distracting than helpful. He is fascinated
by the envelope of meaning. If spoken, by
rhythm, rhyme, and tone. If written, by 
syllable count, chapter and page number,
and word play (including rhymes, puns,
assonance, alliteration, etcetera). 
Meaning does not interest him.
His current tutor hopes to give him the 
authorial perspective - what does the author
want to do?
Since I find this somewhat dense going 
myself (is this passage meant to inform?
explain? entertain? why can't it be all
three?) I am unsure of my ability to
assist in this enterprise. But by all means,
if he will go there, let's go!

What about you? Are you a reader with
autism, or do you have a reader with autism
in your life? Do you have questions?
Answers?  

3 comments:

  1. Hi. My son is 32 year´s and he can´t read or write. We started to make fairytales in Swedish. the first was last december SNow white and cinderella in Swedish snövit och Askungen. We made more in Swedish. right now I am making one that he could tell the wwhole story. I few parents are looking at the emo and loves out art work. i have to think to rechange the story to fit them but then the genuine part from Benjamin will not be there. I need a native English reader to help me with the English.www.piaalife.se If you interested you canjoin me also on my Facebook Pia Lebsund

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    Replies
    1. Hi Pia. This sounds like a great project. I will try to take a look soon.

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    2. Hi Pia. This sounds like a great project. I will try to take a look soon.

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