Teaching Reading and Spelling to Autistic Children
Autism can present a broad range of challenges, especially when it comes to learning. Although autism doesn’t always affect a child’s ability to learn, it often affects the way a child learns. And that can be especially important when it’s time to teach an autistic child to read and spell.
Kids with Autism Learn Differently
Autistic kids often have difficulty learning in traditional ways because their brains just don’t process information in the same way that other children’s do. They are wired differently.
For example, many autistic children are visual thinkers—they think in pictures instead of words. Other autistic children learn better through sound, and still others learn best with touch. Many have problems getting sequences to stick in their memory banks, like long strings of words, numbers, or multi-step instructions. And differentiating between certain sounds can be difficult for the autistic child, which makes learning to read especially hard.
If this description sounds like your child, I have good news. When you use simple, step-by-step, multisensory techniques that actively engage children in the learning process, teaching your child to read and spell does not have to be a daunting task.
6 Tips for Teaching Children with Autism
Here are six teaching tips to help you teach reading and spelling to your child.
1. Use Direct Instruction
With direct instruction, lessons are carefully sequenced and explicit. The student is told exactly what he needs to know. Each reading and spelling lesson should include three simple steps:
- A review of what was learned the day before
- New teaching of a single concept
- A short practice of the new teaching
2. Focus on Incremental Lessons
Break every skill down into its most basic steps and then teach the lessons in a logical order, carrying your child from one concept or skill to the next. Each step should build on steps your child has already mastered, ensuring that there are no gaps.
3. Teach One New Concept at a Time
When teaching children their letters, start with the phonograms and teach them the ones that are easiest to learn and that they can put to immediate use, like M, S, P, and A. Teaching one concept at a time respects the child’s funnel and helps learning stick. It also helps keep lessons short.
4. Use Multisensory Techniques
Since autistic children do not all learn in the same way, it is important to teach every lesson using sight, sound, and touch. Visual learners like to see what they are learning. Auditory learners prefer to hear oral instructions and then discuss what they have learned to solidify the material. Hands-on learners absorb knowledge best when they can touch and manipulate objects.
A magnetic white board with moveable letters works wonders for both kinesthetic and visual learners. Saying the word or letter out loud is important for auditory learners. Actively forming the letters in sand or rice, or tracing the shape of the letter on a textured surface like sandpaper or velvet, is another effective technique for some children. And allowing your child to choose his own favorite textured surface makes the activity that much more engaging.
Since many autistic children also have difficulty with fine motor control and need easy, simple, and repeated activities to help them develop this skill, these types of kinesthetic exercises will help in this area, too.
5. Provide Concrete Examples
Autistic children often have difficulty processing abstract ideas. Color-coded letter tiles provide concrete examples of reading and spelling concepts.
Also, many autistic children cannot process excessive verbal input. Demonstrating blendingand segmenting using letter tiles allows the child to understand the process without being overwhelmed with long verbal explanations.
6. Reward Your Child’s Progress
It is important to make the lessons mastery-based and to include a visual way for your child to mark her progress, such as a chart where she can paste stars for each lesson learned.
And don’t forget to use words of encouragement every step of the way. Simple encouragement like “Good job!” or “You did great!” or “Excellent!” goes a long way toward building confidence and self-esteem in children, motivating them to keep learning.
Notes from Parents of Autistic Children
“When our twins were diagnosed with autism, we knew that we needed to play to their strengths in looking for curriculum. I quickly discovered that they do better when they are naturally motivated to engage. All About Reading and All About Spelling do just that, and the programs scream “autism-friendly.” This is wonderful curriculum!” – Cindy, mother of two children with autism, and blogger at My Life as a Rinnagade
“My mildly autistic son struggled severely in school. Watching him flounder was breaking my heart, so I pulled him out to home school. We were recommended to All About Reading and All About Spelling by a random acquaintance. I love your products! We have done All About Reading Levels 1-3. The stories are so engaging! My son always asks to do reading first because he knows he will be reading a great story or doing a fun activity. THANK YOU for this amazing product!” – Jessica
“My 13-year-old nonverbal, autistic son is spelling and writing thanks to All About Spelling!! I had initially bought this to use with my 10-year-old who has difficulty with spelling, but when I saw the materials I thought, Hey, I can modify this to use with Matthew (my 13-year-old). I am so thankful for your program! I would love to share this story with other moms of special needs children in case they are wondering, as I was, if this would work for their child.” – Tara
Does your child have autism? What has helped for reading and spelling instruction? Let me know in the comments below!
Photographs by Cindy Rinna and Jill M.
Angie
says:Useful…thank you.
Hilda
says:I am trying this for the 1st time. I hope this helps my 12 year old daughter. thanks.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceHilda,
Please let us know if you need assistance with placement or anything else.
Clarice. Caldwell
says:I’m in tears because my 12-year-old son could not read yet don’t understand this sounds but he so smart and everything else they can do things and architect is look at a picture and build it with Legos but yet the competition of readwords boare him so badly he’s put in a class with others who have many different types of learning disabilities and he was with just normal classrooms for five years then for kindergarten at six kindergarten regular school regular class first and second grade regular class regular school and still ok at 3rd grave he was put in a room with other children with down syndrome and a nonfunctional wheelchairs all different ages all different kinds of disabilities which All totally different teachings are needed for reading but he learned was your different!! And he keeps begging me to make them put him back in the regler. Class room so he can have friends again it breaking my child’s spirit down and has me in tears please anything you can said Jay asked to help me teach him to learn to read so he can feel normal and excepited again
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceClarice,
I’m so sorry to hear your son is struggling in this way.
It does sound like he will benefit from teaching other than what the school is offering. A private tutor that uses an Orton-Gillingham approach would be able to help him; however, you could help him yourself using an Orton-Gillingham based approach as well.
All About Reading is based the Orton-Gillingham approach and is specifically written for parents to be able to use it without extensive training. Here are some ways that All About Reading (AAR) can help students that struggle to learn to read:
– Each lesson time is simple and explicit, and will include 3 simple steps: review of what was learned the day before, a simple new teaching, and a short practice of that new teaching.
– Incremental lessons. AAR breaks every teaching down into its most basic steps and then teaches the lessons in a logical order, carrying the students from one concept or skill to the next. Each step builds on the one the student has already mastered.
– AAR is multisensory. Research has shown that when a child is taught through all three pathways at the same time, a method known as simultaneous multisensory instruction, he will learn significantly more than when taught only through his strongest pathway.
– AAR uses specially color-coded letter tiles. Working with the All About Reading letter tiles can make the difference between understanding or not understanding a concept.
– AAR is scripted, so you can concentrate on your student. The script is very clear, without excess verbiage.
– AAR has built-in review in every lesson. Students with learning difficulties generally need lots of review in order to retain concepts. With AAR, your son will have a Reading Review Box so you can customize the review. This way, you can concentrate on just the things that he needs help with, with no time wasted on reviewing things that he already knows.
– AAR has lots of fluency practice. One of the things that Marie, the author of AAR, noticed when she was researching reading programs is that few programs have enough review built in for kids who struggle to gain fluency. AAR has fluency sheets or a story to be read with every lesson, so students can practice reading smoothly with expression and confidence.
All About Reading has a one-year guarantee. You can try it, and if for any reason you feel that it isn’t the right match for your child, return it for a full refund.
Be sure to look over our placement tests before deciding which level to start with. Sometimes older students that are not reading are missing foundational skills necessary before even beginning All About Readin 1. Please let us know how he does on the placement test so that we can help you with where to start him. If you prefer, we can discuss things more privately through email at support@allaboutlearningpress.com
I hope this helps! Please let us know if you have additional questions.
Alexa Brideau
says:Great hub. Children should have guidelines, but as an educator, having fun is just as important.
Julia Ritter
says:My son has aspergers and is going into the first grade. He knows most of his letter sounds and can blend words together if I sound each letter out with him. Would you work through prereading to get a solid foundation or do you think he is ready for level 1?
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceJulia,
How did he do with the other aspects of the All About Reading placement test, particularly the phonological awareness skills? If he has those skills down fairly well, then move into All About Reading 1 with confidence. If he struggles with those skills, then he would benefit from the Pre-reading level first. If his skills are so-so, let us know which things he wasn’t able to do and we can help you decide.
Julia Ritter
says:He can rhyme, understands word boundries, can blend words, and can tell beginning sound,
He can not clap syllables or identify ending sounds.
He can do all the other areas of the placement test
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThank you, Julia. It sounds like he is ready for All About Reading level 1. While you wait for AAR 1 to arrive, you could work with him on syllables and ending sounds.
Start with having him place his hand under his chin and counting how many times his chin drops. That is how many syllables there are in the word. Once he begins to understand the concept, this blog post has some fun ideas for practicing syllables.
For ending sounds, start with words that end in sounds that are easy to hold. Ask, “What is the last sound in jammmmmmm?” really holding out the last sound to stress it. When he can easily identify the sound, then still use words that end in sounds that are easy to hold, but just say the word normally, “What is the last sound in grass?” Once he can do that without too much trouble, then use words with last sounds that cannot be held, such as words that end in t, b, k, g, and so on.
Enjoy All About Reading 1!
Ashley Barrett
says:My 9 year old was diagnosed recently. We started with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and it was painful for us both. I thought it was his age. He wanted to start learning when he was 3. We persevered though not knowing about All About Reading yet. At the end I reached out and asked what level would be a good start. He ended up being in the last 5-10 lessons of level 1. Knowing I had at least one more child to go through at that point we decided to start there. Reading time was no longer painful. He asked for daily lessons. We started my second son in All About Reading when he wanted to learn at the same age. I have noticed with him that it’s best if we introduce a new way of thinking and then stop for a couple of weeks before trying again. He struggled with blending sounds and smoothing them out at first. We took a month off after a not-so-good first lesson. He started reading road signs on his own. We picked it up again and he loved it and zipped through. I’m now on my 3rd reader and learning that she’s like her brother just older than her. We did the first lesson about 2 months ago and she has started pointing at random letters when we are out and about. Yesterday, I helped her go from left to right on a big banner that had “summer” with each letter on a pendant. We will be starting with All About Reading again. It works for autistic kids, it works for NT kids!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceAshley,
Thank you for taking the time to detail how All About Reading has helped your children to succeed with reading. I especially like that you allow your children time to let new concepts sink in. You are a great teacher.
Michelle M Miramontes
says:My son is 8 with mild to strong autism he started out knowing the alpabet but has regressed in academic progress I am very interested in all about reading and spelling for my son. Pease help.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceMichelle,
A while back a mom of an 8-year-old who was on the autism spectrum told us that the level was very helpful for him, so it’s worth considering. Have you seen this checklist? It could help you decide whether your son would be ready for All About Reading 1 or if he would benefit from the activities in Pre-reading.
As this blog post shows, our program has worked wonderfully to help many children with autism learn to read. Do you have specific questions or concerns I can address?
warren
says:thanks
Korrena
says:I am homeschooling my autistic son. He is a struggling reader. He does not enjoy reading. At this point he can read some CVC words. I do use the direct instruction method, letter cards, flash cards and keep lessons short. For 2 years we have tried Explode the Code and Reading Eggs. He does not enjoy ETC. Is your program similar? Also what level should I start with? Do I need to go all the way back to the pre-reading program or will level 1 work?
For Math we use TouchMath. This type of visual hands on math makes sense to him. It is also easy to use direct instruction with TouchMath. I need a visual hands on reading program that is similar.
The public school system gave up on my son and refused to recognize his potential to read. During our time homeschooling I have seen profound growth in my son’s abilities. I hope that your program will be the key to unlocking his reading.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceKorrena,
All About Reading and Explode the Code are more different than the same. AAR is more multisensory and hands-on, and it has more explicit, step-by-step teaching.
Here are some ways that All About Reading can help kids with learning difficulties:
– Each lesson time is simple and explicit and will include 3 simple steps: review of what was learned the day before, a simple new teaching, and a short practice of that new teaching.
– Incremental lessons. AAR breaks every teaching down into its most basic steps and then teaches the lessons in a logical order, carrying the students from one concept or skill to the next. Each step builds on the one the student has already mastered.
– AAR is multisensory. Research has shown that when a child is taught through all three pathways at the same time, a method known as simultaneous multisensory instruction, he will learn significantly more than when taught only through his strongest pathway.
– AAR uses specially color-coded letter tiles. Working with the All About Reading letter tiles can make the difference between understanding or not understanding a concept.
– AAR is scripted, so you can concentrate on your child. The script is very clear, without excess verbiage.
– AAR has built-in review in every lesson. Children with learning difficulties generally need lots of review in order to retain concepts. With AAR, your child will have a Reading Review Box so you can customize the review. This way, you can concentrate on just the things that your child needs help with, with no time wasted on reviewing things that your child already knows.
– AAR has lots of fluency practice. One of the things that Marie noticed when she was researching reading programs is that few programs have enough review built in for kids who struggle to gain fluency. AAR has fluency sheets or a story to be read with every lesson, so children can practice reading smoothly with expression and confidence.
All About Reading has a one-year guarantee. You can try it, and if for any reason you feel that it isn’t the right match for your child, return it for a full refund.
As for placement, we have placement tests for All About Reading to help you decide which level would be best. If your son isn’t solid on the letter names, letter sounds, and phonological awareness skills, then he may benefit from working through the Pre-reading level first to build those skills. However, since he is older you and he may prefer not to. If, after looking through the All About Reading 1 placement test, you find he needs to strengthen some Pre-reading skills, let us know. We may be able to help you work on them without the Pre-reading level, especially if he only has a few areas of the AAR 1 placement test that he struggled with.
I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have additional questions.
Korrena
says:Thank you for the detailed response. I purchased level 1. We will be starting it as soon as it arrives.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceGreat, Korrena! Drop us a line on how it goes, and remember that we are available if you ever have questions or need help.
Aparna
says:This program is great. But how can it help to understand what he is reading? I mean how to make a child understand the “meaning” of what he is reading? The concept building?
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceAparna,
The lessons that accompany the stories in All About Reading (starting from the first story of AAR 1) include a sample discussion to have with your child before and after reading the story. These discussions cover vocabulary and have questions designed to increase comprehension as your child reads. Here’s an article that discusses the 6 different reading comprehension strategies that we teach.
You can see samples of these discussions in our Teacher’s Manuals.
Does this answer your questions? Please let me know if I can help in any further way.
Lav
says:Using a ruler and pencil to point each word helps my son keep focus
cheryl
says:where do I get the martails for my 11yearold son who can read and who can spell he does not understand concepts when he reads and sometimesmath too
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceCheryl,
There are many math curriculum options available for students that struggle with math. However, we do not produce one.
Reading comprehension issues can happen for a variety of reasons. For example:
1. gaps in phonogram knowledge
2. fluency issues – Students can sound out what they read but can’t read it fluently–if they are focusing on the work of reading, they won’t be able to focus on understanding what they read.
3. word guessing issues – Students rely on word-guessing strategies, and incorrect guesses lead to a lack of comprehension. Some also skip small words.
4. reading too fast – Sometimes the opposite of fluency issues is the case. Students think that a “good reader” reads very quickly. Students who do this tend not to have time to think about the meaning of text. See our blog post on reading too fast for more information.
5. vocabulary issues – Students may have the phonics skills to sound out and read words that they don’t know the meaning of yet. This can happen especially with young, advanced readers. For example, think of a simple word like “milkman.” How many 21st century kids would have any idea what a milkman is?!
6. lack of life experience – Students can’t relate to what they are reading, again usually because of young age. It doesn’t matter if a 10-year-old can read every word easily in the book Rules of the Road, they aren’t going to be able to get the subtleties of the metaphors in the book because they have never driven a car.
7. they do understand but feel overwhelmed when asked to put what they know into words. If this is the case for your son, you might notice similar issues with listening comprehension.
A student may need more specific prompts to share what he knows. Sometimes reading a passage and expecting the child to explain it back in his own words will overwhelm elementary school-aged children. They don’t know where to start and just can’t do it. In that case, you probably would be more successful if you gave your son prompts.
Marie uses this example: Find out something that he is really interested in, such as “raising turtles.” Get a book and read a section aloud to him, such as the section on “what kinds of food should you feed your turtle.” Then start a discussion with the child, and incorporate some of the new info that you just read in the book. “I never knew that you could feed lettuce to turtles! What else can you feed turtles?” Then read the part on habitats of box turtles. Start a discussion on that. “If you were to set up a tank for a box turtle, what kinds of things should you include in it?”
These types of conversations will show the child’s level of listening comprehension much better than the traditional way for a couple of reasons:
1. The child is more likely to be engaged in the topic.(Oftentimes, kids’ attention wanders during typical reading comprehension passages or books that they aren’t interested in.)
2. The child doesn’t “freeze up” and therefore can relay more info (just being asked to repeat what was read can be a scary or uncomfortable moment for a child).
Back to reading comprehension, if the measure of comprehension is written, he may feel bored (it’s busy work) or overwhelmed by the task of writing, or the questions asked may be overly picky (focusing on aspects of the story that were unimportant, for example).
Do you have your son read aloud to you daily? If not, this is a really good way for you to be able to assess what’s going on and why he is struggling with comprehension. It’s hard to catch problems without hearing the student read. If the materials are beyond your son’s vocabulary or life experience, he will need more help to understand what he is reading, for example. Sometimes, parents choose materials on the edge of a child’s reading ability; the child is capable of reading the words, but because the child has to work at reading the child doesn’t have brain power left for comprehension. You might assess whether that is happening. Materials need to be easy enough for students to focus on reading to learn, instead of focusing on the act of reading. Here’s an article that specifically addresses how we teach Reading Comprehension.
You might take a look at some of the sample AAR lessons for ideas too. The comprehension exercises are in the Teacher’s Manuals, and gradually get more involved with each successive level. So, look at several levels to see the progression.
I hope this helps some. Please let me know if you have further questions or need more help.
alberta baxter
says:I love that this program is multi-sensory. This works well for my son who has a reading level far below where he is supposed to be.
Jessica
says:interesting – thanks
Brenda
says:I am truely amazed how wonderful the package is. I will be buying more soon.
Leigh
says:Wow! So excited to start this program with my son.
Susan
says:Do you have any materials for teaching a child with Down’s Syndrome to read. She is 18 and read some three letter words but we are not giving up. She knows letter recognition and sounds well.
THank you.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceSusan,
Earlier this spring we featured a guest blogger using All About Reading to teach her Down Syndrome son to read. I’m sure the blog post will be encouraging to you, and Jennifer has been great about answer questions and comments to that post.
Henry Lao
says:This strategies will be much helpfull to school children in the mainstream settings. Thanks so much
Katy
says:I will be sharing this post with a friend who is concerned about homeschooling her son with autism. Thank you for addressing this. I know it will be helpful to many families!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceKaty,
I hope this helps your friend. Please let her know that she is welcome to contact us with an additional questions she may have as well.
Gina Zapata
says:Thank you for these suggestions. I have used all about spelling and reading. I have found them to be most effective. We just found out my youngest is autistic and I love this information
Amber S
says:Thanks for the tips, looking forward to using the programs for my son!
Shannon Soehl
says:I have found AAS has worked GREAT with both of my boys with Autism. No other spelling program comes close to keeping them actively engaged!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThis is great to hear. Thank you, Shannon!
Betsy L. McNeil
says:Please share information for an eleven-year-old male now in the sixth grade……..needs materials for reading; especially Bible lessons, language arts, and science lessons. I will appreciate your help. I feel so helpless and sad for this student who has been enrolled in my Bible and science classes. My first opportunity to work with a student with autism. I have no records of previous testing nor accomplished work…Please help me.
Betsy McNeil at brlmcneil@aol.com
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI emailed you, Betsy.
Heidi I
says:I’m really fascinated to learn more about this method, it seems like a no brainier since comprehension of the root word leads to better understanding of our vocabulary and spelling in general😄 I’m new to homeschooling and am a little overwhelmed by all the curriculum options out there, but I think this may be a good one to start with, thanks for the opportunity to possibly win it👍
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceHeidi,
Let me know if you have any questions!
Patsy Foy
says:I recently started using AAS Level 1 with my 10 yr old daughter. She has multiple special needs including HFA. She absolutely hated spelling & would get very emotional with every lesson. Now that we’re using AAS, she asks if we can do spelling first. But what’s even more remarkable is that the phonograms app has even helped with her articulation to the point that the speech therapist asked what we were doing differently. Thank you so much for having a wonderful line of products that has boosted my daughter’s confidence & took the struggle out of spelling.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServicePatsy,
This is truly wonderful! Thank you for letting us know the remarkable confidence your daughter has gained. I’ll be passing this along to the entire AALP team to read!
Carrie Hubbard
says:I began homeschooling my ASD daughter in 4th grade. She struggled with reading and spelling. I went back to level one with both AAS and AAR. I wasn’t sure she would ever become a fluent reader or develop a love for reading because it was such a struggle. After 3 years she has completed level 4 AAR and level 5 AAS and reads ALL the time in her spare moments voluntarily. The correlation between the concepts in spelling and reading made all the difference and the incremental steps with review in the sentence dictation for spelling keep the many concepts fresh. I could not be more pleased with her progress. Thank you!
Robin E. at All About Learning Press
says: Customer ServiceCarrie,
This is wonderful! Thank you so much for letting us know about your daughter’s progression to a child that reads all the time.
Esther White
says:Hi Marie
I love your article! It so clearly explains the need for teaching each child in the way THEY learn. Thankyou!
I am the Australian distributor of Math-U-See, and love the way we also teach in a multi sensory way – but maths instead of english :-)
I’ve heard great reports of your program from a colleague here who uses it with her daughters, and would love to share this in the hope of further supporting families of children with autism. Would you be happy for me to share this article with Australian homeschooling families currently on my database?
Robin E. at All About Learning Press
says: Customer ServiceEsther,
Thank you for all you do!
Yes, you can reprint the full article. Please add this at the end:
For more resources for teaching reading and spelling, please visit http://www.AllAboutLearningPress.com, home of the All About Spelling and All About Reading programs (c) 2016 All About Learning Press, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
Edda Vargas
says:These suggestions are useful for ADHD children as well, right?
Robin E. at All About Learning Press
says: Customer ServiceEdda,
Yes! Because these suggestions are useful for all students. Teaching one concept at a time, directly, in a step-by-step manner, using all three learning senses, with explicit examples is going to help anyone learn. And this works for kids that have learning struggles and for kids that are advanced and for kids in between, because our programs are designed to move at each child’s unique learning pace.
Elizabeth
says:I am looking forward to trying this with my son. He is not diagnosed as autistic but has some characteristics.
Melody
says:I previewed your level one program from a homeschooling friend. I loved the cards and easy to follow text. However, my personal health challenges (which are greatly improving now) and my middle son’s angry Aspergers outburst (also improving) have kept us held waaaaay back on spelling and reading. He’s now older and I’m feeling completely lost and a failure. Finding a spelling program to buff up spelling in early teen years has been a challenge.
Could you direct me to the best level for his spelling? He tested as reading between the 6-8 grade levels but he’s too frustrated when he gets a “wrong” answer and will completely shut down. We have some new techniques in play for understanding that we need to fail to learn. But it’s still a huge issue.
We’ve had so much more success with your program but my friend needed it back and I’ve been failing with another program this year that added more dictation (which he’s actually fine with now). He hates being below his grade level (which surprises me since we homeschooled his whole life and haven’t stressed levels being anything but a stepping stone to success. But he picked it up along the way and won’t let it go. 😪
Any tips are appreciated and helpful please. I need a success for them! ☺️
I also have a sensory processing delayed son that will do better win this program as well but he was tutored for a year but still can’t remember much. Maybe the funnel issue came into play here.
Can’t wait to try the program at the appropriate levels for them both!!
Robin E. at All About Learning Press
says: Customer ServiceMelody,
We recommend that most students start with level 1 to build a strong foundation in spelling.
All About Spelling is a building block program with each level building upon the previous one. The rules and concepts learned in Level 1 are applied in Level 2, and then those are applied in Level 3, and so on. Placement for spelling is based on the student’s knowledge of spelling rules and concepts rather than grade level, reading level, or the words a student has memorized.
For example, we find that many students simply memorize easy words like “cat” and “kid” but have no idea why one uses a C and the other uses a K, or that the same rules that apply to these words also apply to higher level words such as “concentrate.” Other students switch letters or leave out letters entirely. This usually occurs because they don’t know how to hear each sound in the word. Level 1 has specific techniques to solve these problems.
The article Should We Start in Level 1 or Level 2? has more information on the concepts taught in level 1 and will help you decide the appropriate starting level.
Level 2 of AAS focuses on learning the syllable types, when they are used and how they affect spelling. This information is foundational for higher levels of spelling. Three syllable rules are introduced in Level 2, and then more in Level 3 and up. For this reason, we don’t recommend starting higher than level 2.
We encourages parents and teachers to “fast track” if the student knows how to spell most of the words but does not understand the underlying basic spelling concepts. In this case, very quickly skim the parts that he already knows and slow down on the parts that he needs to learn. Pull out several words as examples. Make sure he understands the concept being taught, and then move on. This blog article has a good example of how you might fast track. This article discusses how to approach starting at level 1 or 2 with older students as well.
Diana M
says:My 13yo son has Asperger’s Syndrome and was a late reader. Once he determined that reading WAS important to HIM (so he could play video games) his reading level skyrocketed. He is still a reluctant reader but he can read when required.
Robin E. at All About Learning Press
says: Customer ServiceDiana,
Motivation goes a long way! Thanks for sharing what motivated your son.
Tatyana Chelnokov
says:My Son is really struggling in reading it would be nice to win 😊
Ann Hoffmann
says:Thank you for the wonderful product!
Miranda
says:Hopefully this will help me with my daughter. Reading and spelling are the 2 areas I worry about as they are the ones I struggled with as a kid.
Becki
says:AAR and AAS has been a big help to our older kids (ages 10 and 9), one who has autism. Kiddo #3 is just starting AAR, but I’m already looking ahead to kiddo #4. He has autism and hyperlexia. He hasn’t gotten to the point of teaching himself how to read, but he did do letters on his own, and is now identifying initial letters from words. I think AAR will be the first official curriculum that we start with him.
Emily C.
says:My 9-year-old son with Asperger’s is about to complete his first year of homeschool (3rd grade), and we were very happy with our choice of AOS to help round out our ELA studies. My son has always been a good speller, but in mainstream school he always got a big fat ZERO on spelling tests because the approach to spelling (both in learning and assessments) was simultaneously boring and frustrating for him. I wanted to include a spelling program in our curriculum as a way to take a skill he’s actually quite good at naturally (the spelling itself) but which has many components that he struggles with (listening with focus, following instructions with few prompts, and, his least favorite thing: writing.) We love the logical step-by-step method of AOS– it makes SENSE to him– and the ease of tailoring it to both his strengths and challenges. The visual component, with a magnetic white-board, is great. It really helps to engage him on days when he’s not feeling motivated to participate. He really enjoys discussing concepts as he learns, so the teaching sections are engaging and interesting to him– so much better than spelling programs that are just about memorizing lists of words. I’ve seen so much growth from him this year, and AOS was a part of that. Before AOS, in public school, he flat-out refused to take dictation, which meant his spelling tests were completely blank, even if he knew how to spell every word. Now, after a year of AOS, he not only happily takes dictation, but enjoys expanding on the phrases and sentences to entertain and impress me. AOS has allowed us to really stretch so many different skills that he was struggling with at public school. For us, this wasn’t just a spelling program– it was also about stretching all those executive skills that are such a big part of being able to learn and grow.
Emily C.
says:Don’t know why I kept typing “AOS” in my comment– should be “AAS” !
Robin E. at All About Learning Press
says: Customer ServiceEmily,
Thank you for sharing all the ways AAS has helped stretch your son in both his strengths and weaknesses. It sounds like he is doing great!
Kelly
says:Very helpful.
Shannon S
says:This is the only spelling program that has worked for both of my boys who have Autism. I will never use another spelling program!
CeAnne Kosel
says:But where is the math program?! :)
Katina
says:Have you considered Math U See? They are a very popular multi-sensory math program. Plus it’s mastery and not spiral – I found my son with Asperger became quite board with spiral math programs.
Robin E. at All About Learning Press
says: Customer ServiceCeAnne,
We don’t offer a math program. However, we do have some recommendations:
Marie had one student who struggled with math, and one who did well. Teaching Textbooks worked well for her struggling student, so that’s one you might look into. Abeka Consumer Math also worked well for her struggler. Her student who did well in math used Aleks.
My co-worker, Merry, used Horizons in the elementary years, and Math-U-See for Pre-algebra and above. She doesn’t know if MUS would have worked for her kids in elementary years (she considered and rejected it several times because it didn’t seem like a match at those ages), but it’s been great at the upper levels.
Only one of my children has really struggled in math, and I moved him into Math-U-See in 6th grade. It allowed him to finally be successful with math, although it’s still not easy for him.
Marie always liked Singapore because it fit her style, but not her kids’ as much. Merry had the same experience; she liked it but it didn’t fit her kids. However, I used Singapore in the elementary years for all my kids, at least up to level 5 when a couple of them have transitioned to something else (one to Math-U-See, the other to Life of Fred).
There are SO many options out there, it can be overwhelming! When I evaluate programs I look at several things:
What worked about what we used previously–did we like anything?
What didn’t work and why?
What do I need as a teacher from a math program? (Do I need scripting, examples, teaching helps etc…)
What do my students need? (Think about visual layout, color vs. black & white, mom-taught vs. computer or dvd teacher, manipulatives, and so on).
Look at samples online (or in person if possible), and let your kids look at them. When Merry’s son was 7, she showed him a new math program. He compared it to the one we had been using (which wasn’t working), and then said (of the one they were using), “The writers of this math book don’t want children to understand math.” She still laughs about that today! But obviously, what she was using wasn’t working for his learning style!
Sometimes it takes a few tries to find the right program. I hope this helps!
L
says:I’ve been using this with special needs kids and have been very pleased so far.
Claire
says:Thank you for posting this! As a teacher, I’m always trying to use best practice to help my students of all abilities. All the methods you have posted on your blog are practical and easy to implement right away. I’m always looking forward to reading your blog!
Robin E. at All About Learning Press
says: Customer ServiceYou are welcome, Claire. We are happy to be helpful!
Denise
says:We are excited about the spelling and reading program for our children with special needs! Hope we can win a new level! Mama2-4
Kate
says:Love your curriculum reading and spelling. I do not have autistic children but I do have many children with sensory disorder or learning disabilities. My seven year old daughter, who seems to have to resound out simple words all the time still receives all the phonics rules and tips in reading but yet has enough practice of each of the words to improve her short term memory which allows her to better retain the words. So great. My 10 year old daughter no longer sounds out words backwards ever since we started with all about spelling.
Robin E. at All About Learning Press
says: Customer ServiceKate,
Thank you for sharing this.
You brought up a great point. One of the things that Marie noticed when she was researching reading programs is that few programs have enough review built in for kids who struggle to gain fluency. That is why AAR has fluency sheets or a story to be read with every lesson, so children can practice reading smoothly with expression and confidence.
Pam
says:Im glad they have curriculum to help them
Tiffany Warman
says:Great advice!
Jean R
says:Good to know.
Tatyana
says:This is Exactly what I need for my six year old 😍
Tiff
says:I absolutely love this program
Shontae
says:My son is Dyslexic and All about spelling has been such a blessing to use. He is not frustrated with the lessons and is doing amazing in reading since beginning to use it.
Bianca Munoz
says:This a very great post! I have a friend who I’ll send this too. Thank you for the information!
mohd razali
says:I like this…help my son improve english learning. One of my family’s activity eachday make a spelling quiz,hope it can make it more fun .
Jeanne Merkel
says:I think this would help my granddaughter tremendously in school.
Jeanne Merkel
says:This is exactly what I need for my granddaughter.
Jeanne Merkel
says:My granddaughter is really struggling in school. I think All about reading and spelling may just be what she needs.
Robin E. at All About Learning Press
says: Customer ServiceJeanne,
I’m sorry to hear your granddaughter is struggling. Let us know if you have an specific questions.
M Bohac
says:Definitely going to share this with my friend who has an autistic son and with my sister who is a teacher and just finished a course on autism. Looking forward to using this program next year with two of my children!
SL
says:I like it how it uses he OG approach; just the way I have learnt from the instructor.
Robin E. at All About Learning Press
says: Customer ServiceYes! Orton Gillingham really is the way to go.
Kim
says:This is so very helpful!
SarahV
says:What a wonderful resource!
MOLLY BYERS
says:Love the program.
Susanna Lanier
says:commenting to win a level! ;)
C
says:Thanks for all the great info!
Belen
says:I use this for my 1st grader and it’s great!
Tisha
says:Great information!
Jessica The B Keeps Us Honest
says:Thanks for all the great tips!
Judith Martinez
says:I’ve found a hands on, mastery based approach to be great for all of my children. Depending on their learning style they give up the hands on portion of our curriculum at different ages but all of them have been helped by it.
Robin E. at All About Learning Press
says: Customer ServiceYes! I have found the same thing, Judith.
Magda
says:Hi Robin,
Do you have anything for six years old. He is non verbal with behavior. limited communication skill. he signs may be up to 10-15 but not exactly, like if the signs go on his hand he does it on his arm. He is good at listening, his receptive language is way better than expressive.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceMagda,
The difficult part with a non-verbal child is assessing whether he’s reading or not. It doesn’t sound like he’s doing enough with signing yet to have him communicate that way.
If he is capable of forming words, either with writing letters or moving letter tiles in a line, you may be able to use All About Spelling as a backdoor approach – because then he could write words instead of having to read them. (See the comment from the mom of a 13-year-old non-verbal student in the greenish-tan “Notes from Parents of Autistic Children” on this blog post.) However, this might be a better option when he is older.
Something that I wondered is whether Pre-reading might be a better fit for him. The Ziggy puppet often motivates kids to speak or to repeat after the puppet–many children respond to the puppet when they wouldn’t necessarily respond to an adult. Also, the games and activities in the Language Exploration section can help students develop some of their social skills. For young children with any disability, teaching time woven into playful activities is very motivational. One of Marie’s main goals with our Pre-reading program is to motivate children to want to learn to read, and playful activities is a big part of that.
A few years ago, we heard from the mom of an 8-year-old who was on the autism spectrum use AAR Pre-reading and the mom said it was very helpful for him, so it’s worth considering. Have you seen this article on the Big Five Skills? That discusses the skills that Pre-reading teaches and could help you decide whether he would be ready for a reading program like AAR 1, or if he might benefit from the activities in Pre-reading.
Have you looked at the online samples? That might also help you decide whether Pre-reading would be beneficial. Take a look especially at the Language Exploration sections in the Teacher’s Manual samples, and see what you think.
I wish I could give you a definitive answer! But hopefully, this gives you some things to consider as you decide how to proceed. If you do decide to try one of our programs, we would love to hear how it goes for you. Also, do know that we have a “Go Ahead and Use It” One-Year Guarantee. If you find that the curriculum does not meet your needs, simply return the materials at any time within one year of purchase for a full refund of your purchase price, excluding shipping.
I hope this helps some.
Melody
says:How do u do a hands on approach for a middle schooler though that doesn’t seem so “baby” to them. I assume writing it would be good. But manipulation is maybe more the key. Thanks for any tips you can share. ☺️
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceMelody,
The tiles that All About Spelling and All About Reading uses provide a lot of hands on, without seeming overly “young”. This is especially true when using them for working on syllable division rules, as the act of physically dividing words into syllables using the rules is a powerful learning tool.
There are many ways to add hands on for a middle schooler in other subjects as well. Science can have lots of experimentation and History can have lots of map work, building models, maybe even reenactments!