“Just sound it out.” “Say what?” Reading 101 is for babies.

1. Reading is for teens and young adults with ADHD and Autism (ASD). Now it inclues special education, learning disabilities, and content-area reading. 

Decoding is the letter-sound relation used to pronounce written words. It’s contention regarding decoding interventions. Some focus on translating print into speech by rapidly matching letters. Others find the key in the combination of letters (graphemes) to their sounds (phonemes).

Reading skills for teens and young adults have requirements beyond those developed for children. The primary focus is comprehension (understanding he material).  Vocabulay  and reading instruction occurs simultaneously.

Strategies at Home

• Develop both reading and automaticity.
• Focus on both fiction and non-fiction materials.
• Write notes, emails, and texts, sounding out letters and words.
• Talk about irregular words seen online, in comic books, magazines, and class notes.
• Use spell check as a beginning tool.

Comprehension may be through multiple strategies. Students with ADHD and Autism need to know that they are right. Conversely they must know when they don’t understand. They use these skills when they connect.

ADHD Strategies 

• Engage the imagination.
• Recognize story structure.
• Encourage note-taking.
• Ask for redictions.
• Increase word power.

Autism Strategis  

• Build background knowledge.
• Think aloud using storytelling.
• Retell (after finishing the story).
• Allow students to doodle/draw highlights
• Choose books which speak to current issues.