How to Teach Reading to Individuals with Asperger Syndrome

Traditionally, classroom literacy instruction is rooted in content indicators for each grade level. This content is manifest in classroom activities, such as phonics instruction, spelling lessons, word work, vocabulary instruction, exploration of genres, character development (including point of view), plot mapping, readers’ theatre, book clubs, etc. The research tells us that we need to include time to reflect upon literature in order to establish comprehension. Students need to build links to schema in order to process, reflect and apply lessons learned from text that has been read. Students must demonstrate the flexibility in application and use of tools that school-wide activities and assessments require to demonstrate proficiency, such as true/false questions, cloze activities, graphic organizers, note taking, collaborative groups, etc. Many of these activities provide inlets to measure knowledge acquisition for each student. The outcomes of these skills are then measured through classroom projects and assignments, and data is collected. The data then leads teachers back through the maze of planning and instruction for daily classroom routines.

Learning Differences of Students with AS

However, what if the traditional classroom tools and activities that target the learning needs of most students were not well received by some? What if these same students have gifts and talents in many areas of language arts content, but struggle sharing their knowledge with outsiders? What if the traditional data analysis and re-teaching to skill gaps process was misleading because the need for prerequisite skills seems not to impact the development of higher level skills?

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) offers characteristics of Asperger Syndrome (AS) that include deficits in social interaction, such as building peer relationships, reading nonverbal social cues, sharing perspectives of the interests of others, social and emotional reciprocity, the understanding of part-to-whole alignment and executive/occupational functioning. Individuals with AS also rely on routines and rituals that provide stability in environments that can seem unpredictable. Many of these routines and rituals clash and, at times, contradict the daily expectations and instructional strategies used in classrooms today.