Autism and Reading Part 1: Lessons to be Learned from Special Kids

  • decoding reading comprehension phonics
  • 10 May, 2025
  • 13 Comments

Regular readers of this blog know I get lots of questions. I do my best to answer them. Occasionally, I have no idea the answer. If a topic is straightforward, I investigate and usually can craft a response that I hope manages to be both informed and helpful.

Other times, I may decide that a query that puzzles me may not be worth the candle. Not that the topic isn’t important to the questioner. Only that even a terrific answer would hold little value for a wider audience.

And then, there are those times when an interrogative has the three I’s. It’s important, it’s interesting, and it’s something about which I’m ignorant.

That sums up this week’s topic.

Usually, I don’t reveal questioner’s identities. This time I sought her permission to do just that. Despite the query, it’s something that she knows more about than me.

According to Google Books, “Emily Iland, M.A., is an award-winning author, advocate, filmmaker, researcher, and leader in the autism field.” She is also the mother of a son on the autism spectrum – so she knows the topic both professionally and personally.

Early in my career I worked with severely autistic preschoolers, my university center operated the autism clearinghouse for the city of Chicago, and I have a family member on the spectrum, also. Nevertheless, my knowledge of the intersection of reading comprehension and autism could best be characterized (if it merits characterization at all) as non-existent.

The reason for Ms. Iland’s question was that she is in the process of revising her book, Drawing A Blank: Improving Comprehension for Readers on the Autism Spectrum (2011).

I gave the literature a quick once over, responded to her with a brief summation of what stood out to me along with a list of studies, and thought that was it. She responded with more than a thank you. She offered a valuable earful that I found fascinating. It made me want to look again at those studies.

She wrote:

“We are still suffering from a dearth of robust research about this topic! I have a 40-year-old son with autism spectrum disorder who astonished us with spontaneous reading and spelling at age 3. The comprehension issue was always there but interfered with learning from about age 10 onwards. Since I’ve piqued your interest, I’d like to share my perspective with you.  

“When kindergarteners sit on the rug for reading time, and the teacher asks, “What’s going to happen next?” all the typically developing children have a pretty good answer. No one taught them how to predict, but they know how to gather up context clues and draw a conclusion at age 5. 

“The child with autism usually doesn’t answer because they don’t know what’s going to happen next and can’t guess. Who notices that they have no answer 100% of the time? No one. If the child does answer, it’s usually way off the mark and perhaps related to their special interest in dinosaurs, etc.

“No one worries about this or has a reason to teach that child to predict, especially if the child was a brilliant decoder since preschool. One way that I know this is from my experience as a professional advocate for 200 families in my early career, observing my little clients at school.

“Asking a child to predict is not the same as teaching a child to predict. I know you agree with this, like when you say that asking a student to answer comprehension questions is not an instructional method! 

“When I was doing my post-master’s certificate in Special Education in the late 2000’s I worked 1:1 with children with autism in the California State Northridge Literacy Lab. I was working with a second grader with autism who could not decode and didn’t understand what he read.

“I used a computer program with pictures and hints to work on predicting. He couldn’t do the second-grade level, first-grade level or Kindergarten level. Zero success in all attempts. 

“This is one example of why ‘tweaking’ typical instructional methods does not work for this population. Features of autism cause a ‘Swiss cheese’ effect of looking good from the outside but having hidden skill gaps. 

“One woman with autism told me that when she reads, it’s like highlighting everything in grey, because all the words and sentences have equal importance and nothing stands out as the main idea….How can you summarize a paragraph, study, or write about a passage if you don’t know what information is important?

“Cognitive issues in the autistic profile such as weak central coherence and Theory of Mind (a form of inference) also impact comprehension and learning. Essential (usually innate) prerequisite skills for using comprehension strategies are NOT intact. As a result, teaching must be tailored to the cognitive profile and learning needs of readers with ASD [Autism Spectrum Disorder]. Teachers and parents want to know what to do and how to teach. Research is NOT giving us the answers we need! I’m not comfortable generalizing from a study with 2 participants to this whole population!”

See what I mean. Lots of juicy insight and an honest disappointment in the research – which I assiduously began to read more carefully. Here is what I found out.

First, there’s much variation in the population that is burdened with autism. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, “People with autism have a wide range of symptoms, which can include differences in social and communication behaviors, intellectual disabilities, and other physical and mental health conditions. People with autism also have a wide range of health care and service needs.”

That’s true regarding reading (Brown, et al., 2012; Ricketts, 2011; Sotáková & Kucharská, 2017).  There are kids like the ones that Emily describes in her letter, hyperlexic when it comes to decoding and spelling but with lagging comprehension abilities. This results because many people with ASD may tend to super focus on one thing, often to the exclusion of all else. When a kindergartener tries to figure out spelling patterns that level of attention can be helpful. However, some estimates claim hyperlexia affects only 5-10% of the ASD population (Brown, et al., 2012).

Confusingly, studies identify these kids as gifted at decoding, poor at decoding, and typical of the general population when it comes to reading words!

My sense of the studies? Kids with ASD are marginally more likely to struggle with decoding and/or spelling than the general population (Brown, et al., 2012; Henderson, Clarke, & Snowling, 2014; McClain, et al., 2021; Nation & Norbury, 2005; Nicolosi & Dillenburger, 2024). Randi, Newman, & Grigorenko, 2010 ; Sorenson, et al., 2021 ; Sotáková & Kucharská, 2017). These kids tend to have problems with attention, speech, language, and social interactions. Those may interfere with any kind of learning, and some (such as speech difficulties) can be especially problematic for learning phonics. Given that, I would expect the ASD population to struggle a bit with decoding.

However, I doubt that low decoding is a characteristic of ASD. That’s because there is no reason why ASD would be especially disruptive of decoding ability. There isn’t a part of the condition that is necessarily and specifically disruptive of the attainment of decoding abilities.

Most young kids struggle with attention. Some of them have special problems with it, ADHD for instance, without being on the spectrum. But the attention spans of normally developing kids are notoriously limited at the ages when basic decoding is taught. The specific thing about the inattention of ASD kids is that theirs may be the result of intensive attention to something else. But this kind of inattention interferes with learning in the same way that anybody else’s does.

That ability to be super attentive is probably why there is that bubble of kids with hyperlexia – the ability to read words well beyond comprehension ability.

That means you can’t assume that an ASD diagnosis tells you anything about the likelihood of decoding success. It is essential that these students be screened just like anyone else. It really matters little that a higher percentage of kids with ASD are hyperlexic, if the kid in your class isn’t making adequate progress. It also matters that there is no special ASD-reason for those decoding challenges. Garden variety good teaching would be likely to remediate those learning gaps successfully.

The same kind of issue arises with English Learners (EL). That group doesn’t have any special learning problems. They suffer from maladies like dyslexia and autism as often as native English speakers. Their “special” barrier to reading progress is mainly due to a lack of proficiency with the English language. It’s hard to read in a language that you do not know.

Nevertheless, ELs may struggle with English decoding. The assumption that an English Learner’s reading problems will only be due to a lack of English proficiency will be wrong often enough that we should take care to avoid that notion. It’s better to assess and be certain, than to guess and, consequently, fail to meet these kids’ learning needs.

Something similar may be afoot for kids with ASD. More of them are likely to struggle with comprehension than decoding, but that doesn’t mean that many of them don’t have decoding difficulties that need to be addressed. A large-scale observational study in Grades 4-9 (Solis & McKenna, 2023) found that much of the reading instruction for kids with ASD focused on reading comprehension (mainly having them read and answer questions – which, in my opinion, is more about monitoring than teaching). According to the researchers, these kids received little word reading instruction, despite 46% of them testing below average in those skills.

However, as Emily Iland explained in her letter… there are special problems for ASD kids when it comes to reading comprehension. That’s where it gets really interesting.

Interesting both in terms of what it says about teaching kids with ASD – and regarding teaching reading comprehension to everyone.

References

Brown, H. M., Oram-Cardy, J., & Johnson, A. (2012). A meta-analysis of the reading comprehension skills of individuals on the autism spectrum. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 43, 932-955. https://doi.org:10.1007/s10803-012-1638-1

Conner, C., Alor, J. H., Al Otaiba, S., Yovanoff, P., & LeJeune, L. (2024). Early reading outcomes in response to a comprehensive reading curriculum for students with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 39(2), 71-83. https://doi.org/10.1177/10883576221137905

Grimm, R. P., Solari, E. J., McIntyre, N. S., Zajic, M., & Mundy, P. C. (2018). Comparing growth in linguistic comprehension and reading comprehension in school-aged children with autism versus typically developing children. Autism Research: Official Journal of the International Society for Autism Research11(4), 624–635. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1914

Nation, K., & Norbury, C. F. (2005). Why reading comprehension fails: Insights from developmental disorders. Topics in Language Disorders, 25(1), 21–32. 

https://doi.org/10.1097/00011363-200501000-00004

Nicolosi, M., & Dillenburger, K. (2024). The effect of phonics skills intervention on early reading comprehension in an adolescent with autism: A longitudinal study. Behavioral Interventions, 39(3), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1002/bin.2007

Randi, J., Newman, T. & Grigorenko, E. L. (2010). Teaching children with autism to read for meaning: Challenges and possibilities. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 40, 890–902. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-010-0938-6

Ricketts, J., Jones, C. R., Happ., F., & Charman, T. (2013). Reading comprehension in autism spectrum disorders: the role of oral language and social functioning. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 43, 807–816. https://doi.org:10.1007/s10803-012-1619-4

Solis, M., & McKenna, J. W. (2023). Reading instruction for students with autism spectrum disorder: Comparing observations of instruction to student reading profiles. Journal of Behavioral Education.

Sorenson Duncan, T., Karkada, M., Deacon, S. H., & Smith, I. M. (2021). Building meaning: Meta?analysis of component skills supporting reading comprehension in children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Research, 14(5), 840-858. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2483

Sotáková, H., & Kucharská, A. (2017). The level of social relations comprehension and its impact on text comprehension in individuals with autistic spectrum disorder. Health Psychology Report, 5(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.5114/hpr.2017.62725

 

LISTEN TO MORE: Shanahan On Literacy Podcast

Comments

See what others have to say about this topic.

Erica May 10, 2025 01:17 PM

I am so interested in Part 2 of this post. I am a special education teacher and have been working with children with ASD for almost 20 years. I have a wide range of abilities in my classroom each year, but comprehension is more often than not a struggle for my students. I was so happy to see this topic pop up in my email this morning and began reading immediately. Thank you for covering such an important query and I am hopeful that the next post will provide me with some ideas and feedback I can use to improve my instruction.

Crista May 10, 2025 02:04 PM

Hi! I am excited for your honest exploration of this topic. That being said, please consider editing this language, "First, there’s much variation in the population that is burdened with autism." Using the word, "burdened" is offensive and not reflective of how many parents think about their child with Autism or other developmental disabilities." As an educator and parent of a child with Down syndrome, I feel like these kinds of word choices contribute to the "soft bigotry of low expectations" of these children (of my child). To your point, there are many myths and misconceptions that exist related to teaching literacy skills to students with Autism and other developmental disabilities. This is related to lack of research and every student is really different. We really can't tell anything about a student's ability to decode (or even comprehend) based on their diagnosis and years of poor or lack of instruction. Regarding comprehension, considering the RAND heuristic related to comprehension has helped me rethink comprehension goals for the students with developmental disabilities that I teach. In a recent conversation with Dr. Chris Lemons, he shared some research that one of his students was pursuing around comprehension. I may not get all of the details correct and would definitely suggest you reach out to him, but it focused on thinking about developing student opinions and connections to what they are reading. My real life example looks like this: When my 16 year old son took a gen ed World Geography class in 9nth grade, some of his teachers said that he couldn't recall much information on assessments and they were unsure what he was learning from the readings. At that particular time, my son was learning about the geographic features of the Democratic Republic of he Congo. I started noticing that he was selecting very specific Phineas and Ferb episodes to watch after school based on what he was learning - And lo and behold, he was watching an episode in which the characters go on an African Safari! When I started talking to my son, he was able to talk about what was the same and different related to what he was learning and reading about in his geography class! Wow! All of a sudden the purpose of his reading (thinking about the RAND heuristic) became so much more meaningful to him. My wonder: How can we rethink teaching and assessing comprehension with children who have developmental disabilities? What is the role of the RAND heuristic in this research and work?

Irene Valdez May 10, 2025 04:08 PM

As an educator and a parent of 2 autistic men, I have some thoughts to share. First, please don't use the word burdened. Like any condition in life, autism has its burdens as well as its gifts. Please use a word like "affected".
On another note, we know many autistics are hyper-focused as you termed it. They are also hyper focused on particular subjects. In my house, right now, it's guitars, dolphins and trains. The background knowledge runs deep. My son can identify a guitar brand at a glance. When my sons read, if they read about something about their preferred passion, their comprehension is just fine. So are we circling back to the need for background knowledge to comprehend?
Also, fiction is very difficult to understand. Anything magical, having to do with social interaction or relationships are hard to comprehend for my guys. It's not that they don't have social interactions in real life. Reading about them just takes out some of the cues and they can't imagine them.
These are just examples from my life. The hard thing is the saying "when you've met one autistic, you've met one autistic". Doing research in this area would be difficult and only apply to one type of autistic. If I ever get my doctorate, I'm heading this direction!

Molly Bishop May 10, 2025 06:59 PM

I'm a reading specialist, but I worked in regular education, so I know only a little about ASD from direct experience. However, I am an avid student of Dr. Reuven Feuerstein, and although he is not well known in the United States, his work has a great research base and I find it one of the most exciting lines of research with implications for education and psychology. I believe practitioners. especially in the field of special education, should know this work. I found it very helpful with students whose progress got stalled, despite care and intensive instruction. In terms of autism, I find his approach particularly exciting. Feuerstein never promises a result, but he is committed to cognitive improvement. So while his methods can't be quantified, they can be exciting helpful, and very individualized. Here are two citations you might find helpful: A Think-Aloud & Talk-Aloud Approach to Building Language; Overcoming Disability, Delay and Deficiency, by Reuven Feuerstein, Louis H. Falik, Refael Feuerstein, and Krisztina Bohacs,2013, Teachers College Press; and The Feuerstein Method; A Cognitive Approach to Autism, edited by Refael Feuerstein, Routledge, 2024.

Tess Prendergast May 10, 2025 07:07 PM

Using words like “Burdened” and “maladies” when talking about kids with disabilities is straight-up ableism. Please revise this post. Disabled folks and their advocates are tired of it.

Ann May 11, 2025 11:54 AM

Dear Mr Shanahan, I have been a follower for some time but this particular article resonates with me. I am a mother to a 13-yo son on the autism spectrum. My son is similar to what Ms Emily has described - hyperlexic but with lagging comprehension skills. He can cope with short texts/excerpts but finds it difficult to understand when reading fictional stories/books. I am sending this message to ask if you have any recommendation or advise on how we can support our son and help in improving his comprehension skills?

Timothy Shanahan May 12, 2025 06:40 AM

Tess-

Absolutely. I am an "ableist." I plead guilty. I consider conditions (both in terms of inherent abilities and social circumstances) that interfere with learning to read to be the enemies that need to be addressed.

tim

Emily Iland May 12, 2025 08:07 AM

Thank you Dr. Shanahan for your excellent job opening up this conversation! I will have more to share with you and your readers as I progress in updating and publishing Drawing A Blank: Improving Comprehension for Readers on the Autism Spectrum. Future Horizons will be publishing it in the coming year. Right now I'm reading the meta-analyses and literature reviews on the topic of HOW to intervene, and what is effective. Autism and Comprehension research is in the same state today as LD and comprehension research was in the 1980's: Less than 20 single case studies with 3 participants each! We are going to have to make the most of that information to do our best for these students. We can't afford to fail them, and they can't afford it either. Fortunately, I have more ideas than what the research can give us. Best regards, Emily ILAND

Kelly Bruskotter May 13, 2025 04:45 AM

Good evening, Dr. Shanahan,

Thank you for your recent episode highlighting the intersection of autism and reading. As a school psychologist, I’m continually intrigued by the variability in decoding and comprehension skills I see among students with autism. I'm looking forward to your next episode.

Respectfully, I’d like to suggest reconsidering phrases like “burdened with autism” and “suffer from maladies like autism and dyslexia.” Whether someone views autism as a burden or suffering is a personal experience. The word ‘maladies’ implies illness or disease, and doesn’t reflect the complex neurodivergent characteristics of autism or dyslexia. While both disorders can present academic and social challenges, our role is to equip students with the tools to navigate them, while also honoring their autonomy and self-perception.

As you well know, words matter. Thank you again for your impactful work in the field of reading.

Rebecca May 14, 2025 03:47 AM

Being autistic is a core part of who I am, much the same way that being a woman is a core part of my identity. It is not a burden or malady to be eradicated. The "enemies that need to be addressed" are the methods of teaching/assessment that don't account for the fact that different people's brains work differently.

There are so many variables that could be affecting an autistic person's reading abilities. Are they struggling with interpreting metaphors and figurative language because they take it literally (pragmatic language skills)? Are they having difficulty picking up on between-the-lines information, predicting what might happen next, or understanding a character's feelings, motivations, or reactions (social awareness skills)? Are they having trouble switching between tasks, struggling with a change in routine, or becoming fixated on one aspect of the text (monotropic mindset)? Is there a disconnect in their ability to process written vs spoken words, or do they tend to think in pictures vs words, or do they learn best when moving/have trouble retaining information while sitting still (language/information processing skills)? Is there something else going on in the environment that is affecting their ability to focus (sensory processing)?

Please look to autistic adults to understand more of our experiences. Autism is a collection of conditions that affect how a person experiences being human, and there is only so much non-autistic people can understand through observation. NeuroClastic is a great website to start learning more

Aline May 17, 2025 06:07 PM

Reading all these perspectives really made me think about how complex and individualized the experience with autism is. As a preschool teacher, I haven't worked directly with children on the spectrum, but I have friends and family members with loved ones who are autistic, and I know how much patience, empathy, and open-mindedness it takes to truly see each child’s unique way of learning. What struck me most is how important it is to listen—really listen—to what these families and educators share. Their stories remind me that assumptions and stereotypes often do more harm than good, and that every child's strengths and struggles deserve respect and understanding. It also made me reflect on how language shapes perceptions. Words matter. They can either build bridges or create walls. As educators, we have the power—and responsibility—to use language that uplifts and values every child's individuality. Finally, I feel inspired to learn more and improve my practices, not just with children on the spectrum, but with all children, recognizing that each of us learns and grows in ways that are uniquely our own.

Gaynor May 18, 2025 10:19 AM

I have a family member with a milder case of autism . He was always a precocious and avid reader and his comprehension was excellent as was his creative written work. What was different was his single mindedness even obsession when tackling an academic topic in STEM subjects. He felt he had to know everything about it. It is hardly surprising he is now a world expert in a particular area of IT ! What is difficult are his social skills specifically difficulty in grasping other people's view points. He actually stated there was only one correct view!.
I disagree with those who challenge Timothy on calling autism a burden . This is the same as people calling dyslexia a 'gift '. which really annoys me. . My son had dyslexia and dysgraphia but after doing intensive courses in phonic spelling and reading as well as hours of handwriting there is no sign of the dyslexia at all and only still some evidence of poor handwriting because he uses a keyboard.
Severe autism is a big handicap when children can't even leave the house they live in. It is important people work on research , possibly even considering nutrition etc to overcome this problem. Acceptance is wrong when it discourages such research.

Timothy Shanahan May 19, 2025 10:45 AM

Gaynor--

I very much appreciate your support. Obviously, I am not claiming that these individuals are a burden on society, but I do believe the reason that we pay attention to autism, dyslexia and other learning disabilities, ADHD, etc. is because of the problems that they pose for many individuals. To pretend that these are "gifts" or that they are differences that pose no real difficulties suggests that we should do nothing out of the ordinary to try to better meet their needs (in other words, if it isn't a burden, then why invest in research or treatment options?).

The individuals with autism that I know would gladly live without it. The social and academic challenges that it poses causes problems for them that they would be happy to avoid.

tim


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Autism and Reading Part 1: Lessons to be Learned from Special Kids

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One of the world’s premier literacy educators.

He studies reading and writing across all ages and abilities. Feel free to contact him.

Timothy Shanahan is one of the world’s premier literacy educators. He studies the teaching of reading and writing across all ages and abilities. He was inducted to the Reading Hall of Fame in 2007, and is a former first-grade teacher.  Read more

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