Reading And Communication Links for Students within The Autism Spectrum

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Reading And Communication Links for Students
within The Autism Spectrum

• Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance
  Network
• Pennsylvanias Initiative on Serving Students
  with Autism Spectrum Disorder
• www.pattan.k12.pa.us

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• Reading and Communication Links for Students
  within the Autism Spectrum
• Prepared for Intermediate Unit IV
• August 19, 2002
• Presented by
• PaTTAN Harrisburg

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Presentation Objectives

• To discuss typical language and reading
  development.
• To list key language/reading difficulties for
  students in the autism spectrum.
• To identify program features to address reading
  development for students within the autism
  spectrum.

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Reading Is Rocket Science Louisa Cook
Moats
Fluent Reflective Readers/ Writers

• Background Knowledge
• Using Graphic Organizers
• Clarification/ Questioning
• Metacognitive Strategies
• Summarizing
• Recognizing Story Structure

C O M P R E H E N S I O N

• Motivation
• Vocabulary
• Fluency
• Alphabetic Principle (phonics)
• phonemic Awareness

Early Literacy ExperiencesandOral Language
Development
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Definitions!

• Language the systematic means of communicating
  ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized
  signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having
  understood meanings a formal system of signs and
  symbols including rules for the formation and
  transformation (receptive and expressive skills)
  of admissible expressions.
• Literacy Knowledge of the forms and functions of
  written language reading and writing.
• Reading is our focus today!

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Beginning Reading!!

• Learning to read and write begins early in life
• Occurs years before formal educational
  opportunities begin
• Begins to develop with early communication
  skills!!
• Print artifacts and models common in environment
• Children are active learners

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Communication/Language Learning

• Begin to develop memory, representations of
  objects and events, imitate, match facial
  expression, use mouth as exploratory organ,
  coordinate vision and audition to look at person
  talking to them ...

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Brain Research
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Reading and Autism

• multisensory brain wants an equilibrium
• What we hear is what we see is what meaning it
  hasCOMPREHENSION
• Decoding adequate, but still need to comprehend

Auditory
Visual/Spatial
Language
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Language Development Research

• Language precedes reading development (Wiig
  Semel, 1996, 1980 Bangs 1982)
• Child who is language impaired is at high risk
  for learning difficulty because language content,
  form function (use) are basic to all of the
  pre-requisite academic areas (Bloom Lahey,
  1978)

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Beginning Reading !!
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Key Aspects of Language and LiteracyBirth-Four

• Extended Vocabulary and Language Development
• Phonological Awareness
• Speech Discrimination
• Knowledge of Narrative
• Book and Print Awareness
• Functions of Print
• Print Concepts
• Letter and Early Word Recognition
• Comprehension
• Literacy as a Source of Enjoyment

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Language Development

• SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT CHART Age 0-1.doc
• SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT CHART Age 1-2.doc
• SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT CHART Age 2-3.doc
• SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT CHART Age 3-4.doc

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Key Aspects of Language and Literacy
Kindergarten-Grade 3

• Book and Print Awareness
• Phonological Awareness
• Language, Comprehension, and Response to Text
• Letter Recognition, Decoding, and Word
  recognition
• Spelling and Writing

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Reading Development 5-8

• SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT CHART Age 4-5.doc
• SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT CHART Age
  5-6-6-71.doc

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Autism Spectrum Disorder
Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not
Otherwise Specified (PDD - NOS)
Autism
Aspergers Syndrome
Childhood Disintegration Disorder
Retts Syndrome
DSM IV
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Uniqueness and Abilities Abound!
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Cause ?

• Autism is behaviorally defined syndrome that is
  reflected in some type of developmental
  dysfunction in the central nervous system within
  the areas responsible for social and
  communication development
• Gillberg, 1989Volkmar Cohen, 1988)
• The precise neurobiological process that causes
  autism is yet to be identified (Gillberg, 1990)

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Core Features of Autism Spectrum Disorder

• Qualitative Impairment of Social Development
• Qualitative Impairment of Communication
• Restricted repertoire of behaviors and interests
  DSM IV 1994

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Cognitive, Communication Language Domains

• There is a complex interdependence of cognitive
  learning style, social understanding, language
  learning and communication patterns.
• Communication/Language and Social skills do not
  emerge as a series of isolated behaviors!

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Cognitive LearningNote!

• The use of standardized assessment tools to
  determine I.Q. are only marginally relevant to
  instruction and intervention
• These tools may be more helpful when an item by
  item analysis is done or when reviewing
  accumulated test profiles
• This helps to better understand the cognitive
  ramifications or learning modesDeMyer

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Cognitive Learning

• For example
• when child is required to attend to transient
  visual cues-performance drops, but may see
  success when visual stimuli remained present
• may see decrease in performance when asked to
  increase sequential motor tasks, may see
  improvement when perform discrete steps,
  methodically presented
• may see decrease in inability to imitate body
  movements, may see improvement when systematic
  prompts are used
• may show stimulus overselectivity (the tendency
  to tune into a single stimulus component),
  improve when adjust presentation order, types of
  materials
• May see strength in concrete associations, but
  demonstrate poor abstract skills

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Cognitive Learning

• For example...
• May show difficulty in generalizing newly learned
  information (shifting or transitioning)
• Show strengths in gestalt, chunking information
• Showing strengths in spatial skills vs
  language-based thinking
• May show strengths of visuo-spatial arrays from
  samples block construction, jig saw puzzels,
  formboards, block designs
• May see strength in rote memory, but difficulty
  with working memory
• May see strength in knowledge of objects but not
  people
• So How do we use this information???

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Communication

• Often considered to be the central disability
  associated with autism spectrum disorder.

Everyone Communicates!
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Communication/Language/Speech Characteristics

• Communicative profiles of autism generally range
  from persons who are nonverbal to those who use
  speech as their primary means of communication.
• Why some individuals learn to speak and others do
  not?
• Absence or difficulty in many critical
  prelinguistic skills limited conventional
  gesture development, small receptive
  vocabularypoor semantic/pragmatic development
  results in poor receptive language analysis of
  speech soundsdevelopment of phonology may be
  dependent upon the analysis of speech from
  receptive vocabulary
• Neuromotor issues related to apraxia of speech
• ( Marquardt, Dunn, Davis, 1985)

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Communication/Language/Speech Characteristics

• Reception of speech signal
• Findings of auditory memory deficits in children
  with language impairments (relates to autism)
• Stark and Tallal, 1989
• Implications for working memory (short
  term/auditory memory)
• Often have good rote memory (long term)
• Inconsistent auditory responding
  hypersensitivity or lack of response

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Communication/Language/Speech Characteristics

• Receptive Skills
• Limited comprehension of verbal and gestural
  communication.
• Difficulty with concrete and literal
  interpretation of language in more cognitive
  aware (litereal comprehension of idioms,
  sarcastic comments, multimeaning words etc.)
• Difficulty following others topicsinterpreting
  communicative attempts forming a gist
• Poor imitation skills

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Communication/Language/Speech Characteristics

• Expressive Skills
• Limited range of communicative functions
  (preverbal and verbal levels)
• for meeting immediate needs (behavior
  regulation/com intent)
• slower acquisition or absence of communication
  for more social purposes (social interaction,
  joint attention)
• Generativity (routinized ways of using words,
  coming up with novel ideas)
• Grammar (syntax) relatively good but rigid/
  Pronoun reversals, difficulty with deictic terms
  (changes based on pt of reference)
• Vocabulary Development (limited social jargon)

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Communication/Language/Speech Characteristics

• Expressive Skills
• Pragmatics
• (rules for social use of language in context)
  social initiation, exchange, shifting, repairing,
  ending conversation often difficult
• Proxemic problems in use of space and proxemity
  in communicating with others body orientation
  issues
• Semantics
• Abstractions (jokes very difficult, requires
  flexibility and consideration of nuances of
  context)
• Difficulty with categories (related to difficulty
  with JA)
• Articulation
• Variable speech intelligibility / Overly precise
  articulation/ Syllable substitution errors
  (e.g.,teapotmental/departmental)
• Praxis, coordination (respiratory-stimulatory)

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Communication/Language/Speech Characteristics

• Expressive Skills
• Echolalia (process auditory/visual information in
  a gestalt fashion/remember and produce chunks of
  information) (Prizant, 1983)
• Exact echolalia (copy intonation patterns seen
  as representing stage of language development
  can be self-stimulatory with little communicative
  value)
• Delayed echolalia (chunks used to communicate
  functionsdeficits in receptive language can be
  masked by more advanced echolalic expressions)
• Perseverative/incessant questioning (may be
  related to levels of emotional arousal and/or
  processing difficulties)

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Communication/Language/Speech Characteristics

• Voice Quality and Prosodic Features
• poor pitch modulation
• inappropriate loudness- use of whispered speech
• monotonous tempo-inconsistent tempo

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Josh Reading Social Story!
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Autism NeedsMay be impeding reading development?

• Auditory Processing/Analysis Skills
• Over-selectivity/inflexibility/rigidity in
  thought
• Poor Comprehension/?Receptive Vocabulary
• Poor semantic and pragmatic/social skills

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Autism StrengthsUse to aid in teaching reading
skills!

• Visual perceptual/analysis skills
• Interest in print symbols and literacy materials
• Perseveration to detail !

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Programming
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Three Basic Requirements for Preventing Early
Reading Difficulties in Most Children

• Consistent delivery of high quality reading
  instruction in kindergarten through second grade
• Assessment procedures to identify children who
  are likely to have difficulties, or who are
  having difficulties learning to read
• Methods for delivering more intensive, more
  explicit, and more supportive instruction for
  children who are at risk, or who are having
  difficulties learning to read
• Joseph K. Torgesen, Ed.D, Florida State
  University
• 2001 presentation at PATTAN

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Phonemic Awareness Research

• Phonemic awareness is necessary but not
  sufficient for reading acquisition
• Phonemic awareness deficits and delays can be
  reliably identified in young children
• Phonemic awareness is teachable and promoted by
  attention to instructional variables
• From S.B Smith, D.C. Simmons, E.J. Kameenui,
  (in press) phonemic Awareness
• Research bases. In D.C. Simmons E.J. Kameenui
  (Eds.), What reading research tells us
• about children with diverse learning needs.
  Malwah, NJErlbaum

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Why is Phonemic Awareness Important?

• phonemic awareness is important primarily because
  of its impact on the development of decoding
  skills
• Decoding skills are important primarily because
  of their impact on the development of fluent word
  recognition
• Fluent word recognition skills are important
  primarily because they facilitate reading
  comprehension

Joseph K. Torgesen, Ed.D, Florida State
University 2001 presentation at PATTAN
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Three Basic Requirements for Preventing Early
Reading Difficulties in Most Children

• Consistent delivery of high quality reading
  instruction in kindergarten through second grade
• Assessment procedures to identify children who
  are likely to have difficulties, or who are
  having difficulties learning to read
• Methods for delivering more intensive, more
  explicit, and more supportive instruction for
  children who are at risk, or who are having
  difficulties learning to read
• Joseph K. Torgesen, Ed.D, Florida State
  University
• 2001 presentation at PATTAN

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Teaching Students to ReadComponents of a
Research Based Approach

• Phonemic Awareness
• Alphabetic Principle-Phonics Instruction
• Fluency Instruction
• Vocabulary Instruction
• Text Comprehension Instruction
• Put Reading First, The Research Building Blocks
  for Teaching Children to Read (Partnership for
  Reading, 2002)

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PA Academic Standards Reading, Writing,
Speaking and Listening 1.1 Learning to Read
Independently 1.2 Reading Critically in all
Content Areas 1.3 Reading,, Analyzing and
Interpreting Literature 1.4 Types of Writing
1.5 Quality of Writing 1.6 Speaking and
Listening 1.7 Characteristics and Functions of
the English Language 1.8 Research
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Beginning Reading

• Oral language base
• Phonemic Awareness
• Phonemic Memory
• Naming
• Address individually then put together

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What is Phonemic Awareness?
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Assessments of Phonemic AwarenessGood Litmus
Tests

• phonemic Processing Measures
• Blending pronounce a word from a series of
  separate syllables or separate sounds spoken in
  isolation (e.g. f-u-n blend to form fun).
• Segmentation tap the number of syllables in a
  word (e.g. open has two taps).
• Deletion say a word with sounds or syllables
  removed (e.g. say the word fat, now say it
  without the /f/).
• From
• Gilbertson, Bramblett (1999), and Swank and Catts
  (1994)

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Alphabetic Principle-Phonics
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(No Transcript)
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Alphabetic Principle-PhonicsRegular Word Reading

• Why is it so important?
• Because our language is alphabetic, decoding is a
  fundamental means of recognizing words.
• There are simply too many words in the English
  language to rely on memorization as a primary
  word identification strategy.

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Words are too abstract for me to remember. I
would never have learned to read by the method
that requires memorization of words. While
children with autism vary in which method works
best, old-fashioned phonics enabled me to learn
to read.
Testimonial!
After I laboriously learned all the sounds, I
was able to sound out words. Learning less than
100 sounds was easier form me than attempting
to remember Thousands of imcomprehensible groups
of symbols. (Teaching Children with Autism)
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The Process of Program Design Delivery
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Program Design Delivery
Based on Data/Progress Monitoring
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Assessments/Screening Tools

• Curriculum Based
• language module in checklist format.doc
• Early Childhood Indicators in table format.doc
• Others
• Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills
  (Good)
• Classroom Reading Inventory (CRI)
• Early Identification of Language-Based Reading
  Disabilities A Checklist (Language and Speech
  and Hearing Science in Schools Vol. 28
• Assessment and Treatment of Narrative Skills
  Whats the story
• Get Ready to Read! Screening Tool

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Benchmarks

• Benchmarks included in PaTTANs Gov. Institute
  Materials

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Comprehension

• Research tells us that the components of
  comprehension build upon one another
• (Executive Function) fail to monitor their
  comprehension well if they are not making
  essential inferences (Westby, C. Beyond Decoding.
  In Butler, G. Silliman, E. Eds.(2002) check this
  reference
• The low level of comprehension exhibited by many
  poor readers is consistent with their other
  verbal skills and should be considered part of a
  more global verbal and semantic deficit.

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Comprehension

• Poor readers (comprehenders) use more ambiguous
  pronouns
• Tell stories is present tense rather than past
• Less logical in their inferences they are more
  pragmatic or linear in reasoning (autism
  typically has difficulty with flexibility of
  thought)
• Poor comprehenders are less likely to draw a
  causal relationship that are not explicitly
  stateed. (more dependent upon explicit causal
  links)

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Research on Asperger!

• Findings
• Children and youth with Asperger exhibited
  reading levels commensurate with their grade
  levels on three out of five measures.
  Instructional, frustrational, and listening
  capacity did not differ significantly from their
  grade levels. Silent reading and independent
  reading levels, however, were found to be below
  grade level.
• When reading silently speculates additional
  auditory input facilitated comprehension or that
  reading aloud served to better focus attention on
  the reading material.
• Also, a significant difference existed in the
  literal/factual comprehension of the children and
  youth. Individuals with Asperger comprehended
  approximately one third more material that was
  rote based and incorrectly answered almost two
  thirds of the inferential questions.
• Myles, et.al. Analysis of Reading Skills in
  Individuals with Asperger Syndrome, Focus on
  Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, Vol.
  17, 2002.

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General Education Curriculum

• Language Arts the subjects (reading, spelling,
  literature, and composition) that aim at
  developing the students comprehension and
  capacity for use of written and oral language

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Direct and Systematic Instruction

• Sail Into Literacy goal to become fluent,
  proficient readers
• Oral language skill development
• Print awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Comprehension
• The reading and writing process

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For All Students within the Autism Spectrum

• Enable student to actively participate in all
  daily events
• All teachers and therapists work to develop a
  comprehensive language/reading program
• Exposure to language experiences
• Early language experiences need to be meaningful,
  based upon familiar experiences, and routines.

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Exposure!!
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For All Student in the Autism Spectrum

• Practice, practice, practice-perfect practice
• Vocabulary pertinent to routines, activities is
  prioritized (social, play, recreational .)
• Phonetics or letter-sound associations are
  explicit and taught directly
• Play is viewed as an important, key learning time

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Classroom Interactions Strategies
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Choosing Books

• Keep it simple Appeal to the
  Senses
• Short rhyme/rhythm
• Simple sentences attractive pics
• Few words per page activity built in
• Simple story line tactile variations
• Predictable sound enhanced

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Enhancing Communication and Reading Skills with
Verbal Language in the Classroom

• Continue interactions related to print
• Elaborate book interaction routines
• Continue visual schedules sequences eliminate
  picture cues if child recognizes print
• Use child experience books
• Use spoken/printed pattern sentences with regular
  variation to promote more creative language
• Use picture symbols as needed to supplement print

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Enhancing Communication and Reading Skills with
Verbal Language in the Classroom

• Use print to cue verbal responses
• Use print to cue social behaviors
• Use scripts and social stories
• Pair printed and verbal directions fade verbal
  encourage following of printed directions
• Promote writing arrangements of preprinted
  letters/words typing computer skills, drawing
  writing

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Hyperlexia
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Hyperlexia

• A phenomenon that has been frequently reported
  among individuals with autism (Goldberg, 1987).
• Ability to read beyond what would be predicted
  based on a persons cognitive abilities. Not
  restricted to higher cognitive functioning.
• Sometimes apparent in children functioning
  cognitively in the severely impaired range and
  /or in children who have very limited verbal
  communication abilities.
• Most importantly! Although comprehension of
  material being read is at a lower level than the
  ability to recognize or decode the words, Frith
  and Snowling (1983) report some processing of
  meaning at the word level.

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Hyperlexia

• Utilize these abilities to promote functional
  communication and language learning
• From first print symbols (product labels or
  familiar logos) to communication cards
• Eg. Reads communication cards then uses to
  request/mand or protest (cereal box labels, stop
  and go signs)
• If using a picture communication system, print
  word under or above (gloss matches meaning)
• Maximize exposure to print Watson, Layton,
  Pierce, and Abraham (1993) in Teaching Children
  with Autism

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Language Development Beginning Reading

• Students who have poor comprehension despite
  fluent decoding may have deficits in
• Interpreting syntactic and semantic information
  integrating information from difficulty parts of
  the text
• Making relevant inferences when theses skills are
  inadequate
• Using meta-cognitive skills to notice
  inconsistencies in texts (Westby)
• What are the implications when using some of the
  more popular visual strategies for example Comic
  Strip Conversations/Social Stories for behavior
  programs/teaching social skills??

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Reading Programs/Features
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Reading Programs..Know The Features!!

• Distar (SRA) (direct, systematic, sequential,
  phoneme level) Reading Mastery
• Road to the Code (phonemic awareness)
• Association Method (language based,
  multisensory, systematic language and reading,
  addresses auditory, processing issues, praxis
  issues, uses Northampton Symbols)
• LiPS Phoneme Sequencing Program for Reading,
  Spelling, and Speech (multisensory, systematic,
  language emphasis, visualization)

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Reading Programs.Know the Features!!

• Phonemic Awareness in Young Children (Adams,
  Foorman, et al)
• Ladders to Literacy (Preschoolprint book
  awareness, oral language, metalinguistic
  awareness Kindergarten Print Awareness,
  Phonological Awareness, Oral language)
• Teach Me Language (work on vocabulary and early
  NARRATIVES)
• The Reading and Writing Program (An alternative
  form of Communication) Lovaas (direct, discrete
  trials, systematic)

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Features

• Phonemic Awareness
• At sensory level comes to consciousness
• Sensory input
• Perception (awareness) decoding
• Concepts (where difficulty may be occurring for
  students with autism can decode but dont attach
  meaning)
• Storage
• Retrieval

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Features

• Einstein If I cant picture it, I cant
  understand it
• Need to turn words into a picture in the brain to
  attach meaning
• Need to pull all steps together to formulate a
  gestalt for kids
• Do not start at sentence level
• Start at phoneme level with IMAGERY
• Connect sensory and languagehigher order
  thinking for students with autism

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Features

• Start with sensory-lips,tongue, airstream (teeth,
  through lips etc.)
• Use visuals of mouth actions

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Reading Programs.Know the Features!!

• For Older Studens
• LANGUAGE
• Level One-phonemic awareness, phonemegrapheme
  correspondence, decoding, encoding, accuracy and
  fluency in passage reading, vocabulary,
  comprehension, wide supplementary reading
  introduction to form and function in grammar,
  writing tasks, editing.
• Level Two-syllabication for vocab dev.,
  morphology (latin roots, prefixes and suffixes
  for vocab and spelling) sentences for syntax to
  enhance composition
• Level Three-Greek morphology and literature ,
  literature is not studied as a subject until
  students master literacy skills

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Road to the Code

• (make systematic, Say It Move It)
• Use visuals from Road to the Code
• Pg 56 and 57 of the PA section (GI notebook)
• Sounds Abound in foundations pg 122
• Direct Instruction program
• Coatesville plan (identify key links/problems)
• Use visuals (alphabetic principle-phonics, slide
  7 8)

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Computer Programs

• Earobics
• (phon awareness, manipulation, discrimination,
  auditory performance with competing signals,
  auditory short-term memory, auditory sequential
  memory
• Fast ForWord
• Reading Edge (phon awareness, decoding, letter
  id, phon memory)
• Basics (color shape id, event sequencing,
  letter-name and letter-sound association)
• Language (phon awareness, sustained focus and
  attention, listening comprehension, language
  structures
• Language to Reading (sound-letter recog,
  decoding, vocab., grammar and syntax, listening
  comprehension, beginning word recognition
• Reading (word recognition and fluency, advanced
  decoding, spelling and vocabulary, passage
  comprehension)
• Middle and High School (sustained focus and
  attention, listening comprehension, sequencing
  and organization)

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Goals of Communication Intervention

• Develop
• intentionality
• engaging in social interactions
• expressing wants and needs/provide info to
  others
• acquiring new information
• regulating or mediating behavior
• maximizing ability to function
• To Improve quality of Life!
• To open doors to social world!!

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It is definitely a social thing!!
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Resources

• Quill, Kathleen Teaching Children with Autism
• National Research Council Starting Out Right
• Birsh, Judith R. Multisensory Teaching of Basic
  Language Skills