As teachers, we all agree that high expectations need to be set for every child. Right?

So why, when it comes to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), do we tend to limit our expectations of their reading abilities?

It is true that many children with ASD find reading comprehension difficult. They are good at decoding written language but can find it hard to understand what they are reading. This might be because they focus too heavily on specific details of the text, or because they find it difficult to make inferences and use their prior knowledge of the subject to make sense of it. 

It seems obvious then that we need to actively teach reading comprehension strategies that will help them to gain a better understanding of a text. And yet, in England, reading instruction for children with ASD mainly focuses on word recognition skills.

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There are various teaching approaches that could be used to support the development of children’s reading comprehension skills. Guided reading is one of them. It is a teaching methodology used to support the development of all the skills necessary for reading, including reading comprehension. 

Guided reading: how it works

During a standard guided reading lesson, a teacher guides a small group of children who demonstrate similar reading behaviours and can, therefore, read similar levels of texts.

The lesson begins with a book introduction, followed by a strategy check, which prepares the children for independent reading. During the book introduction, the teacher reads the title and gives a brief overview of the text. The children are encouraged to ask questions, make comments about the text and talk about personal experiences they may have that relate to it. The teacher also introduces new vocabulary and unfamiliar language structures.

During the strategy check, the children are reminded of the strategies they can use related to reading comprehension. For example, they are told to listen to themselves and think whether what they said makes sense, to go back and read from the beginning of the sentence to make sure they have understood what they are reading or to read on, or look back, in the story to see if that helps them to make sense. The teacher then listens to children read and prompts them to use these reading strategies.

After children finish their reading, the teacher brings the group back together to check their understanding of the text and reinforce some of the good reading skills that were used during that guided reading lesson.

Guided reading is not a method commonly used with children with ASD. Why not? Well, research suggests that, due to the many social, behavioural and communication needs of autistic children, their academic needs, especially literacy, can, in many cases, receive less attention (Swartz, 2003; Paynter, Westerveld and Trembath, 2016).

This, therefore, indicates that autistic children may not necessarily be provided with an effective reading instruction and this may, in turn, this may have an impact on their reading development.

I wanted to see what happened when this situation was turned on its head, and set up research to explore the benefits guided reading could have for children with ASD. So, how did I do it?

Reading research in action 

I brought together a small group of autistic children in upper key stage 2 and formed a guided reading intervention group. There were 20 guided reading lessons in total and, as well as what impact guided reading could have on their reading comprehension, I also wanted to see what impact it could have on reading fluency (reading rate and accuracy), motivation to read and what changes in the standard guided reading procedures, if any, were required in order to meet the needs of this particular group of children.

What did I find? Well, all the children made progress. The data, however, suggested that none of the children made progress in all three areas of reading (reading rate, accuracy and comprehension), and also indicated that none of the children progressed at the same rate in any of the reading skills.

The findings demonstrate the diverse nature of reading skills in children with ASD and, therefore, highlight the importance of teaching each child all the skills necessary for reading. Despite the fact that the intervention had a varied impact on the children’s reading skills, the progress made by the children indicates that guided reading may be used effectively with children with ASD.

My observations also indicated that the texts, which were related to either the children’s interests or their recent experiences, had an increased impact on their motivation to read. It was also evident that regular praise and encouragement supported the children’s motivation and helped them to persevere with the tasks. Therefore, finding ways to motivate the children during guided reading is vital, and has a direct impact on their learning.

As the intervention progressed, it was evident that some changes in the learning environment, away from standard guided reading procedures, were necessary in order to enable the children to access the learning and work as a group successfully. The use of some behaviour support strategies, for example, individual token boards, enabled the children to overcome barriers to learning and benefit from the guided reading instruction.

How guided reading benefits pupils with ASD

Of course, guided reading is just one of many evidence-based teaching approaches that could be used to support reading development in children with ASD but, in my experience, it works really well.

It provides an opportunity to focus on both the children’s word recognition skills and their reading comprehension, and it enables the children to experience a variety of texts, levels of support and methods of instruction.

Guided reading provides the children with the opportunities of social interaction that many autistic children find difficult. It enables the teacher to provide the right level of support at the right time and this, therefore, can make a huge difference in the lives of children with ASD.

If any other teacher wanted to implement something similar, I would say that the effectiveness of guided reading when working with children with ASD might depend on your understanding of autism and how it might affect learning. Teachers will need thorough knowledge of the strategies that could be implemented in order to maximise children’s learning potential and will need to be flexible around standard guided reading procedures and the learning environment. 

Ultimately, though, I would encourage everyone to give it a go. Deliberate focus on reading comprehension is important for all children who are learning to read; however, it is even more critical for autistic children.

Ruta Rackaityte is a class teacher and a literacy lead at Manor School in Brent, London