Before we get into talking about computerized reading programs, may I ask why you want one?  Please don’t get me wrong; I’m not at all opposed to using computers as a tool. But good teaching cannot be replaced by a computer.

And sound reading approach needs to focus on phonological processing, not just phonic. A useful book for parents and educators is Reading Reflex : THE FOOLPROOF PHONO-GRAPHIX METHOD FOR TEACHING YOUR CHILD TO READ Reading Reflex : THE FOOLPROOF PHONO-GRAPHIX METHOD FOR TEACHING YOUR CHILD TO READ by Carmen and Geoffrey Mcguiness. (Click on the book title and the link you take you to more information on this book). You can find out more about phonemic awareness and phonological processing at sites such as:

http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/reading/chard_phono_aw areness.html

http://www.edbydesign.com/learning/reading/index.html

http://www.fcrr.org/science/pptpresentations.htm

http://pals.virginia.edu/Reading-First

http://dibels.uoregon.edu

http://www.saee.ca/publications/A_020_EEH_EXECSUM.php


A good reading resource is Orchestrating Success in Reading by Dawn Reithaug. http://www.nrrf.org/osir_reithaug.htm

Excellent FREE information is available at http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/branches/children_services/spe cial_ed/docs/teachreaddiffanddis.pdf


While not all children with autism read, many do. Some children are hyperlexic and learn to read as very young children. To learn more about hyperlexia, go to http://www.hyperlexia.org/aha_winter9697.html or http://www.hyperlexia.org/

As with much of their learning, a child with an autism spectrum disorder may not follow a typical learning path. It’s wise to approach reading through many avenues; hence the concern over a search for one computerized program that will teach children with autism to read. It’s hard to imagine any one-size-fits-all strategy since each individual has his own pattern of strengths and weaknesses.

That said many people with autism have strengths in the visual area, while auditory processing is a more difficult method of taking in information. Academic approaches should keep this in mind and provide opportunity for the child to learn in visual (seeing), tactile (touch) and auditory (hearing) ways. Below is the link to one method of teaching reading visually:  http://www.readingreallyrocks.com/pages/1/index.htm


Among others that support a multimodal approach are:

Animated Literacy http://www.animated-literacy.com/

Phono-Graphix http://www.readamerica.net/page9alink.asp

The LiPS Program http://www.psllcnj.com/lips_program.htm


Some children appear to read well. But they may be proficient at “word calling” while remaining weak at comprehension. A program that is often useful is Visualizing and Verbalizing for Language Comprehension and Thinking Visualizing and Verbalizing for Language Comprehension and Thinking by Nanci Bell. (Click on the book’s title for more information.)

If your child would benefit from having words read to him from the computer, here are a couple free programs:

http://www.pixi.com/%7ereader1/allbrowser/

http://www.geocities.com/growingjoel/jtalk/index.html


Here is an assortment of computerized reading programs. This list is not exhaustive and comes with no particular endorsement:

Wynn Reader http://www.enablemart.com/productDetail.aspx?pid=1&dept =22&store=10


Laureate Learning Systems – free demo CD http://www.llsys.com/professionals602/index.html

Sound Reading Solutions http://www.soundreading.com/pages/index.cfm

Lexia software http://www.lexialearning.com/products/reading/index.cfm

Kurzweil 3000 (free trial CD available) http://www.kurzweiledu.com/products_k3000win.asp Kurzweil 3000

Reading Upgrade http://www.autismcoach.com/Reading%20Upgrade.htm

Comprehension Upgrade http://www.autismcoach.com/Comprehension%20Upgrade.ht m

Sound It Out Land Sound It Out Land

Reader Rabbit Reader Rabbit http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/104- 5227772-5890327?url=index%3Dblended&search-option=sea rch-amazon&field-keywords=%22Reader+RAbbit%22

There’s a wide assortment of reading software available at http://www1.shopping.com/xGS-beginning_reading~NS-1~lin kin_id-7000647~r-1~CLT-INTR


Below are websites that review autism spectrum software:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~jef/db.html

http://www.dimensionsspeech.com/articles.shtml

http://www.mff.org/pubs/ME279.pdf

http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/everykidca n.htm




Sharon A. Mitchell B.A., B.Ed., M.A
 ©2006 www.autismsite.ca