I have not sat down with Samuel for "worktime" as frequently in the past few days. That's okay, he is getting it 3 hours per morning with our in-home helper. Let's see, late last week I pulled out a "Handwriting Without Tears" book for him to do some lower case letter practise. He is used to doing these at school but he had not done any for me at home before. He protested quite loudly! He accepted it much better the next time I got it out.
We have been reading a book about whales for quite a while. It is a Random House "Step Into Reading Book." This series of books has 5 different levels for the various stages of reading readiness. This particular book, "Whales, The Gentle Giants" is a level 3, which is for "Reading on Your Own" grades 1-3. This is a bit above Samuel's ability. He does not seem to be able to handle reading a page when there are more than one or two sentences on it, in big type. When we read this book I cover some of the sentences, I read and then let him read a word or a simple sentence here and there. Sometimes I have to cue Samuel to read the word but often he will read it on his own if he hears that I have paused a bit.
Reading through this book has been very slow going. I thought maybe we would read the whole book in 2 or 3 days, but instead we only read one page each time we work on it, which isn't even every day. I'm planning to take it on our vacation, and I bet we won't even finish it then. I was beginning to wonder if reading this was at all worthwhile, but I changed my mind about this a few days ago. I asked Samuel "What would you like to read?" He looked on the shelf in our kitchen and selected the whales book! Then yesterday, after reading our page I had a worksheet for him to do. He wasn't ready to work on it right away. He picked up the book and looked at the pictures and then looked ahead in the book. I let him do this for a few minutes and was just thrilled! I love to see him browse through books!
This is one of those instances where I have a goal in mind for working on something, but I have to adjust it based on how Samuel is able to to work. Also, I have to remember that Samuel may not always communicate his interest in something as "visibly" as I might expect. This can be true of any of our children, whether or not they are autistic!
5 comments:
I taught my twins to read by the time they were two. Junior will not even let me read a book to him. He will not sit by me and look at a picture book.
He will write his name and draw shapes. He knows colors and shapes and numbers. He can count to 100...
but if you ask him his mommy or daddy's name he will not answer, he does not understand the question or he just is not aware or does not know?
In other words...for him, somethings are easier than others.
I want him to read and enjoy books. We have so many. Niles has a full collection of the classic novals and just loves them. He reads way beyond his years and knows authors other kids his age have never heard of.
Reading is so important.
My 5 year old has never ever held a book upside-down. He easily reads at the level 3 but he doesn't have the comprehension for it. Just the sight word volcabulary. So we read a lot of Level 1 and 2's to add to the comprehension level, with me asking him questions about what is on the pg.
My eldest reads well above his peers but doesn't get much pleasure out of books. He won't read on his own unless it has a lot of pics. He loved the Consumer Guide Car edition, and he reads all the advertisements, cereal boxes, words on the tv etc. Just not books. I am pls'd that he is watching some 7 to 9 age tv shows lately, and he can follow the story. He can get stuck in a rut at times and needs to move out of it.
My oldest could read by the time he was 3. But he was more interested in the numbers than the content.
He's in a reading program through the library and it is like pulling teeth to get him to read. He doesn't like it, although he can read at a jr high/high school level.
He is VERY interested in program guides, lists and things on that order.
You're doing a great job!
your hard work really seems to have paid off.well done to you both.
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