Reading and 'english' skills

[llisa32]

Hi,

 

J's reading skills are getting better every week and he has finally just scored about his age (8.2) and he is 7.8yrs. However...I had asked for his reading age to be re-assessed due to a poor mark he got in an english comprehension test back in march.

 

They had to read questions and write down answers, also had to fill in the blanks using multiple choice. He scored a reading age of 6 on this test although we'd all expected him to at least match his age - hence the tests done last week by the LSU.

 

My question then....do children with aspergers tend to have problems with the comprehension side of english once they have mastered reading?

 

Verbally he can speak for england, and his reading is now progressing really well..,but he seems to struggle with the comprehension bit ie....read something, digest it, come up with the answer, then write it down.

 

If I ask him he says it was easy, but I've seen the march paper and it was within his capacity, but he didn't finish it in time, and clearly didn't understand some of it given the answers he gave.

 

I'm chuffed his readings doing so well, and so is he..But just want to make sure we don't overlook something else.

[jb1964]

Hi Lisa,

 

Yes I think there is a difference between the reading ages and comprehension side. Our daughter is 13 and has just had her exam mark with a level 7 which is the highest level during comp.

 

She has excellent reading skills and has been marked way above her years all through school - although the understanding bit is more subtle.

 

When she was diagnosed (at 11) we were referred to a SALT which will take approx. 2-3yrs - to get more knowledge on her 'limited understanding' was how they phrased it.

 

For example I can remember a few years ago that she read a question saying 'What are your favourite carbohydrates? Please choose from the list below.' - she could not get past the word carbohydrates - saying over and over again that she didn't know what they were - even though the remaining part of the sentence explained it she stopped dead at the point of where she didn't understand.

 

Hope this makes sense.

Take care,

Jb

[krystaltps]

I think there can be, but in my opinion it would depend on the types of questions asked, as he did well on the later test.

There is a big move in teaching (in Scotland, anyway) to increase literacy levels and reading attainment. This is being done by using less literal questions (where the answer is found directly in the text) and using more evaluative ("what do you think of...?" type questions) or inferential questions (where the child has to use what he's read to make an inference, and cannot simply find the answer written in the text). The reason for this is that this is what real-life reading is all about, and it promotes better comprehension by the questions actually demanding that the child thinks about what they have read.

When this new approach is implemented, children panic - "I can't find the answer in the story!!!". I did it with my class this year, providing a lot of support at the start - now they can cope very well with these questions and reading attainment is up rather dramatically.

I would say that this approach would cause more problems with a child with ASD, and that they would require one-to-one support at the start.

Perhaps this is what has happened. Have a look at the questions and see if you can find all the answers in the text.

Not sure if this helps... it's just a thought.....

Edited June 21, 2007 by krystaltps

[llisa32]

Thanks, thats a point that I'll look at. The second test was just pure reading based one with the lsu rather than an english comprehension test. IE, far as I know he didn't have to write any answers down or write his opinion down after reading etc. Thats what I think he has an issue with...having to read, then compose any thoughts etc, then get them back down on paper. But if he had to just tell you the answer after you'd asked him he'd be flying

[UltraMum]

krystaltps is right - there are different levels of comprehension tested in the SATs style tests rather than just the ability to read the words ... this is from the QCA site http://www.qca.org.uk/13882.html

 

 

 

Assessment focuses for reading

 

The aspects of reading to be assessed are pupils' ability to:

 

• AF1: use a range of strategies, including accurate decoding of text, to read for meaning
• AF2: understand, describe, select or retrieve information, events or ideas from texts and use quotation and reference to text
• AF3: deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts
• AF4: identify and comment on the structure and organisation of texts, including grammatical and presentational features at text level
• AF5: explain and comment on writers' uses of language, including grammatical and literary features at word and sentence level
• AF6: identify and comment on writers' purposes and viewpoints and the overall effect of the text on the reader
• AF7: relate texts to their social, cultural and historical contexts and literary tradition

1 and 2 are fine for our children but the rest get increasingly difficult - hence they can be an excellent reader and not be at the same level re comprehension ...

 

I remember reading in one of Wendy Lawson's books about her needing to be taught to "read for meaning" but never really understood what she meant until i heard her explain it in person once - she basically read the words as they appeared in the book ie read each word individually because they were there but never constructed an overall meaning to what she was reading unless she was told that she had to answer questions on the text!

Edited June 22, 2007 by UltraMum

[Kazzer]

Hi,

 

Reading J is a brill reader, his written work is poor his presentation is all over the place, He has just become more aware if this and is trying much harder to make his work neater, But of course the Teacher sends home books that are "easy" J will not read them and it is all to do with this reading for meaning,

As J does not do thoughts and feelings well, He just wont even bring home the books, he has a reading age of 12 year old he is nearly 10.

 

He will tell u all about the book, but will not record the information onto paper; this of course does not help with the comprehension.

 

I did think at one stage when he was in year 2 , he was never going to get the hang of reading, let alone compression, but when he did get into books ( fact ones are his fav) no stopping him.

Any stories he writes, we struggle to read them as the spellings are so poor, We keep up the encouragement so he feels confident to write, I understand it is all linked to ASD,

J also has Hypermotability which effects his written work.

 

 

K