#165: Increasing Comprehension Skills For Autistic Students

When it comes to teaching comprehension to autistic learners, it can be difficult to know where to get started. This is an important skill leading to independent communication, and it’s crucial to have a robust system for teaching the skills.

I’m going over some of the foundational skills leading to comprehension. Labeling is a progressional skill that should start with the preferred terms of the learner, then onto more functional beyond the therapy room for their day to day life. Intraverbals and (to keep things simple) filling in the blanks are another skill that is a cornerstone of conversation and a foundation of comprehension learning. Don’t forget to check out Dr. Sundberg’s supplement that I discuss in this episode.

WH questions are a specific target to get started with in comprehension. You can get very specific with criteria and data when creating learning targets and IEP goals for this skill. You can teach this skill with visuals (I share a resource for this today too!) and very importantly, you can use WH questions to teach and generalize personal safety questions: What is your name? What is your guardian's name? What is your phone number? Etc.

There are great links and resources for you to check out today, so don’t miss those! And if you found this episode helpful, don’t forget to leave a review or reach out to me at ABAspeech.org with any questions.

#autism #speectherapy

What’s Inside:

• How to support a learner with struggling comprehension skills.
• A robust system for teaching comprehension with autistic students.
• Creating functional IEP goals for comprehension with WH questions.

Mentioned In This Episode:
Dr. Sundberg Intraverbal Supplement: Intraverbal Subtest V.6.0
ABA SPEECH Intraverbal Printable: Speech Therapy Activity: Focus on Comprehension & Expressive Language
Boom Cards for Comprehension
Join the ABA SPEECH Connection Membership - Membership ABA Speech
Join the bootcamp here: Dynamic Content Joint Attention Bootcamp