7 tips to foster a love of books in autistic children (Part 3)

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7 tips to foster a love of books in autistic children

As an early intervention specialist and a mum of an autistic boy, books and reading have always been my best allies to help children learn. 

In their early years, I use books specifically to support language development and teach children about the world around them.

I always recommend families to encourage the love of books from a very young age, as this has so many benefits, plus it prepares children for their time in school later on.

In this blog, I want to share with you 7 tips so you can also encourage the love for books with your child.

1. Select books with interesting textures, bright pictures or books with sounds for young children. 

Those books are fascinating to explore, and they will teach your child that books are intriguing and fun.

2. Pick books on topics that your child shows an interest in.

For example, if your child loves Peppa Pig, don´t be afraid to present lots of Peppa Pig books. My son used to love listening to sounds, so I got him books that made noise and music. 

When autistic children have a strong interest in a particular activity, focusing on it becomes easy.

Choosing books about topics your child wants to explore will make reading enjoyable.

3. Read as part of your daily routine. 
It´s common to read bedtime stories to children, so many families already read them as part of their daily routine. I even keep all the books in the kids´ bedroom, so my kids associate bedtime with reading time, and they want me to read to them every night.

4. Make storytime enjoyable.
If you want to foster a love of books, focus on making books and storytime fun. As parents, we might buy books we would like them to read, but remember if you want your child to love books and reading, follow their lead and let them pick what books they want to look at and read.

5. It´s ok to read the same books over and over. 
Young children enjoy doing the same activities repeatedly and reading the same book every night. If your child wants you to read the same books again and again, be patient; it´s only natural. As your child grows, this will change.

6. Select books that are at your child´s level of reading. 
My youngest son is starting to read, and as part of his homework, he has to read a book every day. As he found reading difficult and realised he was making many mistakes, he started refusing to read, and reading a five-page book every night became problematic. Challenging him too much too quickly had a negative impact. Thankfully, we resolved this by choosing the right books for his level of reading.

7. Offer books that spark an interest in reading from a young age.
Learn how autistic children learn to read so you can present them with books and activities that are motivating and enjoyable and make them curious about reading. 

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I often run a workshop on learning more about early literacy and how to introduce reading to autistic children.

If you would like to learn more about pre-reading and pre-writing activities for children with autism, stay tuned by subscribing to my newsletter (if you are not already a subscriber), or click on the following link for more information:

Teaching Language And Reading To Autistic Children.