Land We Can Share: Teaching Literacy to Students with Autism

As the mother of a young man with Asperger Syndrome, coauthor of "The OASIS Guide to Asperger Syndrome," and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst who consults for students of all ages, kindergarten through high school, I know how challenging it can be to teach any literacy skill to young people who, literally, see the world differently. The suggestions here are evidence-based, the explanations are clear, and the authors convey a winning can-do approach to the task. I cannot say enough about this book--except to recommend it highly to everyone I know.

If you have a child with ASD you read this book and have it in your library, especially to help with IEP's. Can't recommend it more highly than that.I learned a lot about my two children, both with ASD diagnoses, and how they best learn language arts (reading, spelling, etc.) It is my go-to book resource. It is not light reading. It was especially helpful in how literacy learning occurs and common autism challenges.AWESOME resource!!!!!

I bought this book for my wife. She is an elementary special ed teacher, and apparently this is one of those books that every special ed teacher has to have. It would also be a good reference for any parent of autistic children.

This is an important book for all teachers, regular ed. and special ed. This book reminds us all that every student is capable of literacy, we just have to give them the right opportunity. With great recommendations and strategies included, this book will become one that you reference over and over again.

grandson loves it

As a teacher in a Blended Classroom with 8 identified students and 15 regular ed student, I find this book to be an invaluable resource for "how to" with all of my students. It has given me new ways and alternatives to access their comprehension. I highly recommend this book for parents, student teachers, inclusive education teachers as well as regular education teachers who are seeking ways for their students to be able to express their understanding of literature in a variety of ways.

A Land we can Share is directed primarily at educators and para professionals working with children with ASD to welcome then into the world of literacy.My perspective is somewhat different. I am a parent of a 7 year old girl with ASD. We are currently in the throes of teaching our daughter to read (in collaboration with her teachers and therapists at school, of course). Whereas with my older children, the process of teaching them to read happened almost intuitively and naturally (on our part as parents), for our youngest the process has involved more effort. We have had to try more things, read more literature, consider different approaches, test more software programs and reader packages.And much as parents really just want a simple solution, the instructional rigour of Paula's book is at once insightful, engaging and inspiring. It resonated with us, in that it delved in a practical and useful way into different literacy approaches, and provided examples and suggestions that we find useful, and that can be passed on to classroom teachers and reading assistants. But even more significant than its practical applications were the themes of approach and attitude that permeate the pages. Those messages are the catch cries of so many parents with children on the spectrum. We tell teachers, administrators, friends, onlookers - try different things; children are all different; just because something works for most kids doesn't mean there won't be a different approach that will help the rest of the kids, put aside judgment; practice real inclusion.I would highly recommend this book (as well as Paula's other books) for parents. Read it. Practice it with your children. Pass it on to teachers and school administrators.

If you are looking for answers to help your students diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum with literacy activities look no further. Paula Kluth and Kelly Chandler-Olcott have put together a valuable resource. Not only will the activities in this text help differentiate your curriculum for those students on the Autism Spectrum but also for those students who are considered neurotypical. The text is very user friendly with explanations of what you will see in the child diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum, the components identified in a strong literacy program, straight-forward explanations of practices and approaches to use in developing your literacy program (both reading and writing), assessment strategies (so important today!), and help developing ideas to use in working with those students who have significant disabilities. Paula and Kelly use many testimonials by individuals that have experienced difficulties in the classroom and what helped them to make gains in the area of literacy. I couldn't believe the wealth of ideas to use (and their easy implementation) in the classroom. This is a MUST text!Margaret Hartung (General Education Instructor)