6 year old Aspergers/HFA - reading tone

[Sarah Lou 80]

We are currently looking in to getting my son assessed for HFA.

He is pretty good at reading. He's confident and fluent but his teacher recently wrote in his reading record that she would like to hear a bit more expression in his reading.

He is our eldest so I have nothing to compare it to, but he reads with a certain lilt. Very hard to explain but it's kind of like he drags out each word a little.

Now this might be normal for his age but I wondered, given the teachers comments as well, whether this may be a symptom?

I'm waiting for a meeting with his school, however, I feel like I'm obsessing a bit about it all and getting paranoid that I'm seeing things that aren't there!

If anyone has any experience with this or can recommend any useful websites or info sources, I would be so grateful.

 

[AngelUK]

I am not sure what you mean with lilt but while one of my (fraternal) twins has such great expression when reading that the teachers frequently commend him for it (he often reads different characters with a different voices), my other twin, who is the more fluent reader, does not have much expression - though is getting better. Of the two, my actor twin is the more... "quirky" and is being/going to be assessed for ADD but he shows no signs of HFA. So I don't think lack of expression is a sign of HFA or ADD/ADHD. Maybe expression comes with the ease of reading and simultaneous comprehension, i.e. when they are not just concentrating on reading but on what they are reading? In our case, this I think is why one reads more fluently while the other reads slower but is more invested in the text, so to speak.
Good luck

 

[Sarah Lou 80]

Thanks for your reply. I think may be on reflection I was being a bit paranoid. The whole thing is just consuming my brain at the moment. Your reply has really helped though. Thank you

 

[noon_child]

I don't think the teacher commented that because his expression is unusually 'behind' others, (that would have been a quite word with you about how to try to encourage him etc.) but more that once students perfect one skill, the teachers want to move them on to acquiring the next skill. So now he has a good grasp of phonics they want him to concentrate on expressing meaning through tone etc. If you think of a school nativity play and how the narrators speak in a monotone, rushing some parts, dragging out others with no reference to the meaning of the words or the punctuation etc. you'll see it's not a skill that kids get very early!

 

[Sarah Lou 80]

I don't think the teacher commented that because his expression is unusually 'behind' others, (that would have been a quite word with you about how to try to encourage him etc.) but more that once students perfect one skill, the teachers want to move them on to acquiring the next skill. So now he has a good grasp of phonics they want him to concentrate on expressing meaning through tone etc. If you think of a school nativity play and how the narrators speak in a monotone, rushing some parts, dragging out others with no reference to the meaning of the words or the punctuation etc. you'll see it's not a skill that kids get very early!

 

[Sarah Lou 80]

The nativity example is great! Thank you

 

[SarahBear]

Hello,

If he has autism, it would make sense that expression in reading would be difficult. Reading comprehension can be difficult for people with autism and reading comprehension is necessary for appropriate expression. On top of that, individuals with autism often have differences in how they talk in general which would then affect how they read. Using appropriate expression while reading, also requires an understanding of theory of mind. Theory of mind is the idea that others have thoughts and feelings different from your own. It also involves the ability to make reasonable guesses and inferences as to what another person may be thinking or feeling. When you read, it is not your perspective. It is the perspective of another person. When you add vocal inflection to the reading, it requires that you understand the tone and emotion that the author is conveying through the text. This is difficult with autism.

 

[morri]

Autistic people can be quite flat in affection inn general which is often misunderstood as not having any affection tho. Reading it depends on it, my brother is dyslexic and was never a good reader in primary school, I am autistic but m sister(also dslexic) taught me how to read and I have alwas beeen a good reader.