Emily Iland, M.A. is an award-winning author, consultant, researcher, advocate and leader in the autism field. She is the mother of a young man with ASD and brings personal experience and insight to her professional roles including as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Special Education at California State University, Northridge. She presents a variety of topics at conferences in both English and Spanish, all over the U.S. and abroad. She is known for the clear way she presents complex information! Emily has been actively involved with the autism community for nearly three decades as an educator and innovator. Areas of special focus include reading comprehension, skills for safety & Independence, autism & law enforcement, transition to adulthood, parent training, and community integration.
Description
Improve Reading Comprehension for Autistic Individuals Although they may be excellent readers, those with autism often need support for comprehension. Comprehension difficulties are subtle, qualitative, and difficult to tease out. As a result, their substantial level of risk for reading comprehension problems is often overlooked or unaddressed, and many students struggle in silence. This is where Drawing a Blank comes in. Even the most competent educational professionals in both general education and special education settings have limited training and experience helping autistic readers. Using a clearly stated and well-organized approach, Drawing a Blank provides educational professionals and parents with the tools to improve comprehension for good readers who have comprehension difficulties, as well as readers who struggle with both decoding and comprehension. This book explains where and why comprehension failure occurs and offers evidence-based and promising practices to use, based on a thorough assessment of a student's needs. This second edition describes new evidence-based interventions and 15 new research summaries on how to implement them.