Usborne Books and the Autistic Child
Understanding autism & how Usborne Books can help
by Ruth Smith
Usborne Books are
designed to help make reading and learning more fun and
successful for children at each stage of development.
By understanding
the most commonly shared learning difficulties for children with
autism and providing books to support their learning, you can
help enrich their educational experience.
Here are some ways that Usborne Books help
support successful learning in children with autism. |
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Usborne
Books develop independent learning with limited
instruction needed.
Children with autism often have difficulty learning
independently. They need book choices that can be
enjoyed needing limited or no adult instruction. Step by
step illustrations in Usborne project and activity books
also help when memory recall is an issue.
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Usborne
Books promote sustained engagement.
Building
the length of time that any child can focus on an
activity is important and being engaged in an
interesting and visually stimulating book facilitates
this development. |
Usborne
Books build skills for cooperative living.
All
children have to be taught to cooperate with peers. For
children with autism, the temptation to reside in a
world of their own is very common. Books can help engage
awareness of life around them and caring about others. |
Usborne
Books create opportunities for children to talk about
what they are reading or seeing.
Verbalizing life experiences is a vital step in the
learning process for academic and social progress.
Usborne Books offer opportunities for the important use
of open-ended questions to foster conversation.
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Usborne
Books include a completion criteria.
The repetitive behavior often seen in children with
autism may deprive them of understanding when a task is
completed, thus missing an essential sense of
accomplishment. Completion of a book or a project can be
quite satisfying. |
Usborne
Books encourage thinking outside the box.
Some children
find make-believe and finding solutions comes naturally;
others need this to be nurtured. Children with autism
tend to be among those needing a little help developing
problem solving and thinking skills. | |
We pride ourselves on publishing the best books for Children with Autism Spectrum disorders.
As with all children, personal interests and passions are important - ask your child what excites them.
First Hundred Words
– Double page spreads of familiar scenes with vocabulary words with
pictures in the margins. Categorization, actions, vocabulary, and
talk-about pictures!
Everyday Words
- Highly detailed clay models; action-filled pages categorized by
scene, as well as pages about opposites, seasons, actions and more.
Perfect for vocabulary, language development
Very First Words/First Picture Word Books - Life-like clay models of everyday objects. Language development, vocabulary.
Touchy-feely board books
- Descriptive words, predictable language structures. Each book has
patches of different textures that may be soft, rough, bumpy, smooth,
furry, etc., depending on the title.
Phonics Readers – Phonics-based text is cleverly blended with a funny story. Phonemic awareness, pre-reading skills, rhyming.
First Experiences
– Stories about loveable characters doing things for the first time.
Detailed illustrations are perfect for eliciting language. Plan an
entire session around one action filled page.
1001 Things To Spot - Categorization, independent activity, visual-based
Puzzle Adventure Books - Problem solving, predictions, cognitive activities
First Encyclopedias - Visually stimulating, information in bite-sized pieces
Great Search books - Highly detailed illustrations; visually stimulating, independent activity, bite-sized text.
Art/Drawing books - Independent, repetitive motion activities |
