Pre-K Reading 10/15/2025 - Reading with Kids who have Autism

I had another wonderful day of reading with the Pre-K kids. They were all super enthusiastic about reading and I see them advancing their language skills with each new session.

A super nice surprise today was seeing Josh[1], who has autism, come out of his shell. I don’t know a lot about autism, but one aspect of Josh is that he seems to retain a neutral expression about everything. I had never seen him express emotion before today.

Today, we were reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar's Forest Hide & Seek. This is an interactive book that includes lift-the-flaps and finger trails (little grooves in the book that a child can trace with his finger). There is a page where a child can follow the finger trail to see where a frog leaps. I prompted Josh to put his finger in the trail to see how high the frog can leap. When Josh did this, he had the biggest smile and exclaimed “Leap!” I was astonished because I had never seen him so animated before. His enthusiasm continued throughout the rest of the book as he lifted the flaps, followed the finger trails, and searched for the caterpillar.

This was a real eye opener for me and it made me want to research more effective ways to read with autistic children. The following are some tips and techniques that I found which could be helpful:

• Create a quiet setting if possible, reduce distractions and noise

• Keep reading sessions short, especially when first beginning

• Give the child extra time to process and respond

• Use repetition: read the same story multiple times, especially if they like it

• Choose books that are interactive: touch and feel textures, lift-the-flaps, and finger trails

• Choose books that repeat phrases or include rhymes or songs

• Incorporate movement or sounds, like singing or soft clapping

• Have the child turn the pages

• Have the child point out certain things. For example, in the Very Hungry Caterpillar's Forest Hide & Seek book, have the child find and point out where the caterpillar is on each page.

• For kids that also have ADD, consider using an ‘eye lighter’ which highlights one row of text at a time

• If the child has a particular interest, find books about that subject

Please comment below about any experiences that you’ve had reading with autistic children. What books did they like?

[1] Josh is not the child’s real name. I never use real names of students to protect their privacy.