Books for Kids with Autism

Do you want to encourage reading and foster a love of stories in a child with autism? Maybe you need a book to teach a certain skill. I've compiled a list of books from various categories that I have used successfully with kids with autism, as a teacher and as an ABA therapist.

Books with Rhyme, Repetition, or Songs

Five Little Ducks, Five Little Monkeys and Pete the Cat all include counting concepts. Brown Bear Brown Bear includes animals and colors. The version of The Wheels on the Bus here includes animals and their sounds or actions. Silly Sally goes to town walking backwards upside down and meets animals along the way.

                        

                    

Books with Humor, Silly Sounds, or Cool Features

David books are fun; there are several in the series. Each book has just a few words and funny pictures of David causing mischief. Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? includes lots of fun sounds to make. The Ducking Gets a Cookie!? is part of the Pigeon series by Mo Willems. There is a Bird on Your Head (also by Mo Willems) was a huge hit with one kiddo I worked with. He acted out the story all the time. There are over 15 books in the Elephant and Piggie series and several new titles coming throughout this year. The Pigeon and Elephant and Piggie series would both be great for teaching kids to read with expression. Gallop is a cool book with pictures that are animated. The animals really move as you turn the page!

                   

     

Books in a Series

Many kids like books with characters they know and plots that are familiar. The Froggy books always include some silly mistake on Froggy's part and characters use repetitive phrases. The books in the If You Give a ... series include repetitive structures kids will quickly pick up on. These are just books I have had kids enjoy. There are plenty of other "series" or books with the same character out there. If your kiddo likes monkeys try Curious George...if she likes bugs and silliness try Fly Guy or the Diary of a Worm/Spider/Fly books.

          

Books with Word Play

Some kids with autism struggle with concepts such as idioms, opposites, and homophones. Even More Parts is funny and includes idioms. Crazy like a Fox is a story that includes a bunch of extra similes. Both are good if you need a list of some common idioms or similes to teach kids. Raining Cats and Dogs is also good if you need a list of idioms and their meanings but I caution against using the listed sentences examples and pictures from the book because I think they are too connected to the words in the idiom, rather than showing kids another way to use the idiom. In my opinion, the book could confuse kids even more. I did like it for the ideas though. 

                     

Books to Teach a Skill

One little girl I worked with memorized Everyone Poops and would recite it while playing with random toys. It didn't make pooping perfect for her, but it did help her tolerate sitting on the toilet. Go, Pea, Go! is new and I haven't used it with a kiddo myself, but I did think it was a cute way of presenting stopping activities to go pee.

          

Hopefully you found a book you can try with a kid in your life! I would love to hear some of your favorite books to share with kids with autism. Feel free to leave some titles in the comments! 

Kids Say: Favorites from the Classroom

When I was teaching first grade, I would write down funny things that happened throughout the day. I would write things in a notebook, on random pads of paper, and on Post-it Notes. I've kept these nuggets in a binder for eight years now and they still make me smile. Here are some of my favorites.

Michael said his dog at his homework. 

Kids were getting ready to go out for winter recess. I asked a student, "Are you dressed?" and he replied, "No, I'm Brady."

Helping a student with a worksheet, I read, "I have ten toes, I have two ears, I have one big..." and the student blurts out, "TOENAIL". He was supposed to say smile and that's what was shown in the picture. 

I told Curtis he didn't follow the directions on a worksheet. He responded with, "You wanna know why? 'Cause I was daydreaming, that's why".

Inspiration: Leaders

"Leadership is not a position, it's the way you lead your life." 

An instructor at Cardinal Stritch University said this in one of my classes. It's stuck with me for quite a while. I think I like this quote so much because it's empowering.

Many of us might not hold a "leadership position" but we can still be a leader. We can be the person colleagues come to for help, advice, ideas, and inspiration. We can stay current by seeking out professional development. We can support the schools we work at by volunteering for committees, attending after school events, and representing the school at community meetings. We can get more involved in our community by attending local events such as outdoor concerts, high school plays and sporting events, farmer's markets, and fundraising events for local organizations. We can serve our community by volunteering with our neighborhood associations, schools, or a community agency whose work we admire.

You can be a leader.

Get involved. Take action. Make a difference.

Summer Reading Recommendations

Someone emailed me and said, "Keep them coming. It's almost summer and I will need a good book list!" Well, here's your list JH! The books on my list include YA books, education/teacher/non-fiction books, and novels. I like to read a mix.

What I plan to read this summer

All about that popular idea of a growth mindset. I've had this book for a few years and I plan to make time to get to it this summer!




I've never read any books by Jacqueline Woodson, but I've heard they are good. This title has always caught my eye.




My mom recommended this to me a while ago.   My old book club is reading it right now. I'll get to it this summer!




Because I have read other books such as Rain (Reign) and Wonder, Amazon thinks I will like this one. Amazon is probably right.




This book was mentioned at a talk I went to at the library. I looked up the title and it seems like something I'd read.


       

I saw this one at the library a couple months ago and it just seemed like a fun one. I like roller derby, so I'm going to give this a try.




My new book club read this one a few meetings ago, before I joined. Someone said it sparked good discussion and she enjoyed it.

These three YA books have been on my shelf for several years and for some reason, I never got around to reading them. Hopefully I'll get to them in the next few months. 

Books I've read recently and would recommend

This book weighs in at over 750 pages and feels like it's 25 pounds. I kept wishing I was reading it on my kindle! I really liked it though. It's a twisty, turny mystery set in present day but about actions from the 1960's south in a small Mississippi town.




Yes, I only recently read this book. I read it in just a couple sittings because I wanted to find out what happened to the main character. This would be a great book for a book club to read and discuss.




This is a YA title and you will be able to read it quickly. It's a fun, easy love story. I thought the author did a nice job making the characters seem real, like I could picture real teenagers acting and thinking the way the characters in this book acted.

Happy Reading!

Must Read: Searching for Hope by Matthew Tully

I've been visiting my local library branch a couple times a week. First, I visit the children's area to check for new and cool picture books. Then, I go over to adult non-fiction to look for cookbooks with easy, healthy recipes. Finally, I end by browsing the education section. I'm guaranteed to leave with enough books to wish I brought a bag. 

A few weeks ago I happened upon Searching for Hope, pulled it off the shelf and read the inside flap. Turns out it was about a local high school. I checked it out and then it sat on my "To Read" shelf while I was working on a 700+ page mystery (more on that in a future post). When I finally started reading Searching for Hope, I couldn't put it down. If you care about education or kids or wonder what's "wrong" with schools today, you MUST READ THIS BOOK! 

The author is a local journalist who sets out to spend a couple months at a high school to chronicle the "problems" in education through a series of newspaper stories. He quickly finds that while there are plenty of problems (poor attendance, an atrocious drop-out rate, teachers who appear to have given up) at the school, there are also bright spots. There are dedicated, passionate, and inspiring teachers and there are students who come to school regularly and have plans for college. 

Instead of spending a few months at the school, the author spends the entire 2009-2010 school year observing. He's there several days a week. He sits in on classes (choir, welding, algebra, history, English, calculus, and credit catch-up classes). He interviews students, teachers, parents, administrators, and the football coach. He is granted access to sensitive meetings with students and parents involving the dean, the principal, the social worker, and the school police officers. He sees multiple arrests and suspensions and visits kids in prison. He attends choir concerts and graduation. He really sees all the aspects of a real, struggling school. 

This book makes it so clear that the answer to fixing schools is not one-size-fits-all. The issues are huge and intertwined. I would love for a few people to read this book and discuss it with me! 

Happy Reading! 

Inspiration: Love What You Do

Do you love what you do? Are you excited to go to work each day? Hopefully you are able to find something that makes you smile each day while you're at work. Maybe one of these things happened today:

• Did a student say something funny?
• Were you thanked by a student, parent, or colleague?
• Did you see a light bulb click with a student?
• Did one of your lessons really rock?
• Were your students totally engaged during a read aloud?
• Did a student compliment your hair or clothes?
• Did a parent ask you for help?
• Did you read some entertaining kid writing today?
• Were you able to get through the day without making a negative phone call home?
• Did your class make it through the day without a fight?
• Did you see one student help another?
• Was a student able to read something she previously struggled to get through?
• Did your class return from art, music, or gym with a positive report from that teacher?
• Are you excited about your lessons for the next day?

Writing down the funny things kids say and do keeps me going. I have various notebooks, lesson plan books, and Word documents with quotes from kids. When something is particularly cute, funny, or inspiring I try to share it with others. Soon I'll be doing some blog posts dedicated to the things kids say. In the meantime, here's something that an adult had to say to a kid during a READING lesson:

"I need you to keep your eyes open when you read, OK?"

Yes, that means a first grader was doing his reading test with his eyes closed.  Aren't kids great?

Top 10 Read Alouds

I could have made this the "Top 20" or probably even the "Top 40" read alouds. I've read a lot of books to a lot of different kids. I've shared books with classrooms of 4 year olds, primary grade classes, and big groups of 50-75 mixed ages. The books in this post are some of my favorites that are also 100% Kid Approved!

Enemy Pie (especially if kids can MAKE enemy pie after you read the book!)
I read this book and made pie with students at the end of one school year. The following year, a student in our program asked what we were going to do on the last day of the program. This was in November, the program ended the following June. I hadn't planned that far and wondered why he was planning for the end. He asked if we could read and make Enemy Pie again! It's a cute book about getting to know your enemies.

This is Not My Hat
I read this book to a group of third graders and got the best reaction ever from one of the kids. I read the last page and closed the book, but before I could say anything more a boy just blurted out, "Seriously? What kind of book is that?!" It was so great. We had a discussion about how the ending is somewhat open to interpretation. I love reading this book and hearing the different ways kids interpret the story.

Let's Go For a Drive (really, any title in the Elephant and Piggie series is great!)
Mo Willems is a genius. Seriously. If you have never read an Elephant and Piggie book, drop what you are doing and go to the library to get one. Right now. I guarantee you will smile when you read one. These books are in the easy reader section of the library and are GREAT for kids who are learning to read or struggling with reading. The text is simple and clear. The characters have big personalities. The pictures are simple but expressive and the stories are always entertaining. Let's Go for a Drive is fun because there's a sing-songy part that kids catch on to and can recite with you as you read.

Z is for Moose
I love this alphabet book. Moose interrupts the story, barging in on almost every letter where he doesn't belong. He finally gets his turn at M BUT it's given to another animal! This really makes him angry and he messes up the rest of the story. Kids will get a kick out of Moose's antics.

The Day the Crayons Quit
How do crayons really feel? This book tells you. Orange and yellow BOTH think they are the color of the sun. Blue is tired. Pink isn't just for girls. Each page is a letter to Duncan from one of his crayons. This is a great book for when you might be working on writing letters or teaching persuasion.

Press Here
To appreciate this book, you must read it to a child or a group of children. You have to follow the author's directions to press circles, clap, blow on the book, etc. It's silly to do on your own. Several months ago I read it with a group of kindergartners who loved it. They made me love it. When you see how much kids enjoy this book you will love it too.

Chalk

I love sharing wordless books with kids and having them help tell the story. The illustrations in this book are bright and story is creative. You will enjoy listening to kids enjoy bring this story to life.

Nic Bishop Snakes
Nic Bishop is a photographer who has written several non-fiction books about animals (butterflies, marsupials, spiders to name a few). The photographs in this snake book really grab kids' attention. There are several levels of text (picture captions, bolded words, longer paragraphs) making it easy to adapt a read aloud to the attention and interest of your listeners. I sometimes read only the picture captions to kids to give them a taste of the book so they can pick it up on their own to investigate further.

The Mischievians
This book introduces readers to the creatures that cause problems-the missing socks, the stinky bathroom, the missing homework, and more. When I first read this book, I literally laughed out loud. I felt the need to share the book with someone immediately but was home alone. I called my dad and read him a section over the phone and he actually laughed a real, genuine laugh. I've shared this book with kids as old as 5th grade with success. It easily lends itself to writing projects with kids creating their own "Mischievian".

 

Can You Make a Scary Face? and The Doghouse

I know, technically this means this is a Top 11 list now. These two books by Jan Thomas are great. The first is perfect to read when kids have been sitting a while and you need to infuse some movement. The second has repeating text which allows kids to participate in the reading.

Happy Reading!

Little Readers

I love kids. I love books. I love kids reading books. I love reading books with kids. I love that people in my life know these things about me. They get me.

That's me on the left reading a book to my one-day-old nephew. I read him a few nursery rhymes from a book my sister and I had when we were kids. He was sleeping but I kept reading!

Keep scrolling and you'll see more images of babies, toddlers, and kids with books. Family and friends have shared these pictures with me. I'm pretty lucky to be related to some great parents who understand the importance of reading, even with little ones!

I love this one. First, how great is it that this kiddo has her own little cabinet of books at her level?! Second, how cute is it that she likes her books so much that she crawls in to sit WITH them?! Her smile is so big!

This is my nephew hanging out with one of his early favorites. My sister read this book to him so many times that she could recite it from memory. 

Here's my nephew just last week. My sister texted this one to me saying, "Reading in the car doesn't bother him!" Well, isn't he lucky?! 

What are these smart girls reading? Just the dictionary and an atlas! I feel like there were some funny quotes from the one looking at the atlas, but this was a few years ago and I didn't write the conversation down! 

All of these kids have played with books from a very early age. They have been been read to, talked to, and sung to.  They have heard classic stories and rhymes. The older girls with the atlas and dictionary have finished listening to their dad read them the entire Harry Potter series! I wish all children could grow up in households surrounded by books and people who make reading fun. If every kid had the book experiences of these children early on, maybe we would have more readers-real readers- in school.