by Cassandra Stafford, MS, SLP/L, ATP (speech-language pathologist and assistive technology professional); NWACS board member

reading time: 5 minutes

The views expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of NWACS. No endorsement by NWACS is implied regarding any device, manufacturer, resource, or strategy mentioned.

Reading together can look different in many ways. We might need to adjust our expectations and mindset for what reading together can look like, especially with emerging communicators. 

Here are a few examples of what reading together can look like:

Y. (an energetic, minimally speaking autistic preschooler)

Soon after first meeting Y, I introduced a book called Hello, School Bus. At first, we did picture walks through the book, just looking at and noticing details in the pictures. Over time, we worked up to reading the pages. After we had read the book from start to finish a couple of times, Y took charge of the book. Y wanted to hold the book and control which pages we looked at and read. I don’t think we read the book from start to finish again. But we engaged with that book every time we were together! Y had a few favorite pages and would flip back and forth between them, gleefully looking at the page and then to me to indicate that I should read that page. Y loved saying “HI!” to each page they viewed. Shortly after we started reading this book, Y began to joyfully greet everyone they encountered with a wave and a loud, “HI!” I introduced other books over time, but this one remained a favorite for a long time.

R. (early elementary-aged child with several diagnoses; a non-speaking, emerging, multimodal communicator)

R had a couple of beloved picture books. Occasionally, R would enjoy having these books read aloud from start to finish. More often, R wanted to flip through the pages (in all directions). Sometimes R would simply enjoy the page their own way. Often, after enjoying the page, R would reach out and touch their communication partner’s face to communicate “read this page”. Frequently, R would request to read the same page over and over again.

C. (a non-speaking, autistic early elementary-aged child; a multimodal communicator who was able to navigate their high-tech AAC device)

C had a couple of favorite books. One was a board book and the other a longer picture book. With both books, I would model key words on my copy of their AAC system as we read. Some days, C would repeat on their AAC device tidbits of what I modeled.

With the board book, we would sometimes read the full book from start to finish and then focus on specific pages. Other times, C would flip to certain pages (including the front and back covers) and then look to me to read them. Occasionally, C would go get manipulatives or toys that matched the theme of the book. C would hold up an item, turn to the corresponding page, and then look to me to read that page.

With the longer picture book, C slowly built up endurance for reading the entire book. At first, C would flip to certain pages (again including the front and back covers and the title pages) for me to read. Then sometimes C would have me start reading the first couple of pages and then would flip to certain pages to focus on. Eventually (a long time later), we built up to reading the entire story from start to finish. I did not push or try to extend how far we got in the story. I simply followed C’s lead.

Sometimes C would walk away while I was reading. I was usually not sure what that meant. Sometimes it became clear that they were done. Sometimes, though, C would wander back and look intently at me (like, “Um, why aren’t you reading?!?”).

J. (a highly verbal, but often unintelligible elementary-aged child; a multimodal communicator)

J loved being read to! But that wasn’t always true. When I first met J as a toddler, books and reading were decidedly NOT an activity we engaged in. Books were always in the environment and available though. 

I followed J’s lead and interests. One of the first books I remember J showing an interest in was a really short board book on emotions with the characters from Inside Out. We didn’t read that book. But we did look at it together and talked about the characters, illustrations, and emotions. 

I gradually brought in books that helped us do an activity or learn about something. I continued to keep J’s interests in mind. Often, we would only look at or read a short section directly related to what we were doing. For example, when working on time concepts and learning about the months of the year (which was important for J’s regulation), we did related activities and crafts for each month. I found a few books connected to the concepts we were targeting. Each month we would read the pages in each book that related to just that month (so it took us a year to read each of those books!). One book we used was Twelve Hats for Lena. We then made a paper hat for that month.

Over time, J became more and more interested in reading books together. Interestingly, J would always position their body to be in physical contact with me. When small, sitting on my lap. As they grew and started sitting next to me, J would always scooch to have their leg (and sometimes whole side) pressed against mine. My guess is that this helped J stay regulated, grounded, and connected to me. It facilitated their ability to engage. J would listen intently to the story and notice all the details (big and small) in the illustrations. 

We always read the story from start to finish (although J would flip to other pages to make connections/comments related to the part we were reading). And J had something to say about just about every page (no matter how many times we read the book). I quickly learned that any time we read a book, it would be filled with “interruptions” (wonderful communication opportunities) and would be a meandering event. Questions! Noticing comments! Making connections to their life or experiences! I wonder… statements! Some random thought that came to their mind because of something in the story or illustrations! J insisted we talk about it all. J would request that we read the same book over and over and over (and over!). Not usually on the same day, but each subsequent day. 

J. (a teenager who previously used an AAC device, but now uses spoken language to communicate, occasionally needing to find ways to help get their message across when misunderstood (due to speech and/or language) or not sure of the word)

Even as a teenager, J continued to enjoy being read to (including picture books). J would occasionally ask, “Can we read that book…(and then describe the story we had read previously when they were younger) sometime soon? For nostalgia’s sake?” Or, “Can we read a book soon about… (stating a desired theme or topic)?” Sometimes we would watch read-aloud videos online. Most often I would read the book as we looked at the pages together. We also started reading some middle-grade books together - but always the requests for picture books popped up. 

What do all of these examples have in common? They are all wonderful examples of what shared reading/reading aloud together can look like! There is no one right way! All of these ways provided amazing opportunities for connection, communication, and literacy experiences!