Autistic children (children with Autism Spectrum Disorders) should, like all other children, have frequent opportunities to engage with books and develop their literacy skills. Reading a book with an autistic child is also a fantastic way to strengthen your relationship with them and to spend some quality time communicating and interacting as you read the book together. Books present information visually so it makes sense that most autistic children enjoy reading and learning from books – they are strong visual learners after all.
Books for autistic children can be used as important teaching and learning tools as well as being lots of fun. Books for autistic children are available across a broad range of topics and can be used to promote awareness, understanding, skills and confidence in all areas of life.
Here are just some of the topics covered in the books for autistic children you will find in our book section specifically for children and adolescents.
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Social skills / communication – children can read about and learn social and communication skills like asking a friend to play, sharing, listening and learning, plus many more. They can then practice these skills with your support with the aim of having more successful interactions with other children and adults alike.
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Activities of daily living (self care) –children can learn more about those daily routines that most of us consider second nature, but that can be quite challenging for some. Activities like toilet training, sleeping in their own beds, and even going to the dentist are some examples. These books for autistic children can really make a difference as information is presented visually rather than instructions always being given verbally.
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Learning about themselves and difference –we often hear from parents that one of their biggest worries is thinking about talking to their children about their diagnosis. It can be difficult to explain and even harder for the child with autism to understand. There are some useful books available for both children and adolescents that have been written to support and guide them in continuing to learn about themselves and others.
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Sensory / emotional regulation - children with autism can find it hard to understand why they feel the way they feel and who can blame them really? It’s pretty complicated sometimes. Thankfully there are some really nicely written and colourful books available to help them in this area, as they read about fictional children with similar issues and the things they learnt to help themselves.
If you are looking for a particular book, but are unable to find it on our site please contact us and we will do our best to find it for you.
Happy reading and learning.
My Diffability Australia
My Diffability Australia - resources for different abilities