"It's about sharing a moment": Parents' views and experiences of home reading with their autistic children with moderate-to-severe intellectual disabilities.

BACKGROUND

The home literacy environment plays a critical role in the development of children's literacy and language development. Little is known, however, about the home literacy environment of autistic children, especially those with moderate-to-severe intellectual disabilities.

AIMS

The current study used a sequential mixed-methods design to understand how parents attempt to engage their autistic children in reading activities and support them in learning to read.

METHODS AND PROCEDURE

First, 63 parents (53 mothers) whose autistic children attended an autism-specific special school completed a bespoke questionnaire about the home literacy environments for their children (n = 69, age range = 3-11 years, 61 boys, 8 girls). Second, a subsample of parents (n = 19, 15 mothers) participated in focus groups to understand in-depth their views and experiences of home reading with their children (n = 20, age range = 3-11 years, 19 boys, 1 girl). We used reflexive thematic analysis to analyse the focus group data.

OUTCOMES AND RESULTS

Across questionnaire and focus group methods, parents were united in considering reading to be an important life skill, a sentiment that was reflected both by their often literacy-rich homes and the ingenuity in their efforts to engage their children in shared home-reading activities - even when such engagement could be challenging. They also emphasised, however, the importance of valuing these activities as an opportunity to "catch a moment" with their child.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Parents and teachers should work together to identify ways to enhance autistic children's engagement in shared home-reading activities, listening to and learning from each other's experiences and expertise, and to show what is possible within each learning context.