Drawing a Blank

Improving Comprehension for Readers on the Autism Spectrum

By: Emily D. Iland

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Paperback | 1 February 2026

At a Glance

Paperback
390 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
27.94 x 21.59 x 2.16

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Improve Reading Comprehension for Autistic Individuals Although they may be excellent readers, those with autism often need support for comprehension. Comprehension difficulties are subtle, qualitative, and difficult to tease out. As a result, their substantial level of risk for reading comprehension problems is often overlooked or unaddressed, and many students struggle in silence. This is where Drawing a Blank comes in. Even the most competent educational professionals in both general education and special education settings have limited training and experience helping autistic readers. Using a clearly stated and well-organized approach, Drawing a Blank provides educational professionals and parents with the tools to improve comprehension for good readers who have comprehension difficulties, as well as readers who struggle with both decoding and comprehension. This book explains where and why comprehension failure occurs and offers evidence-based and promising practices to use, based on a thorough assessment of a student's needs. This second edition describes new evidence-based interventions and 15 new research summaries on how to implement them.

Industry Reviews

"I get asked by parents all the time about their child's problems with reading comprehension. This book provides lots of practical, easy-to-teach methods for improving vocabulary and comprehension. Some of the teaching tools include teaching synonyms, looking up pictures on the Internet to teach nouns, and using lists of words with different shades of emotional meaning such as naughty, bad, and evil. I highly recommend this book for use with all individuals who have problems with reading comprehension." - Temple Grandin, Ph.D., author of Thinking in Pictures and Developing Talents: Careers for Individuals with Autism "This is the book we have been waiting for! Until now, little information has been available about teaching reading to students with autism spectrum disorders. In Drawing a Blank, Emily Iland has not only provided dozens of useful ideas for the classroom and home but also a concise review of the literature and a compelling story of her own quest to secure appropriate supports for her son. Every reading teacher in K-12 schools needs two copies one to keep and one to pass on to a colleague." - Paula Kluth, Ph.D., author of You're Going to Love This Kid : Teaching Students with Autism in the Inclusive Classroom "Drawing a Blank offers practitioners and families practical strategies for supporting reading comprehension for learners with ASD. The text format is easy to read and well structured to support quick access to specific strategies and ideas. Most importantly, Emily Iland recognizes the limited research on reading comprehension and ASD, while offering suggestions for making sound, individualized instructional decisions. This text will be a wonderful resource for parents, teachers, and many others!" - Christina Carnahan, Ed.D., associate professor of special education, the University of Cincinnati, and co-editor of Quality Literacy Instruction for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

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