Homeschool Review Crew - ASD Reading for Autism Spectrum and Learning Challenges

I was thrilled to get a chance to review ASD Reading.

What is ASD Reading?

I received access to a one-year online subscription to the ASD Reading program. ASD is specially formulated to be used with children ages 4 to teens with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The program is designed to teach reading, writing, comprehension, phonics, sequencing, word meaning, grammar, and even some keyboarding/typing skills. ASD Reading is geared toward helping the child achieve a 3rd Grade reading, or a Lexile 750, level. ASD is intended to be used on any device that has a connection to the internet. I used it on a Windows based laptop with a Chrome browser.

ASD Reading is based on research done by Dr. Marion Blank who is a developmental psychologist with a specialization in language and has studied teaching children with Autism. ASD Reading additionally, the program offers hand support with a technique developed by Dr. Marion Blank as well as a list of helpful tips for using the program.

The reason behind the ASD Program:

I was asked to use the program with  my child for at least 4 days per week to get the most out of the program. They recommend only doing one or two sessions each day. The reason for this is to allow time for the learning process to sink in and optimize retention through slow, steady progress. If you use it in this way, you should see improvement after about a month, or 30 days of use.

As your child progresses, he or she earns stars to add to their online Passport. When you click on the star, the scene animates:

If the child tries to browse the web and opens another tab in the middle of a lesson, they will see this reminder:



The teacher/parent can choose to pause the program for up to 12 minutes:



After your child finishes two sessions in one day, this screen will appear to remind you that it's recommended that the child only do two sessions maximum in order for the learning progress to take effect. You are, however, given the option of continuing anyway.

Each level seems to be based upon 6 books. This Level 4 includes Books 19-24.

And, you can print off a diploma at the end of each level:

At the end of several lesson sessions, there was a fill-in-the-blank/choose the word from the word bank style comprehensive test followed by an 11-page book that the child can have read to them as they read along, and at the end of the pages, there is an icon to click on that makes the pictures move and animate, and then an arrow that takes you to the next page:

How Did We Use It?

The first step was to log on and take the assessment test to be properly placed. The test consisted of selecting words, typing/keyboarding, a writing assessment, a reading assessment, all include punctuation testing as well. The assessment test seemed to last about 20 minutes. I was actually a bit surprised that the results placed her in Level 4 as I thought that she would have tested beyond the program's highest level. But, that's where our lessons began.

I was chosen to use this product because I have a child who has exhibited traits of borderline Asperger's, which is a disorder on the autism spectrum. I do want to point out that she has not been clinically diagnosed, but I am always anxious to offer any learning help to my children as I can and was curious to see how this program was different than others. I was asked to use it with one student with access for a year.

The first thing that the program has you do is take an on-screen placement test so your child begins work at his or her level. When the test is complete, assignments are generated. From that point, the child logs on and continues through the sessions.

The sessions of lessons are fun, colorful, easy-to-understand, and interactive. For instance, my child completed exercises such as clicking on a picture to match the word given and then filling in missing letters to make up the word that matched the picture. It re-iterates each new sound several times in a way that builds on itself from easy picture matching up to finding the word, which is missing letters, that could form the word at the top of the screen.

Along the way, there are encouraging sounds and phrases to keep the child engaged and desiring to continue. Each session seemed to only take about 15 or 20 minutes.

The program paces the student, so they are learning the cadence of writing and typing as they learn letter sounds and words. Sometimes my daughter would type something too quickly and would have to slow down and wait for the space to be highlighted in yellow before continuing.

What Did we Think?

I really like how easy the program is to use and how it requires absolutely no teacher prep on my part and little to no teacher intervention once logged in. Another aspect I loved is how it builds on itself yet keeps the repetition of style, so the child isn't in for some shock when they move to the next level of learning. It slowly adds in commas, and question marks and other punctuation as the child proceeds through each lesson but uses the same cartoon characters, sentence writing with clicking on words, find the words, etc. so the child knows exactly what to do. If they get it wrong, I appreciated that it instructed what to do with several hints and didn't frustrate the child.

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Other members of the Review Crew had the opportunity to review the other program from Reading Kingdom which is designed to approach learning to read using sequencing, motor skills, sounds, meaning, grammar, and comprehension.

Read what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew thought by clicking on the picture below:

TOS Review - Reading Kingdom for Autism Spectrum Disorder

What a fun way to learn reading and writing skills, all online and with very little to no need for teacher intervention. I was thrilled to get a chance to review the Autism Spectrum Disorder ASD Reading from Reading Kingdom.

What is ASD Reading from Reading Kingdom?

It is an online program specifically designed for use by children on the autistic spectrum. Based on a method developed by psychologist Dr. Marion Blank, which realizes the importance of language-teaching skills for children with autism, the program teaches:

• phonics (sounds)
• sequencing
• writing
• meaning
• grammar
• and comprehension

The idea behind the ASD Reading includes:

Read more about Dr. Blank's philosophy and work and other research done with Autistic children in regards to learning to read and write with this article from the College of Physicians and Surgeons.


The first thing you see when you log on are your child's progress in easy-to-read charts.

Your child sees this:

As your child progresses, he or she earns stars to add to their online Passport:

The lessons progress and build upon themselves, but keep some of the main characters and styles of learning activities which consist of matching letter sounds to words, finding words that are missing letters, selecting words that the child hears in order, reading on-screen stories, and typing in letters that eventually lead to typing in missing punctuation:

The activities progress as the child completes each new lesson:

How Did We Use It?

I was chosen to use this product because I have a child who has exhibited traits of borderline Asperger's. I will note that the child who reviewed the program with me has not been clinically diagnosed. I was asked to use it with one student with access for a year, at least 3 times a week. So, we logged on and got to work.

The first thing that the program has you do is take an on-screen placement test so your child begins work at his or her level. When the test is complete, assignments are generated. From that point, the child logs on and continues through the sessions.

The sessions of lessons are fun, colorful, easy-to-understand, and interactive. For instance, my child completed exercises such as clicking on a picture to match the word given and then filling in missing letters to make up the word that matched the picture. It re-iterates each new sound several times in a way that builds on itself from easy picture matching up to finding the word, which is missing letters, that could form the word at the top of the screen.

Along the way, there are encouraging sounds and phrases to keep the child engaged and desiring to continue. Each session seemed to only take about 15 minutes, if that.

The program paces the student, so they are learning the cadence of writing and typing as they learn letter sounds and words. Sometimes my daughter would type something too quickly and would have to slow down.

What Did We Think?

I really liked how easy this was to use. The practice tests emphasize how important it is to sit with your child during testing but not to offer any help with answering the questions. My child has experience with online learning and using many different electronic devices, so she required no help whatsoever from me once the program was logged into.

Another aspect I loved is how it builds on itself yet keeps the repetition of style, so the child isn't in for some shock when they move to the next level of learning. It slowly adds in commas, and question marks and other punctuation as the child proceeds through each lesson but uses the same cartoon characters, fill-in-the-blanks, find the words, etc. so the child knows exactly what to do. If they get it wrong, I appreciated that it instructed what to do with several hints and didn't frustrate the child by counting it wrong.

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Read what other members of the TOS Review Crew thought by clicking on the picture below: