IntroductionThe purpose of this study is to determine if there is an effective strategy for teaching reading comprehension to learners with autism that can be implemented in a classroom. 'public school. As an autism support teacher for six years, I have seen autistic students struggle with their reading comprehension. Hours are spent implementing direct instruction so that students are able to decode text at grade level. Often, some students will be able to decode a text at their grade level, but will be unable to answer a question about what happened in a passage they have just read. It is obvious that students have difficulty understanding what they read. Ricketts (2011) noted that the goal of reading is to understand what is in the text and not simply to decode the words on a page. There are different types of questions that can be asked of students when assessing their reading comprehension. Explicit questions can be asked as well as questions that require students to make inferences. In one study (cited by Williamson, P., Carnahan, C., & Jacobs, J., 2012), Myles and colleagues found that autistic students were able to answer questions in the text rather than questions in the text. 'inference. This suggests that students respond to questions more fluently when they are able to return to the text to obtain their information. When I ask my students comprehension questions, they often respond by repeating the last word or two of the sentence they just read. Williamson, Carnahan, and Jacobs (2012) state that “many people with autism spectrum disorder may focus too much on small, and often insignificant, details rather than the big picture, thereby challenging their ability to understand a... middle of paper. ......Ism Developmental Disorder. 40, 890-902. doi:10.1007/s10803-010-0938-6Ricketts, J. (2011). Research review: Reading comprehension in developmental language and communication disorders. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52:11, 1111-1123. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02438.xWhalon, K. Otaiba S., & Delano, M. (2009). Evidence-based reading instruction for individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Focus on autism and other developmental disorders. 24(1), 3-16. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2808040/ Williamson, P., Carnahan, C., and Jacobs, J. (2012). Reading comprehension profiles of high-functioning students on the autism spectrum: Grounded theory. Council for Exceptional Children. 78(4), 449-469. Retrieved from http://cec.metapress.com/content/34160467741v7586/?p=b8611d8276bf4 51795de3e53dbfa163e&pi=3