"It's about sharing a moment": Parents' views and experiences of home reading with their autistic children with moderate-to-severe intellectual disabilities.
Parents of autistic children with moderate-to-severe ID already turn books into love-filled routines—build your literacy plan around their inventions.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Rachel et al. (2022) talked with parents of autistic children who also have moderate-to-severe intellectual disability.
They asked how these families do reading at home.
The team recorded parents’ own words about what works, what feels hard, and why they keep trying.
What they found
Every parent had invented tiny tricks to make books fun.
Some turned pages together, some used sounds, some let the child hold the book upside-down.
Parents said the goal was not teaching words—it was "sharing a moment."
They saw this shared moment as real learning time even when the child seemed to pay little attention.
How this fits with other research
Ouyang et al. (2024) pooled 32 trials and showed parent coaching can lift child skills and keep parents faithful to the method.
Rachel’s work extends that big picture by showing parents are already coaching themselves in reading routines before any expert arrives.
Bradshaw et al. (2017) used short PRT sessions at home and gained spoken words.
Their focus was child language; Rachel’s parents cared about bonding first, language second—no clash, just a wider lens.
Chapple et al. (2021) asked autistic adults why they read fiction and heard the same theme: books are safe shared space.
The child study and the adult study echo each other—reading builds connection across the lifespan.
Why it matters
If you write a reading goal, ask parents what they already do.
Lift their homemade tricks into the plan instead of replacing them.
Use their language—"sharing a moment"—in your data sheets.
When progress feels slow, remind the team that parent-defined success may be eye contact, not new words.
Honor that bond and you will keep both parent and child engaged.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
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.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2022 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2022.104289