What’s In the BOOK?
Here’s a brief description of the material covered in each chapter in the updated second edition of Drawing A Blank (2026) from Future Horizons Publishers
A Personal Perspective on a Pressing Problem
My lived experience as a mother, advocate and educational therapist, recognizing, understanding and addressing poor comprehension in good decoders with ASD.
Autism and the Task of Reading
How reading as a developmental process intersects with autism as a developmental disability. A new and surprising definition of hyperlexia as poor comprehension in good decoders with autism.
Autism & the Comprehension Connection: Social-Communication and Language Features
DSM-V-TR Criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder, and the extensive impact of social-communication developmental features on the skills required for understanding written material.
Autism Spectrum Disorder & the Comprehension Connection: Behavior and Sensory Features
The extensive impact of behavior and sensory features of autism on the skills required for understanding written material.
Putting It All Together: Cognitive Models in ASD
The theory of autism as a disorder of information processing, other cognitive models, and the impact on reading comprehension.
Areas of comprehension breakdown documented in research.
“The List” of basic, language-based, and higher order skills to teach.
Masking and Unmasking: Identification and Assessment of Comprehension Issues
Ideas for documenting comprehension issues. Discussion of the limitations of standardized measures for this purpose.
The Search for Evidence-Based Practices to Improve Reading Comprehension in Learners with Autism
This is a flexible section where you can share anything you want. It could be details or some information about feature five.
Results from Single-Case Research to Improve Reading Comprehension in Autistic Learners
This is a flexible section where you can share anything you want. It could be details or some information about feature six.
Building Vocabulary: Promising Practices to Improve Comprehension
Practical ideas that are a good fit for readers with autism.
Technology and Visual Tools to Improve Comprehension
Fun and innovative ideas to try.
Appendices and References
Sources for detailed information on specific topics.
Topics include descriptions of standardized tests that can reveal a comprehension issue, the fourth-grade turning point, custom materials for teaching, and a discussion of the Lindamood Bell Visualizing and Verbalizing intervention for autistic readers.