The Idea of an Essay, Volume 4

114 The Idea of an Essay: Volume 4 how the characteristics of ASD influence comprehension. The Theory of Mind suggests that, because students with ASD have difficulty understanding other people’s thoughts and feelings, it is extremely hard for them to comprehend the perspectives of literary characters (Carnahan et al 56). Second, executive function (the idea that organizing, planning, and self-monitoring help eliminate distractions when completing a task) is difficult for students with ASD because they often times continue reading even when their thoughts about the text do not make sense (57). Finally, weak central coherence (focusing on details rather than the big picture) is something that autistic children struggle with because they get excited about the little details and never combine them into a logical whole (57). The article “Teaching Children with Autism to Read for Meaning: Challenges and Possibilities” also mentions weak central coherence, and describes it as the reluctance of children with ASDs to combine parts of stories into a coherent whole (Randi et al 894). Similar to the Theory of Mind, this article suggests that narrative text is difficult for students with ASD to comprehend because they have difficulty determining the emotions and intentions of others (895). Even though the afore-mentioned struggles seem like difficult challenges, Randi et al suggests that it is possible to teach children with ASDs by focusing on their strengths to accomplish literary tasks. Examples of this include: guided instruction that keeps students focused on the things that matter, and instruction that prompts students to focus on the possible causes of literary characters’ mental states (895-6). Since there are many correlations between ASD and reading comprehension, different teaching techniques have been developed that are designed to help students with autism learn inclusively, efficiently, and effectively. Many different teaching techniques and ideas exist that attempt to promote language learning and reading comprehension among children with ASD. One of these techniques is the TECH method which discusses how to effectively integrate technology into teaching students with disabilities. TECH consists of four main steps: Target students’ needs, Examine the technology choices, Create ways to incorporate technology with other activities, and Handle the implementation of technology and its impact on the students’ learning (King-Sears et al 570). In order to target students’ needs, the article suggests that students have different learning styles that must