HFA and comic strips

[Anonymous]

My child with HFA and I have begun reading comic books together. I'm surprised at how little of the visual jokes he gets/how much of the picture I need to explicit describe to him. Is this part of not understanding non-verbal communication? Any particular strategies I should use to help?

[Anonymous]

Many kids with special needs have to have humor broken down for them in explicit terms and also human motivation. Reading the comics with my special needs 8 year old is really tedious and a chore. I break down every bit of slang and language for her and explain every single joke and plot point. Then I explain every bit of the action. She's attracted visually by the comics but she just doesn't understand.

[Anonymous]

Is your kid asking for clarification? I don't think you need to necessarily explain everything b/c that does break up the rhythm of reading. As long as you guys are enjoying yourselves.

Also, he might understand the humor say in an animated cartoon easier than a comic strip. It might be the format.

[Anonymous]

It's funny that you would mention this, OP, because our eventually diagnosed HFAspergers kid adored comics. We had to buy the collections of sets for him and this was long before we had the diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's funny that you would mention this, OP, because our eventually diagnosed HFAspergers kid adored comics. We had to buy the collections of sets for him and this was long before we had the diagnosis.

That's true in our house, too. My son can read well but isn't interested in books that are just text. It's as if he has trouble visualizing the story in his head without the picture cues.

[Anonymous]

Comic strips and books are the reason I learned to read before 2. I don't have a HFA diagnosis but my DS does and he mostly learned to read from Zelda, the video game.

It shouldn't be surprising that pictures and video including comics attract young children and helps them read.