ABSTRACT
Children who are non-verbal or who have delayed speech and language can still learn to read words through visual methods. They will need to show their recognition of words by matching pictures to words as they may be unable to 'read' the words aloud. There is no set choice of words to focus on for teaching early reading words, but there are some suggestions in the table below which can be used. Any meaningful words can be chosen, but they must be of interest to the child and motivating. Building vocabulary is important for reading, even if it’s only exposing the child to the spoken form of the word to give them at least partial recognition of basic vocabulary. Singing favourite songs and action games can help children to develop a sense of rhythm and rhyme, develop awareness of the patterns of language and hear lots of repetition at the same time as learning some sight vocabulary.
