"A Land We Can Share".

"A Land We Can Share"

Paula Kluth & Kelly Chandler-Olcott

Brookes Publishing Company

PO Box 10624, Baltimore, MD 21285-0624

9781557668554, $24.95, www.brookespublishing.com

It takes some adaptation to the curriculum and some insights on the part of the reading instructors, but autistic students can be literate students. "A Land We Can Share: Teaching Literacy To Students With Autism" is the collaborative work of Paula Kluth (consultant, teacher, author, and advocate in Oak Park, Illinois) and Kelly Chandler-Olcott (Associate Professor, Syracuse University Reading and Language Arts Center, Syracuse, New York) and specifically designed to teach the teacher of an autistic student in grades K-12 how to implement researched-based practices in reading and writing instruction (including those consistent with Read First recommendations); plan effective lessons that build on their student's strengths, interests, and individual needs; design a classroom environment that promotes literacy learning for all students while addressing the individual needs of mainstreamed autistic students; assess students who do not (or cannot) show their literacy learning in tradition fashion; and how to include autistic students in a wide range of classroom literacy activities. Superbly co-written, organized and presented, "A Land We Can Share" is thoroughly 'user friendly' and should be considered essential reading for all teachers at the primary and secondary levels having to work with autistic students within a classroom environment.