“It's about sharing a moment”: parents' views and experiences of home reading with their autistic children with moderate-to-severe intellectual disabilities

Background: The home literacy environment plays a critical role in the development of children's literacy and language development. Little is known, however, about the home literacy environment of autistic children, especially those with moderate-to-severe intellectual disabilities. Aims: The current study used a sequential mixed-methods design to understand how parents attempt to engage their autistic children in reading activities and support them in learning to read. Methods and procedure: First, 63 parents (53 mothers) whose autistic children attended an autism-specific special school completed a bespoke questionnaire about the home literacy environments for their children (n = 69, age range = 3–11 years, 61 boys, 8 girls). Second, a subsample of parents (n = 19, 15 mothers) participated in focus groups to understand in-depth their views and experiences of home reading with their children (n = 20, age range = 3–11 years, 19 boys, 1 girl). We used reflexive thematic analysis to analyse the focus group data. Outcomes and results: Across questionnaire and focus group methods, parents were united in considering reading to be an important life skill, a sentiment that was reflected both by their often literacy-rich homes and the ingenuity in their efforts to engage their children in shared home-reading activities – even when such engagement could be challenging. They also emphasised, however, the importance of valuing these activities as an opportunity to “catch a moment” with their child. Conclusions and implications: Parents and teachers should work together to identify ways to enhance autistic children's engagement in shared home-reading activities, listening to and learning from each other's experiences and expertise, and to show what is possible within each learning context.