It’s September again and the new school year is starting, which means lots of books to read! As a parent or teacher, we know it can be difficult to encourage a child with autism who finds reading difficult.
If their reading age is a lot younger than they are, they can be disheartened at reading books that seem childish, leading them to give up altogether. Audiobooks are a great way to stimulate interest and enjoyment in books, as children can access the same books as their peers and can choose what they listen to and for how long. They can enable children to develop vital literacy skills in an enjoyable way, as a professional reader adds tone of voice, accents, emphasis and timing to the text, which can restore self-esteem and confidence in reading, giving children the best opportunity to reach their full potential.
Listening Books: An Affordable Audiobook Library Service
Listening Books is a UK charity providing a library service of high-quality audiobooks to anyone who finds it difficult or impossible to read due to an illness, disability, learning or mental health difficulty, including autism and autism spectrum disorders. Our audiobooks are available in three easily accessible formats: delivered through the front door on MP3 CD, or downloaded and streamed online. We offer a range of options so members can choose the service that best fits their needs and membership starts from as little as £20 per year. We also have a number of free memberships on offer for anyone who would find the usual membership fee a barrier to joining.
We have a huge range of fiction for children, including books by JK Rowling, David Walliams, Jacqueline Wilson, Malorie Blackman and Roald Dahl, and we also support the National Curriculum from Key Stage 2 to A-Level. Our non-fiction titles include full cast dramas of set Shakespeare texts for GCSE, as well as CGP revision notes and study guides, while for younger listeners we have Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories series to make learning more enjoyable.
Our library also offers books about autism and autism spectrum disorder that are aimed at children, such as ‘Can I Tell You About Autism?’ by Jude Welton, in which Tom invites listeners to learn about autism from his perspective, helping to explain the challenges he faces with social communication, sensory overload and changes in his routine, and how he can be helped and supported by those around him. Many of our titles are recorded at our in-house studios and are unavailable anywhere else!
For more information please visit our website at www.listening-books.org.uk.
Our friendly team are always happy to answer any questions, so please contact them at info@listening-books.org.uk or telephone 020 7407 9417.
