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Edmark Reading Program in an Autism Classroom

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edmark reading program blog post

Every one of us works with our students on reading. Whether we are working on reading signs in the community or books, newspapers, or something on a cereal box our students need to know how to read as much as they can. The Edmark Reading Program can assist with that!

If you don’t think this program can work for your classroom, let me suggest another reading program. This one focuses on using visuals and comprehension, and it was specifically designed by me! It’s called Reading Visually Comprehension. 

Edmark Reading Program Explained

One resource that I felt has been super helpful with my students is the Edmark Reading Program. This program is an intervention-based and discrete trial-based reading program that works with students on sight words to build their abilities to read. The one thing that I really like is the ability to implement repetition with the students to build their accuracy in reading the sight words. It provides you with multiple ways to access the same information. The students can overly absorb the information, which, for students like mine who take a lot of experiences with it to put it into their “known” file in their brain is very important.

I also like that there are tons of resources. Let me show you just a few or maybe a ton!

Diving into the Program

 
edmark reading program
So here is the program book. You need to use the mastery test of pre-assessment tools to tell you where to start and at what lesson for each student depending on their prior reading ability. Once you have done that, you use this book, which is super easy to follow as a teacher, paraprofessional, or parent helper in your classroom. It tells you what lesson you are on and the activities that are available within that lesson. You can keep anecdotal records and dates of completion on it as well.
This is an example of the Word Recognition piece of the lessons. This is there for every lesson to do with the students. You use the orange cover to show only one line at a time. You work through the pages, asking the students to read them, find them, or repeat them. This is the discrete trial training model that the curriculum has. I think it is super effective. Even if you have students who learn patterns really quickly. No lesson is the same so you don’t have to worry about a student memorizing it!
edmark reading program
This is the Stories section. There is not always a story for each lesson. When you get a story, the nice thing is that it only incorporates words that the student has mastered in other lessons. So, no new words will pop up on you. This makes it more predictable for students and easier to read.

Comprehension with Edmark Reading Program

edmark reading program comprehension
This next part of the Edmark Reading Program is the Picture Match. It is included in many of the earlier lessons but is still mixed in throughout the higher ones. The student has to take the board and read the words. Then, on the next picture below, use the picture cards to match the words on the board. These also get harder as you get into higher lessons.
edmark reading program picture match
 
Here are the Picture Match and Phrase Match cards in the Edmark Reading Program. Both sets are super useful with the boards. The picture below shows you where the Phrase Match cards go. The board has all pictures on it in a reverse-style setup so that it assesses students’ ability to do skills in different ways! LOVE IT!

Worksheets from Edmark Reading Program

edmark reading program worksheet

Then we come to the extras! There is another piece to the Edmark Reading Program you can purchase separately. I have these materials on a jump drive that I download onto my laptop and share with others. This was very nice to have. Then your district doesn’t have to buy a set for each teacher! This is an example of the Spelling component. The students have to follow the directions to practice not only reading the words but also spelling them.

This next resource is Take Home Readers. They don’t have to be taken home, but they are small decodable books with comprehension questions that students can read and answer. The words, again, aren’t any harder than the lesson that the student is on.

Another great piece to the extra resources in the Edmark Reading Program is the comprehension worksheets. There are two examples here. The one above shows the easier or earlier lessons where the students do a lot of picture matching and small sentence reading. The picture below shows how the students have to find which word fits best into the sentence without picture support. For my students, this can be much harder.

Extra Materials for Edmark Reading Program

Lastly, the picture above and the two pictures below are Homework activities. These are things that you can send home as homework. I am not as much of a fan of these, but I think that is because the students I work with are older. They feel like they are too easy for them. I’d be more likely to send the comprehension, spelling, or take home readers home for homework than this. I can see where it has its benefits, though.

 
 
Well, I hope that I provided you with some insight into the Edmark Reading Program and showed how it was really a great resource in my classroom. There is a second level to the version I have shown you with even harder words and concepts. Another program called Edmark Functional Words with more things like grocery, job skills, restaurant, and community type words. It has the same style and format as this program. I just got that and plan to let you know how that works, too, in the near future.
 
 
In the meantime, there was one thing that I found when using the Edmark Reading Program that I still needed that the program did not provide. I had students that struggled with remembering some of the sight words. So I created a product, and it is available on TPT.  It is called Sight Word Cards. Here is a little sneak peek at it!
Sight Word Picture Cards Level 1 BUNDLE
 
 

I also have created a set of task cards that I love using with my students as well! Sight Word Task Cards 

Sight Word Task Cards Level 1 BUNDLE
 

3 Responses

  1. i love edmark! I use it with several students in my classroom! Have you had any experience with Level 2? Its very different, I have not gotten a "feel" for it yet

  2. I'm with you! I LOOOOOVVVVEEEEE Edmark! I use it in my classroom with most of my learners (some are actually working on grade level words which I have made into Edmark format for those learners). It's definitely my favorite reading program!

    Erin
    You AUT-a Know

  3. Hi! I found you on the Teaching Blog Addict and am your newest follower. Love your blog about Edmark. It is really helpful for teachers new to the program. Great work!
    Warmly,
    Jennifer
    Astute Hoot: Tools for the Wise Teacher
    http://www.astutehoot.com

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