Spark Learning Hub

When working on fiction comprehension with autistic students, it is important to remember how much background knowledge matters.

Fiction at different levels includes social situations, dialogue, tone, hidden intentions, friendship dynamics, sarcasm, figurative language, implied meaning, and more. Some autistic students may not automatically infer these elements in a text, especially if the situation is unfamiliar.

This is true for all learners- when we read about something we have not seen, experienced, or built a mental picture for, it can be harder to fully understand or imagine it.

This is one reason autistic students may find informational text easier to comprehend. Nonfiction is more concrete, direct, and connected to facts.

So when a student is struggling with fiction, I always pause and ask:
"Has the student experienced something like this before?"
"Does the student have enough background knowledge to picture what is happening?"

If the answer is no, we need to back up and build a connection first. That could mean watching a video, drawing a picture, acting it out, or finding experiences they can connect to (in their life or in a show/movie).

If your child is struggling with fiction comprehension, try starting with realistic fiction or historical fiction connected to topics that are concrete or of interest. After reading non-fiction passages about a time period, event, or place, you can read a fictional story about characters visiting that place, or someone living in that time period, etc.

Background knowledge gives students something to connect to!

As a child, I vividly remember waking up one day and thinking, “I want to clean my room today.” I genuinely wanted it picked up and reorganized.

But then I went downstairs, and my mom said, “Today we’re cleaning your room.” And suddenly, I couldn’t do it.

Even though I had wanted to clean it just minutes before, I completely shut down. I melted down. I spent the whole day refusing cleaning my room, even though it meant I couldn’t play with my friends.

Not because I didn’t want a clean room or didn’t care. But because the moment it became a demand, it felt threatening. My body felt trapped. And once I started refusing, it felt impossible to stop, because stopping felt like “giving in.”

This is one reason PDA can be so misunderstood. From the outside, it can look like defiance, stubbornness, or manipulation. But on the inside, it can feel like panic, pressure, loss of control, and being unable to move forward.

This can be part of a PDA profile. PDA stands for Pathological Demand Avoidance. Some people also call it Persistent Drive for Autonomy.

Kids with a PDA profile are more likely to:

✅ Struggle with or even avoid everyday demands, even for things they want or need
✅ Seem “oppositional" when they are actually dysregulated, anxious, overwhelmed, or trying to feel safe
✅ Experience big mood shifts or shutdowns
✅ Need more control, predictability, sameness, or routine to thrive

For many PDA kids, just like in this example, it’s not about the task itself (I WANTED my room clean!) It’s about control, safety, and autonomy.