What is "implicit comprehension of text" and how do I target it?

[4KookieKids]

One thing that came up on dd8's most recent SLP eval was that she scored 100% on explicit comprehension questions on a story, but 0% on implicit comprehension questions. So one of the recommendations is to target implicit and inferential comprehension and question answering. I would've asked at the SLP about it, but at the time I was more focused on the dyslexia aspect of things. Since we've moved since then and don't see that SLP any longer, I thought I'd just ask here first if anyone knows what that actually means and what it means I should be doing? I do recall the SLP saying that it *could* be due to her dyslexia, but it's more likely due to her autism. I'm just not sure what that means for me -- just keep reading stories and talking about what's going on and what folks are feeling and why they're making the decisions they are? I confess that I don't really understand what "implicit comprehension" even IS.

[PeterPan]

It means you need to work on inferences, and yes it's due to the autism. Can you go back to the SLP or are you wanting to do it yourself?

[Lecka]

Open-ended questions where the answer is not directly stated in the text.

Any “why?” questions.

Any inferences.

Questions like:  “why do you think that happened?”  “What do you think will happen next?”  “How do you think the character felt when than happened?”  “Do you agree or disagree with the character’s decision?”  

And then things like:  look at the cover and make a guess about what the book will be about.  Look at a picture and explain what is happening in the picture.  

I have seen lists before of questions that go with Bloom’s Taxonomy and things like that.  All the questions where the answer is not directly stated in the text will be implicit on some level, and they can be easier or harder.  

[Lecka]

I would say you need to work on comprehension with inferences as one category.  

But she might have missed the questions from decoding issues and not comprehension issues, depending on how the testing was done.  She could have gotten the explicit questions correct from finding the answer even without reading very well. It’s hard to say because low scores ok comprehension can come from low decoding or low fluency.  

[Lecka]

One kind of inference gets called social inferences.  On your other post where she is misunderstanding some social situations in real life, she might misunderstand similar ones in a book.  

Some easy, non-social inferences can be things like:  Sam went inside and put on his raincoat.  Why?  (It started raining.). I am round, I can bounce, and children play with me.  What am I (a ball).  

Those kinds of things are a lot easier than “why was someone mad at me?” But they are still things where the answer is not directly stated.  

 

Edited October 13, 2019 by Lecka

[4KookieKids]

6 hours ago, PeterPan said:

It means you need to work on inferences, and yes it's due to the autism. Can you go back to the SLP or are you wanting to do it yourself?

We have since moved, and don't have access to a good SLP any longer, so I'm needing to do it myself.

5 hours ago, Lecka said:

I would say you need to work on comprehension with inferences as one category.  

But she might have missed the questions from decoding issues and not comprehension issues, depending on how the testing was done.  She could have gotten the explicit questions correct from finding the answer even without reading very well. It’s hard to say because low scores ok comprehension can come from low decoding or low fluency.  

She had the same discrepancy (100% of explicit, 0% of implicit) when the stories were read aloud to her, so I totally get what you're saying - but I think it's definitely more than decoding / fluency.

5 hours ago, Lecka said:

One kind of inference gets called social inferences.  On your other post where she is misunderstanding some social situations in real life, she might misunderstand similar ones in a book.  

Some easy, non-social inferences can be things like:  Sam went inside and put on his raincoat.  Why?  (It started raining.). I am round, I can bounce, and children play with me.  What am I (a ball).  

Those kinds of things are a lot easier than “why was someone mad at me?” But they are still things where the answer is not directly stated.  

 

These are great thoughts. I'll definitely think more on this. I feel like this is one area where I don't even know how to make up good examples to talk about and need something scripted! lol.