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Autism Acceptance Month | Find Autism Support at Lindamood-Bell

Apr 9, 2025
 
 

In recognition of Autism Acceptance Month, we are sharing our belief in the learning potential of all individuals—including people with autism.

 

Improving Comprehension for Students with Autism

Peer-Reviewed Research on Autism

The Cognition, Brain, and Autism (CBrA) Lab at the University of Alabama collaborated with Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes to study the comparative effects of Visualizing and Verbalizing (V/V) on the brains of children on the Autism Spectrum. This fMRI study, highlighted in several peer-reviewed papers, examined activity in the brain’s language areas during comprehension tasks.

Dr. Rajesh Kana, the head of the study, reported that “V/V resulted in changing brain response patterns in children with autism—more focused, specialized brain activity and functional connectivity as a result of intervention.” Associated significant increases in language comprehension were noted against matched controls.

Note. Figure used with author’s permission.

Read about the effect of Lindamood-Bell instruction with students on the autism spectrum. Download summaries and get links to full articles published in scholarly journals on the Research & Development pages of our website.

The CBrA Lab is enrolling participants for a new study using the Visualizing and Verbalizing program. For more information:

www.cbra.ua.edu

(205) 202-0616

cbralab@ua.edu

 

Watch to Learn More about Research on Autism and Comprehension

The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Cognition, Brain and Autism Center studied the effects of Visualizing and Verbalizing® (V/V) on the brains of children on the autism spectrum. Watch a video that features lead researcher, Dr. Rajesh Kana, and participating families.

 

Visualizing and Verbalizing Results for Students with Autism

Average Age: 12.1

Number of Students: 1,085

Average Hours of Instruction: 132.5

Program Implemented: Visualizing and Verbalizing

Download results of Lindamood-Bell Learning Center instruction for all students, including those on the autism spectrum.

 

Hear from a Lindamood-Bell Family:

“When I first heard the terms Sensory Input and Concept Imagery, I didn’t fully understand how they could help Isabella. As a parent, my biggest hope is for Isabella to understand the world—whether it’s in books, conversations, or everyday life.

“The Visualizing and Verbalizing program was a game-changer. It didn’t just help Isabella recognize words; it taught her how to truly understand and use them in her mind. Within weeks, I noticed a transformation. She began to see the world differently—more clearly, more completely. Her confidence blossomed, and she started engaging in conversations and participating in life in a way she never had before.

“I realized she was never truly shy, she was just lost in the meaning of the words around her, as if everyone else was speaking a different language. But through this program, she finally understood, and with that understanding came the ability to express herself. It was incredible to watch her go from a “shy girl” to a very confident one.

“The combination of storytelling, visualization exercises, and thought-provoking questions made all the difference. It encouraged her to think, listen, and actively create the world she saw in her mind. As a hands-on parent, I could never have achieved this on my own—the techniques used are so unique and powerful that they’re hard to put into words.

“The results speak for themselves. Before Lindamood’s program, I was unsure of what to expect, and I got back a confident, expressive, and engaged beautiful daughter!”

– Maribel, mother of Isabella, UAB student

 

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Cognition, Brain, & Autism Lab is recruiting participants for their reading comprehension study.

 

In the News

Read this article in Exceptional Parent Magazine.

 

Autism Support at Lindamood-Bell

Lindamood-Bell instruction is based on the individual learning needs of each student. We can make a difference for students of all ages and abilities, including students with autism. Many students with an autism diagnosis have received instruction using Visualizing and Verbalizing for Language Comprehension and Thinking (V/V).  

Contact us for information about instruction at our Learning Centers, including one-to-one summer instruction and instruction starting now, live-online or in person. 

Families seeking a complete school solution can explore Lindamood-Bell Academy, our K-12 California-accredited private school, live-online or safe, in person, where allowed. Now enrolling for the 2025-26 school year.

Educators can attend teacher workshops to learn the steps of our evidence-based approach. Learn more about our professional development here.

Connect with us
🎉 40 Years of Changing Lives Through Learning

📚 2006: What happens when an entire school district works to improve reading?

In 2006, researchers from Texas A&M University published a study in the American Educational Research Journal examining reading achievement in Colorado’s Pueblo School District 60, where Lindamood-Bell had been working with schools since 1997 to support students at risk of reading difficulties.

They examined reading scores for students in grades 3–5 over several years and found that schools using Lindamood-Bell instruction made significantly greater gains than schools across Colorado. Those gains increased over time, including in Title I schools.

It was encouraging to see these results, especially in a district where so many students needed additional reading support.

Follow along as we celebrate 40 years of changing lives through learning.

Tap the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial,  to learn more about our work and research.
📣 FREE Halloween Download for Parents and Teachers, courtesy of Gander Publishing! 🎃
The Imagine That! Halloween lesson packet features four high-imagery stories written at a 2nd–5th-grade reading level.

👻 Enjoy stories about a giant pumpkin, a ghost, and even a rooster accused of being a witch!
🎃 Build reading comprehension with higher-order thinking questions.
🍬 Strengthen vocabulary skills with engaging activities.

Perfect for use with Visualizing and Verbalizing® or any student who could benefit from extra comprehension practice.
Download your free packet and bring some Halloween fun to reading! Follow the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial
🎉 40 Years of Changing Lives Through Learning

🧠 2004: Georgetown University researchers publish an important study on adult dyslexia and Lindamood-Bell instruction.

Led by Dr. Guinevere Eden and published in the scientific journal Neuron, the study used brain imaging to examine changes in adults with dyslexia following eight weeks of intensive Lindamood-Bell instruction.

Researchers found improvements in reading skills along with changes in brain activity, showing that the adult brain can continue to change and develop with reading instruction.

More than 20 years later, these findings continue to offer hope for adults who struggle with reading.

For more about our evidence-based reading instruction, follow the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.

Follow along as we celebrate 40 years of changing lives through learning!
🎉 40 Years of Changing Lives Through Learning

Our next milestone takes us to 2002, when Lindamood-Bell reached another exciting first!

🇬🇧 2002: Our first international Learning Center opens in London, England.
The opening of our London Learning Center meant more children could benefit from individualized instruction to strengthen their reading and comprehension skills. It was another meaningful step in helping more students learn to their potential.

Follow along as we celebrate 40 years of changing lives through learning.

Explore Lindamood-Bell at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
🎙️ New Podcast Episode: Supporting At-Promise Students

In this episode, we’re joined by Khieem Jackson, Managing Director of Reaching At-Promise Students Association (RAPSA), for a thoughtful conversation about helping at-promise and opportunity youth thrive.
Together, we explore how the words we use to describe students can shape their experiences, and how literacy and learning can open doors to new opportunities beyond the classroom.

🎧 Listen and subscribe at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
Lindamood-Bell will be at the International Dyslexia Association 2026 Annual Reading, Literacy & Learning Conference, November 12–14 in Las Vegas.

Join Paul Worthington, Director of Research and Development, for “ADHD and Dyslexia: Untangling the Comorbidity Conundrum,” which examines research on co-occurring ADHD, dyslexia, and language-processing difficulties, as well as implications for intervention.

📅 November 12–14
📍 Las Vegas + virtual attendance available

Learn more about our presentation and where to find us at the conference at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
🎉 40 Years of Changing Lives Through Learning

📚 2000: Lindamood-Bell partners with juvenile justice schools in San Diego, California, for Project of Hope.

Through this partnership, Lindamood-Bell provided intensive reading and comprehension instruction to young people in the juvenile justice system.
Using the Seeing Stars® and Visualizing and Verbalizing® programs, Project of Hope helped students strengthen their reading and comprehension skills. An independent evaluation found significant gains, offering new hope and opportunities for their futures.

Follow along as we celebrate 40 years of changing lives through learning. 

Explore Lindamood-Bell at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial
Students with ADHD may need more than help with organization and study skills.

Our latest blog explores how individualized instruction can help students strengthen underlying learning skills, manage schoolwork, and become more confident, independent learners.

👉 Learn more at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
🎉 40 Years of Changing Lives Through Learning

📰 1999: Lindamood-Bell is featured in a Newsweek cover story on dyslexia.

The November 22, 1999, issue of Newsweek featured “Dyslexia and the New Science of Reading,” exploring how research was changing our understanding of dyslexia and reading difficulties. The article highlighted Lindamood-Bell’s unique sensory-cognitive approach to developing the underlying skills needed for reading and spelling.

This exciting milestone brought national attention to our work and new hope to students and families facing reading challenges.

Follow along as we celebrate 40 years of changing lives through learning. Learn more about Lindamood-Bell at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
What happens when phonics instruction has been tried, but reading is still difficult?

Join us for our free webinar, More Than Phonics: What Makes Lindamood-Bell Different, to learn why some students need more than decoding practice to become confident, independent readers.

We’ll explore why phonics alone may not address every student’s learning needs and how Lindamood-Bell develops the sensory-cognitive processes that underlie reading and comprehension.

📅 Thursday, October 15
🕙 10 a.m. PT | 1 p.m. ET | 6 p.m. BST

Can’t attend live? Register anyway, and we’ll send you the recording.

🔗 Register at the link in bio @lindamoodbellofficial.
🎉 40 Years of Changing Lives Through Learning

📖 1998: The Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing® (LiPS®) Program is published.

Lindamood-Bell co-founder and speech-language pathologist Patricia Lindamood and her daughter, Phyllis Lindamood, revised the Auditory Discrimination in Depth (ADD) program and published the Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing® Program for Reading, Spelling, and Speech (LiPS®).

The LiPS® Program helps students develop phonemic awareness by teaching them to discover and label the mouth movements that produce speech sounds. Students learn to identify and sequence sounds in words, then apply those skills to reading, spelling, and speech.

Follow along as we celebrate 40 years of changing lives through learning.

Learn more about Lindamood-Bell at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
“He took off when he learned to read.”

Waseem struggled with reading throughout school. Then, through Kentwood Public Schools’ partnership with Lindamood-Bell, he received Seeing Stars® instruction from a teacher trained in the program.

Today, Waseem is a fourth-year medical student.

Hear Waseem share his journey and the impact learning to read had on his life.
▶️ Watch the full video at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
🎉 40 Years of Changing Lives Through Learning

📚 1997: Two new programs become part of the Lindamood-Bell story.

Nanci Bell published Seeing Stars®, designed to develop symbol imagery, the ability to visualize letters and words for reading and spelling. Long overlooked in literacy instruction, symbol imagery addresses what is a missing piece for many struggling readers.

Nanci Bell and Kimberly Tuley also published On Cloud Nine® Math, designed to develop numerical imagery for number sense and mathematical reasoning.

Nearly 30 years later, both programs remain core to Lindamood-Bell instruction and our commitment to helping students learn to their potential.

Follow along as we celebrate 40 years of changing lives through learning.
Learn more about Lindamood-Bell and our instruction at the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
October is Dyslexia Awareness Month 💙📚

For more than 40 years, Lindamood-Bell has helped students with dyslexia strengthen the skills needed for reading and learning.

Research shows what’s possible: with targeted, intensive instruction, students with dyslexia can make significant gains in reading, and studies have documented measurable changes in the brain systems that support reading.

Learn more about our approach, student outcomes, and the research behind our work. Follow the link in our bio, @lindamoodbellofficial.
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