You just described My DD1. Except her therapist won't put labels on her so we have "Spectrum Issues" instead of Aspurgers.
Narration is very difficult. A few things we do to help her cope in her black and white world.
I draw a stick figure picture (On a white board, a page, a napkin anything) as I'm reading the storybook out loud. She is allowed to look at it for visual clues to help her narrate.
I always cover This is the beginning. This part is the middle. This is the end.
Also I model... model.... model... what narration should sound like. Do not let them get away with Memorizing sentences from the story and presenting them as their narration. My DD does this trick some time it works some times it is just Funny!! ha ha ha as they are sentences picked at random... lol
I used to get so freaked out is she retaining??? did she listen??? and didn't want to Model the narration prior to hers so I could be sure she is comprehending and listening not just parroting back what I said. But I have figured out with everything going on She may need to hear it, see it 500 times before it clicks. So the more I show her the more of that I fill in.. for the one day it clicks.
For stuff she is to do her self Now that she is 12, she can write a key word per paragraph or draw a picture at the end of each page to help her remember.
I have 2 videos on the HOD fan group on Face book
http://www.facebook.com/groups/FansofHoD/ down on August 16th. You can see how literal she is (She describes the ocean as "The salty water"). One is CM narration (sort of), and the other is conversation style.
Our Therapist has us using a different reading program. That is much smaller bites of reading, and we do conversation style narrations. The ND sees narrations of stories as away to develop the life skill of conversation that can be difficult for aspies. So its ok to prompt them and lead them a bit as one would do when seeking information they have to share.
I have to say If you use DITHOR in conjunction with other children and he gets to go last, it might be ok as he can see what his answer is supposed to look like. It could work and you can tweak it to fit him.
Another thing she has us do is visualization... you ask the child to close their eyes and you read the book having them imagine themselves in the scenery. This works great with the small square science books. I have much better success with her remembering stuff this way.
And I have found books on tape 20-40 min a day did more to increase her comprehension than anything else we've done. And its so painless too! Some times I would record her story time segment on a tape player and have her listen to it again and again.
I like the picture of my child's brain my therapist gave us. Picture a filing cabinet full of information all neat and organized.. That is your brain.
Now picture a child's treasure box full of "stuff" now mix in messily a set of flash cards, and grammar rules, ripped out pages from a book all jumbled in with the treasures. that is how his brain is right now... He heard the story but his ability to access it is sporadic unless its a "treasure" like star wars (for my dd1) , or as you said Non fiction books. The information is in there it just needs help to get out. You would be amazed how many times my child has during dinner randomly blurted out stuff she learned 2-3 years ago that I though had gone right over her head. It's in there!!!
I know I would have more "success" grade wise if I switched to a text book format. that would please her black and white, right and wrong, world she lives in... But the Charlotte Mason approach is growing her and stretching her and I believe it is the best way, to help her be the best she can be. It is preparing her to function in the world.
Hope that helped.
