Literacy

The best way to prepare a child for learning to read and write is to present literacy-related activities as early as possible. These include looking at books and reading stories together, as well as providing the child with pens, pencils, crayons and markers. This is often not an easy task. The families and teachers of children with disabilities frequently feel other activities need to take precedence, such as those involved in increasing mobility, or self-help skills. In addition, families and teachers may have to overcome the child’s own lack of interest, problems with physical positioning, sensory issues, or the difficulty a child may have in grasping and manipulating writing implements. In general, providing a child with disabilities with literacy-related activities takes time and effort.

Nevertheless, literate AAC-using adults credit the support of family and teachers in giving them many and varied early literacy activities with helping them to learn to read and write. Thus, it is important to provide the child with as many such opportunties as possible, and to maintain the expectation that the child will learn to read and write (Koppenhaver, Evans, & Yodre, 1991; Light & McNaughton, 1993). In general, a child who uses AAC benefits from the same types of literacy-related experiences as all children, although adaptations may be required. The following are suggestions regarding such activities (Beukelman & Mirenda, 1992; Light, Binger, & Smith, 1994; Light & Smith, 1993; Pierce & McWilliam, 1993).

• Although it is ideal if the child has his or her AAC system while being read to, some families feel it takes away from the intimacy of the situation. This is especially true when the system prevents the child from sitting on someone’s lap. A compromise may be to use the AAC systems sometimes and be without it at others, or a smaller AAC device may be used, such as a loop cassette tape that will still allow the child to participate.

• Books and stories that utilize a lot of repetition should be selected, and the child’s AAC programmed so that he or she can participate during these parts. The same books and stories can be read multiple times so that the child becomes very familiar with them. This helps the child become more of a participant since less cognitive capacity is required to comprehend the story and more can be devoted to interacting (Yoder & Davies, 1992a).

• The child should be positioned so that he or she can see the pictures and words of the book.

• Story plots can be related to the child’s own real-life experiences so that the child can develop a better understanding of them.

• Long pauses and open-ended questions encourage the child's participation.

• The child's writing implements may require adaptations to maximize their successful use, for example pens and pencils can have built-up handles or velcro loops for attaching around the child’s palm.

While learning to read, one method used by children without disabilities is sounding out the sounds of letters and syllables. Non-speaking children are not able to do this, leaving them at a disadvantage. It may help if they are able to make these sounds with a device such as a cassette loop tape, a VOCA, or someone else’s voice. Children may also be encouraged to sound out words in their heads as they are learning to read. Printed words affixed to pictures and other symbols can assist graphical AAC users to associate the written words with the messages. Finally, some abstract AAC symbol systems in which words are often composed of a combination of simpler symbols (e.g. Blissymbols) are thought to enhance a child’s ability to break up a word into its component letters (Koppenhaver, Evans, & Yodre, 1991).

OTHER REFERENCES:

• "One Size Does Not Fit All: Tailoring AAC Training to the User" by Barbara B. Shadden, Angie Hodges, and Kasey Hodges is a case study of a young AAC-user learing literacy skills at www.dinf.org/csun_98/csun98_004.htm.

• "Babes in Bookland" by Pati King-DeBaun contains information on how to read to a child with disabilities, including step-by-step instructions on constructing your own "talking book" at www.closingthegap.com/cgi-bin/lib/libDsply.pl?a=1017&b=12.

• "How can I teach my struggling students to read?" by Mary Mourousias includes tips and suggestions as well as specific reading, spelling and writing programs at www.closingthegap.com/cgi-bin/lib/libDsply.pl?a=1077&b=1.

• "From Picture Producers to Real Language and Literacy: A Practical Guide" by Karen A. Erickson, Ph.D. offers general guidelines on enhancing reading and writing skills among Minspeak users at http://128.2.110.35/scs/96ke.html.

• "Adapting Curriculum for Augmentative Communication" by Karen L. Moos and Shirley K. Hartwig provides examples of literacy and language activities for AAC users at the preschool, kindergarten and first grade levels at www.dinf.org/csun_97/csun97_087.htm.

• "Using assistive technology in thematic activities" by Carolann Cormier, Alicia Folland-Tillinghast, and Lauren Skau describes the wide variety of language-based activities that can be created around a single theme at www.closingthegap.com/cgi-bin/lib/libDsply.pl?a=1018&b=1.

• "Full-inclusion as a lived experience: A case study of a transdisciplinary team" by Seth B. Harkins and Laura Drower compares the differences in the ways in which children with severe motor impairments and children without disabilitites acquire literacy at www.closingthegap.com/cgi-bin/lib/libDsply.pl?a=1055&b=9.

• "Managing the Change from Symbol Based Communication to Text Based Systems" by Paul Hawes and Paul Blenkhorn discusses the need for literacy learners to be able to switch between their AAC device and computer-based word processing and educational software at www.dinf.org/csun_98/csun98_012.htm.

  Help me—and everyone who reads this site—by mailing your suggestions, criticisms and personal experiences to Ruth Ballinger at yaack@iname.com

• "Writing and Speaking Through Pictures" by Yvonne Gillette and Jeri Lynn Hoffman describe a software product that allows literacy learners to match pictures with words, then produce the words in print, and, finally combine words into phrases and sentences at www.dinf.org/csun_98/csun98_070.htm.

• "To Facilitate Commenting and Turn-Taking While Reading" by Prentke Romich Co. offers tips on teaching reading to AAC users at www.prentrom.com/
  teaching/booknook.html.

• "Storytime tricks" offers ideas to be used during storytime at www.creative-comm.com/sttricks.html.

OTHER REFERENCES:

• "Quick and Easy Ideas and Materials for Using Classroom Materials to Teach Academics to Nonverbal Children" by Carolyn Rouse, CCC-SLP and Katera Murphy about a book by this name at www.dinf.org/csun_98/csun98_087.htm.

• "Three Principles of Universal Design for Learning" by Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) discusses ways to present information to children of varying abilities at www.cast.org/concepts/concepts_three_p.htm.

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