Strategies and Resources
to Support Literacy Skills
Rhonda Etter and Vicki Souter
Assistive Technology Specialists
Southeast Kansas Assistive Technology Access Site
SKIL, Inc.
Session Objectives
• Participants will:
– Discuss and understand the application of
emergent literacy theory on reading instruction
for students who are nonverbal
– Discuss assessment strategies for identifying
reading and writing accommodations for students
who have learning disabilities
– Learn resources for borrowing adaptive devices
for trial use during assessment
• Literacy supports for individuals who are
emergent communicators
• Literacy supports for individuals who have
reading and writing disabilities
Literacy supports for individuals
who are emergent communicators
Literacy instruction for individuals with significant
disabilities has traditionally focused on:
• Direct teaching of sight
words
• Discrimination trials of
familiar, “functional” words
(bathroom, exit, yes, no)
• Rote copying of letters,
their name and the date
People who do not speak have often
received no literacy instruction.
How can we provide better and
more meaningful literacy
instruction to these students?
Expand our definition of literacy
• Literacy, like language, is a continuous
process beginning at birth
• Reading, writing, speaking and listening
develop concurrently rather than
sequentially
• This approach erases the “not ready for”
barrier for many individuals with
developmental disabilities
• Opportunity for active participation in
literacy learning
Emergent Literacy Success: Merging Technology & Whole Language for Students
With Disabilities (1997, Caroline Musselwhite and Pati King De-Baun)
Concepts about Print assessment
•
•
Based upon the research of Marie Clay, Reading
Recovery
Measures book and print knowledge, such as:
– where to begin writing or reading
– going from left to right
– where to go after the end of the line (return
sweep)
– The print, not the picture, carries the
message
– Word by word pointing (one-to-one
correspondence)
– Concept of a letter, word, sentence
•
http://readingandwritingproject.com/public/resources/assess
ments/reading/concepts_about_print/concepts_about_print_
directions.pdf
•
Consider creating an assessment book relevant
to the experiences and age of target learners
Checklist of Emergent Literacy Skills
• In Checklists chapter at the end of Emergent
Literacy Success ( Musselwhite & DeBaun,
1997)
Meaningful literacy goals for emergent
communicators
• Example Literacy Goals for:
– Basic Interactor
– Beginning Communicator
– Expanded Communicator
– Experienced Communicator
*Note—the assistive technology tools in these examples are no longer
current, but the literacy goals are very helpful
From Emergent Literacy Success ( Musselwhite & DeBaun, 1997)
Teaching strategies
• Immerse them in print at school
and at home
– Print Rich Classroom checklist
– Print Rich Home checklist
• Label pictures on
communication supports
• Model everyday reading and
writing activities
Read books!
• Choose books for active participation
Books for Learning
Books for Enjoyment
Books that will be used for learning
vehicles. They will be read several
times.
Helpful features:
Repetition
Predictable Text
Rhyme and Rhythm
Familiar, meaningful context
Large, visible print
Short, simple text
Clear, simple graphics
Props potential
Books that provide support for a theme
or idea. The language may be more
complex or there may be multiple lines
of text per page.
Include different kinds of literature,
counting books, ABC of (topic), folk
tales, poetry, nonfiction, plays, lyrics,
etc.
• Provide repeated readings of the same book
Adapt books for access
• Cut apart and laminate for
durability
• Add page “puffers” to make
pages easy to turn
• Add communication symbols
• Consider simplifying the
language or adding a repeat
line
• Add props for interaction
• Consider a digital format for
switch access: Powerpoint,
BoardmakerPlus, Clicker
Accessible Book Resources
•
Sherlock Center on Disabilities
–
•
– http://www.ric.edu/sherlockcenter/wwslist.html
Accessible books in many formats
–
•
•
Adapted books can be downloaded and printed
www.setbc.org/setbc/accessiblebooks/freebooksforyou.html
Book specific communication boards
– www.baltimorecityschools.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=1446
Tar Heel Reader
–
Books that can be accessed by touch screen, Intellikeys, switch interface
– http://tarheelreader.org
Create opportunities for
“independent” reading
• Use assistive technology to create “talking books”
that can be enjoyed independently
– BookWorm (Ablenet)
• www.ablenetinc.com/Assistive-Technology/LearningTechnology/Bookworm
– Reading Time Communicator (Enabling Devices)
• http://enablingdevices.com/catalog/assistive_technology
_devices_used_in_education/special-communicatorsaccessories/reading-time-communicator
– V-Pen with Voice Ink
• Allows paper to “speak”
• Create a document, print your document
‘with code’, then touch the words with the
VPen to speak them out loud.
• http://host.ability-world.com/VPen_Manual_Jan_2011.pdf
Phonemic Awareness and
Phonics Instruction
• Include opportunities for sound play
– A page on their device that makes letter sounds
– Apps and toys that provide letter sounds, especially
without naming the letters
• Worksheets are particularly difficult and not accessible
• Integrate letter-sound recognition into meaningful
reading and writing activities
• Example: Word Wizard app
– https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/word-wizard-talkingmovable/id447312716?mt=8
Include writing activities
• Adapted art and writing tool
– OT’s can help identify the best adaptations
• Keep it meaningful through authentic writing
assignments
– Label things
– Sign in and out of the classroom
– Send notes, cards, e-cards
– Make lists
– Involve them in home-school communication
• Making it happen in the busy classroom or
home requires team support, light tech, high
tech, organization, determination and a clear
vision of the ultimate goal—the highest level
of literacy possible for each student.
• They all deserve our best.
Pati King-DeBaun and Caroline Musselwhite
Identifying Supports for Students
with Reading Disabilities
• Reading disabilities are often identified
around the 3rd grade when the focus of
education shifts from learning skills to
learning content
• Need for lifelong strategies
– A learning disability affects the way people
receive, process, or express information and lasts
throughout life.
– Solutions that help students be successful in
school are also useful on the job.
When reading is the problem
• May confuse letters, order of letters
• Loses place on the page
• May have trouble trying to figure out a word
s/he doesn’t know
• May read slowly and reading may be
exhausting
• Mechanics of reading may be so difficult that
the learner reads without comprehension
Diagnostic tool: PAR
• PAR Protocol for Accommodations in Reading
– diagnostic tool developed by Denise
DeCoste and Linda Bastiani Wilson
– a systematic procedure for making databased recommendations for reading
accommodations
– the print version and manual can be
downloaded for free from
http://donjohnston.com/par/#.VLR3Y77032w
– online version that can be administered to
groups with automated scoring available by
subscription
more about the PAR
• Not a reading test; a diagnostic tool to determine
how the student best understands written
information
• Tests performance across 3 reading conditions:
student read aloud, adult read aloud, and text reader
• Narrative and expository reading passages provided
for the 1st to 10th grade reading levels
• Comprehension questions for each passage—factual,
topic related, inferential and vocabulary
• Video support for administration is available online
• Results of the PAR will help you know if the
best reading accommodation is:
– Human reader
– Text-to-speech reader
– Neither—perhaps there is a language
comprehension problem and texts need to have
less language
Resources for students who benefit from
human readers
• Paraprofessional or
parent reading passages
and test materials
• Audiobooks from
publishers
• Audiobooks from
Learning Ally
http://youtu.be/tkYLbR0kzm8
•
Resources for students who benefit from
text readers
Need access to e-text
http://vimeo.com/80953444
• Try built in text readers in newer
computer operating systems
http://donjohnston.com/snapread/#.VLSCD77032w
• Text to speech software and apps
– Snap&Read, Read:Outloud (Don
Johnston), Read&Write Gold
(TextHelp)
– Vbookz iPad app
• Bookshare
• Devices that capture text and use OCR
to convert to eText
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w3jCC2P_F4#t=23
– Intel Reader
When receptive language skills limit
reading comprehension
• Use language therapy time to pre-teach
academic vocabulary and concepts
• Look for alternative texts on the same
subject
– written lower reading levels
– more picture support
– Dorling Kindersley books
– Don Johnston Start to Finish books
http://donjohnston.com/stfonline/#.VLSHj77032w
– Saddleback’s Teen Emergent Reader
libraries
www.sdlback.com/teen-emergent-reader-libraries
Identifying Supports for Students
with Writing Disabilities
• When writing is the problem
– May reverse or transpose letters
– May have trouble remembering how to form letters so use
their own way
– Have trouble writing without lined paper, spacing is poor
– Writes very large
– Tires easily by writing
– May try to disguise poor spelling ability with deliberate
messy writing
– May avoid writing whenever possible
Diagnostic Tool: DeCoste Writing Protocol
• Created by Denise DeCoste and
available through Don Johnson
– http://donjohnston.com/decoste-writingprotocol/#.VLUjX8b032w
• Compares performance across
handwriting and keyboarding
tasks
• Examines spelling and writing
performance
• Educators can make informed
decisions about technology use
Supports for Notetaking
• Audio record lectures
– Hand held digital recorders
– AudioNote app
http://luminantsoftware.com/ipho
ne/audionote.html
• Take photos of the board
• LiveScribe pen
– www.livescribe.com
Supports for longer writing assignments
• Alternative keyboards and mice
– for computers
many available for trial use from Assistive
Technology for Kansans
Alternative keyboards for the iPad
• Swype—slide your finger across the letters of a word, uses
intuitive language-based word prediction, learns from your
input
• Dryft—coming soon, similar to Swype + you can rest your
fingers on home row
• Keedogo-- for beginning typers, Keedogo + has word
prediction
• Keeble—has several themes, word prediction, select on
release
Word prediction
– Built in to some keyboards
and word processors
– Co:Writer Universal
• Good for phonetic or
invented speller
• Topic related vocabulary
prediction
http://vimeo.com/10443035
4
Talking word processors
– Read & Write Gold and
iReadWrite app
– www.texthelp.com
– Write:Outloud
• Includes talking spell checker
• Talking dictionary with easy to
understand language
• Bibliographer
http://youtu.be/7Iyu64sgW
uI?list=UUZAhYwqmDNE3ii6mHLR2Cg
• http://donjohnston.com/writeoutloud/
#.VLkSYMb032w
http://vimeo.com/70067585
Voice Recognition
– Dragon Naturally Speaking on the
computer
– Dragon Dictate for iPad
– Voice Recognition that is built in to the
operating system of the computer or
tablet
When expressive language skills
limit writing abilities
• Use low tech or high tech writing templates
• Use graphic idea organizers such as Inspiration
or Kidspiration
• Use alternative writing assignments that allow
the person to show learning
– Narrated powerpoint presentations
– Digital stories
– Videotaped interviews
– Poster presentations
Final thoughts
• One size/solution does not fit all
• Each learning situation has unique demands
• Involve students in actively identifying their own
solutions
• Support self-advocacy skills
• Try before you buy
• Tutors need to know how best to support individual
students
• Not all solutions are expensive! The solution may be
already built in to your computer, tablet, or phone.