Jamie Eff
C&I 452
Project 4
Literacy Accessibility for Kyle
Purpose: The purpose of this project is to identify a young learner with a low incidence
disability, in this case autism, and study and assess his current access and abilities related to preliteracy and literacy skills in his school and center-based program environments. From this
information, I will determine appropriate next steps to continue on the trajectory of literacy
acquisition and fluency.
Many students with low incidence disabilities are met with low expectations and limited
access to literacy instruction due to the pre-conceived judgment of their abilities to learn, read
and participate in general education assignments and events with their classmates. Referencing
“Literacy for Students with Severe Developmental Disabilities, What Should we Teach and
What Should We Hope to Achieve” Browder, Gibbs, Ahlgrim-Delzell, Courtade, Mraz, and
Flowers (2009), as a framework, this project will provide a snapshot of literacy in the day of a
four-year-old boy named “Kyle” with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder.
Description of Student: “Kyle” is a four-year old boy with the diagnosis of autism spectrum
disorder. He lives in the Flathead Valley with his mother, six-year-old brother and a dog. His
father is currently employed out of state, but returns home monthly for a few days to spend with
his family. Kyle attends music lessons weekly for 45 minutes, with another boy with autism and
8 typical peers and their parents. Kyle attends this class with his Children’s Autism Trainer.
Kyle also receives horse therapy weekly for 45 minutes, private speech therapy and occupational
therapy weekly for 45 minutes per session, and attends a center-based ABA program through the
Children’s Autism Waiver for 26 hours per week. Currently, Kyle is eligible for Early
Intervention preschool at his neighborhood school, and attends Tuesday and Thursday afternoons
from 12:30 until 3:00. Approximately 2-5 students attend his preschool class, along with one
teacher, and one paraprofessional. Kyle also receives 30 minutes of speech therapy per week at
his preschool.
Kyle’s programming in the center consists of attending skills, such as sitting and working
at the table, responding to adult instruction with commands such as “stand up”, “come here”, and
responding to his name. He can receptively identify over 150 pictures and objects, and is
beginning to label many of these items. Much of Kyle’s language is echoic and his spontaneous
language is often unintelligible. Kyle enjoys playing with the iPad, but his interests are intensely
focused on games such as Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja. He does enjoy the app, “The Monster at
the End of This Book” and is able to independently “turn pages” of this story on the iPad.
Literacy Model:
Following the framework outlined in “Literacy for Students with Severe
Disabilities, What Should We Teach and What Should We Hope to Achieve?” by Diane
Browder, et al. (2009), I will discuss the guidelines for literacy instruction and planning that is
the focus of this project. As depicted in Figure 1 (271), it is essential for teachers to explore and
create opportunities for all students to have access to and participate in meaningful, appropriate
reading instruction. Considerations should be made in terms of adapted books, scheduling time
for literacy, technology, and pairing readers with reading partners, including classmates,
teachers, and parents (271). In addition, just being able to read the words independently or aloud
does not necessarily mean that the student comprehends what they have read. Providing
opportunities to assess text awareness, vocabulary understanding, listening comprehension,
phonemic awareness and phonics are all integral components of literacy. Interestingly, in Figure
2 (271), Browder and colleagues visually represent the stages of literacy emphasis. For example,
during the elementary years, more emphasis is placed on decoding and learning “how to read”,
than actually the functional task of reading. As the child ages to secondary school, less emphasis
is placed on phonics, phonemic awareness and vocabulary, but more emphasis is placed on
comprehension, problem-solving, and real-world application. Finally, accessing literature and
opportunities for literacy is of equal importance throughout the ages. This figure adequately
describes the framework of teaching literacy to students across the school years.
Summary of Findings: In the following chart, utilizing the Browder framework, I will examine
and dissect Kyle’s typical day of opportunities to access literacy, both in the community, at
school, and during his ABA programming session.
Area of Assessment
Current opportunities to
access literature
Strategies/Outcomes/Observations
SCHOOL
-drive to/from school- Mom points out signs such as RR
crossings, Burger King etc
-Kyle identifies picture of himself on coat hook/cubby while
hanging up backpack and coat
-circle time- themed storybook reading (ex: “The Very Hungry
Caterpillar” for insect theme
-calendar time- students have visuals of days of the week, month
of the year, weather and discussion with visuals and some text to
supplement information
-Roll Call- student has opportunity to identify with visuals which
classmates are absent/present in class
-Materials- all student-accessible materials (bins of blocks, train
sets, play kitchen) are labeled with Boardmaker pictures and
small text
-Visual schedules are used for transitions
ABA Center-based program
-student has picture with name printed on hook/folder for
materials
-Student has regularly-scheduled time to access center library and
interact with books- currently adult supported at this time for
listening to story, pointing to pictures, student turns pages.
-Student has discrete-trial training of letter identification
(currently labeling uppercase letters, receptively identifying
lowercase letters)
-Student is practicing identifying and writing name in print
-Student has access to stories on iPad and interacts with
pages/illustrations for cause/effect teaching
-Social stories are created and utilized for teaching routines (dirty
shoes are ok, toileting)
-Experience books are created with child based on outings such as
playground, grocery store, park, etc.
Instruction focused on
accessing literature
SCHOOL
-Kyle’s IEP states “ [Kyle] identifies all primary colors and
secondary colors. He names all uppercase letters of the alphabet
out of sequence, sings the alphabet song, tracking with a pointer
as he very softly sings. At this time he is not identifying
lowercase letters or letter sounds. He traces his name but has
difficulty following the highlighted letters.
IEP Goals:
-Child will identify the 26 lowercase letters and sound
correspondence using Zoo-Phonics curriculum when presented
animal/letter card. -Child will identify his name from a field of 3
other names starting with the same first and second letter as his.
Opportunities within Instruction
-Zoophonics curriculum and group instruction yields instruction
toward IEP goal of recognizing uppercase and lowercase letter
and learning phonemic awareness and phonics
-Circle time- recognizes visuals of classmates, toys, activities.
Follows a visual schedule nicely- Verbally repeats days of week
(no special attention paid to text words for days of the week,
month)
-Circle story time- “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”- teacher reads
aloud and points to pictures- counting aloud with children
echoing/counting along. No accessible text provided.
Reading instruction
SCHOOL
Circle story time- child attends with occasional adult support
throughout story. Often needs gestural or verbal prompt to
maintain attention for longer than 5 minutes. No choice given to
students for story selection observed, nor was there opportunity
for students to independently explore the books given during
observed time.
Zoophonics- child participates with gross motor movements
paired with animal sounds (A= Ally alligator (arms extended
straight forward like alligator mouth – clap-clap-clap). Visuals
and motor movements enhance this instruction,
Opportunity to
apply/generalize reading
skills
Reading performance level
of student
-Pairing text with visuals and gradually increasing size of text and
minimizing pictures will fade picture dependence and increase
text information (Pair child’s name with chair during circle, on
coat hook, by picture for roll call- not just picture)
-Zoophonics concept could be generalized across activities and
environments (ex: transition to playground or items around the
room, home or center. Find items that start with A (apple,
airplane) substitute for Ally the Alligator and pair with gross
motor movement)
-Build in time for student to independently (with minimal adult
support) access books including books on tape, books created
with PowerPoint (AIM), books on IPAD, picture books, pop-up
books, texture books, etc.
-At school and home, build in time to access library, explore
books with adult support, and even learn the check-out process
-Build in story time within bedtime routine to increase access and
exposure to books. Allow child to pick out books to read
-Build in activities such as phonics with magnetic letters, token
systems- etc. (Currently we are working on a token system of
reinforcement at the center. Kyle earns a token which is currently
a BM picture of a train or car. He earns a token (picture) with a
correct response, and places the token on his token board. After
he has filled three token places, he earns the item that he has
selected in the fourth box (usually IPAD or swing). Instead of
using pictures, we can incorporate the letters of his name into the
tokens. For example, first token could be “K”, then for the next
correct response he earns “y”, “l”, and “e”. Once he completes
his name, we briefly instruct on name awareness and phonics, and
he earns his reinforcer.
-Activities that check for comprehension such as two photos
placed in front of child. Adult reads caption “The boy is putting
on his coat.” Child points to picture which demonstrates this
action.
-Pictures paired with text for common items in the house such as
window, door, refrigerator, toilet, mirror, etc) just to increase
exposure to text
Kyle relies primarily on pictures and verbal instructions for
information. Across environments, there is not a lot of focus on
printed words at this time. He is, however, able to recognize
some fairly abstract pictures as items (stick figures, blackened
outlines, etc). As mentioned, he struggles with identifying
lowercase letters and his name in print, as well as having no
phonemic instruction. He is a strong imitator, and follows
familiar and novel single-step instructions. He is not yet
answering wh- questions. He can label over 150 picture cards
and objects, and understands a “First____- Then____” visual for
transitions and instruction. Kyle does know that a book is for
reading, and will independently orient the book in the right
direction, turn pages, and point to pictures, then look expectantly
at an adult to label the picture for him if he doesn’t know the
word. If he knows the name of the item, he will independently
label the picture, and then turn the page. He had difficulty
following a finger pointing to text while being read to, but will
attend to highlighted text on the IPAD while listening to “The
Monster at the End of the Book.” He knows some environmental
symbols such as a stop sign and McDonald’s sign. He is not yet
consistently finding personal objects labeled with name in text
only, but will orient to carpet square and coat hook with his
picture on it.
Recommendations: Based on the above observations and Kyles assessment results, the
following recommendations of literacy access and instruction were developed.
1) Given Kyle’s engagement with highlighted text on an iPad, adult will provide a minimum of 5
books/stories using iPad, BookShare, CAST, or create books utilizing PowerPoint or other
technology. When provided with these accessible books and technology, Kyle will be selected in
circle group to “read aloud” to his class by activating the highlighting and text to speech feature.
Kyle can also be paired with a peer and share his story with his partner. Visuals and/or tangibles
will be provided for classmates to interact and follow along with Kyle’s story.
2) Within Kyle’s regular routine, at least an hour per week, across various settings (school,
home, or center) will dedicate time to explore library and books. Child can attend story time at
the public library every Friday from 10:00-11:15, at which time Kyle can interact with peers and
books. Adult will fade supports as arrangements are made for peers to read to Kyle, and Kyle to
use his iPad to read to his peers. Story time will be built into routine at home before bedtime and
once with his brother. Kyle will also have opportunities to read to his brother and mom utilizing
technology from his classroom. In addition, Kyle will share his story at the center with his 1:1
trainer, and will create an experience book to share with his classmates and family about his trip
to the public library for children’s story time. Instruction will continue on letter and name
identification, as well as phonemic awareness. By not only increasing the amount of
opportunities for Kyle to access literacy, but also to increase the quality of those interactions by
providing technology and meaningful application with peers and stories of interest, Kyle has
more exposure and practice of reading skills and to develop a sense of importance and enjoyment
with reading.
Reflection: Fortunately with the Children’s Autism Waiver, I get an opportunity to spend quite
a bit of time with each of the children participating in the program. The expectation is to
develop meaningful goals that address a variety of needs, while fading supports and prompts, but
still moving the program along as the child’s needs change. While I do get to lead instruction for
the center-based program, I do not get a lot of opportunity to observe the child in his school
setting. I am invited to IEP meetings, and invite school staff to Kyle’s IFSP meetings. We have
a collaborative, positive working relationship, sharing goals and progress with each other on a
regular basis, but it is not always feasible to observe the child in other settings.
Observing Kyle in his preschool environment was a little disheartening. While we have
the luxury of intensive 1:1 instruction, and a controlled environment, the preschool is subject to
behaviors of other children, bells, fire drills, and therapists coming and going, removing children
periodically throughout the day. I was surprised at the lack of focus on reading and pre-reading
skills in his short time in his classroom. Watching Kyle interact and engage in the gross motor
movements of the Zoophonics program gave me so ideas to replicate in the center-based program
as mentioned in my summary of findings, but I was surprised to discover that the children at this
age do not have regular outings to the school library, or much opportunity to explore books with
adult supports. Seeing how Kyle responds to technology, however, did provide me with some
ideas for peer interaction and instruction, as well as different formats to teach phonics and letter
recognition, as well as comprehension. Finally, I feel that observing how little time Kyle has
access to printed children’s books has helped me realize that this is an area that we can
emphasize in our program. He is at a point for program modification due to his recent mastery
of several of his programs, and building in opportunities for him to complete daily reports to
share with his mom, explore a keyboard with letters, and more instruction with books is a nice
way to generalize the skills we teach in a discrete trial manner. Fortunately, Kyle has another
two and a half years on the CAW, so I am hopeful we can address these literacy issues with
success.
Works Cited:
Browder D., Gibbs, S., Ahlgrim-Delzell, L., Courtade, G., Mraz, M., Flowers, C.
(Sept/Oct 2009). Literacy for Students with Severe Disabilities What Should We Teach
and What Should We Hope to Achieve? Remedial and Special Education, 30. 5, 269279.