Communication and Emergent Literacy:
Early Intervention Issues
What Is Emergent Literacy?
Session 4
Early Intervention Training Center for Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute, 2005
Objectives
After completing this session, participants will
1. define emergent literacy as the
developmental process that begins at birth
whereby children acquire the foundation for
reading and writing.
2. describe two important models of emergent
literacy.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4A
Objectives
After completing this session, participants will
3. identify six key components of emergent
literacy for children with disabilities: oral
language, phonological awareness,
concept development, knowledge of the
conventions of print/braille and of
print/braille intentionality, alphabetic
knowledge, and environmental factors.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4B
Objectives
After completing this session, participants will
4. define oral language, including listening
comprehension, vocabulary, and narrative
knowledge, and describe how it is related to
reading and writing.
5. define phonological awareness, including
phonemic awareness, as a metalinguistic
process that contributes to emergent
literacy and literacy.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4C
Objectives
After completing this session, participants will
6. discuss concept development, including the
formation of schemas, and how it relates to
emergent literacy.
7. describe knowledge of the conventions of
print/braille and print/braille intentionality
and their relationship to reading and writing.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4D
Objectives
After completing this session, participants will
8. define alphabetic knowledge and describe
its contribution to reading and writing.
9. describe the relationship between
environmental factors, including the
communicative, situational, and
sociocultural contexts within which literacy
develops, and literacy.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4E
Objectives
After completing this session, participants will
10. describe effective early intervention
practices for facilitating emergent literacy as
collaborative and family-centered,
developmentally appropriate, and based on
evidence-based and recommended
practices to achieve functional outcomes
within naturally occurring learning
opportunities.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4F
Objectives
After completing this session, participants will
11. describe strategies and interventions to
facilitate emergent literacy—play, routinesbased literacy, responsive literacy
environments, shared storybook reading
(especially dialogic reading, storybook
preview, and storybook sounds),
storytelling, and dialogue and how they
facilitate the development of six key
components of emergent literacy for young
children with disabilities.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4G
Objectives
After completing this session, participants will
12. describe assessments that can be used to
identify, plan, and implement emergent
literacy interventions.
13. discuss the potential impact of visual
impairments on emergent literacy, the
challenge of determining whether children
will be print or braille readers, and
considerations for providing appropriate
adaptations that will facilitate emergent
literacy in these children.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4H
Emergent Literacy
Begins at Birth
• Emergent literacy is the developmental
•
process that begins at birth whereby children
acquire the foundation for reading and writing.
“The term ‘emergent literacy’ is used to
denote the idea that the acquisition of literacy
is best conceptualized as a developmental
continuum, with its origins early in the life of a
child, rather than as an all-or-none
phenomenon that begins when children start
school” (p. 848).
Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4I
Emergent Literacy is
Appropriate for all Children
• Disability, as well as the reactions of others
•
to disability, can result in fewer opportunities
for children to experience literacy.
Children with disabilities, including children
with visual impairments, can and do
experience literacy success when provided
with appropriate support and modifications.
Koppenhaver, Coleman, Kalman, & Yoder, 1991
Marvin & Mirenda, 1993
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4J
Family Literacy
• Families are essential to emergent literacy
development.
• Reading and writing are usually first
introduced to children in the home.
• Researchers have repeatedly found that the
home literacy environments of toddlers and
preschoolers have measurable effects on
later literacy skills.
Marvin & Mirenda, 1993;
Payne, Whitehurst, & Angell, 1994;
Rosenkoetter & Barton, 2002; Weinberger, 1996
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4K
Family Literacy
Characteristics
Family and environmental characteristics that
are related to literacy include
• a variety of literacy activities in the home
(e.g., many books and writing materials that
are used regularly),
• language and vocabulary used in the home,
• opportunities for children to learn about
people and activities, and
• high parental expectations for child literacy.
Bennett, Weigel, & Martin, 2002
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4L
Concurrent and Interrelated
Development of Literacy
Emergent literacy is based on the idea “that
reading, writing, and oral language develop
concurrently and interdependently from an
early age from children’s exposure to
interactions in the social contexts in which
literacy is a component, and in the absence of
formal instruction” (p. 849).
Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4M
The Interrelationships of
Literacy Development
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4N
Interrelated Development of
Communication and Literacy
Young children’s abilities to
• listen,
• read,
• write, and
• speak (or use augmentative communication
devices)
develop concurrently and interrelatedly.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy?
4O
Function and Form
• Literacy tasks have both functions and forms.
• The function of writing a note to a family
member can take many forms, such as
writing with a pen or brailling with a slate and
stylus.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4P
Functional Literacy Events
• Functions and forms of literacy are equally
•
•
important in the development of reading and
writing.
Young children learn the forms and functions
of literacy concurrently through functional
literacy experiences (e.g., writing a grocery
list with a parent before going grocery
shopping).
Isolated practice of literacy forms (e.g.,
writing the letter g repeatedly on the braille
writer) would not be as meaningful as writing
a note to a beloved family member.
Koppenhaver et al., 1991
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4Q
Two Important Models
of Emergent Literacy
• Whitehurst and Lonigan (1998, 2002)
• Sénéchal, LeFevre, Smith-Chant, and Colton
(2001)
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4R
Whitehurst and Lonigan’s Two
Domains of Emergent Literacy
Whitehurst and Lonigan (1998) propose that
emergent literacy consists of two
interdependent sets of skills and processes:
• outside-in
• inside-out
as well as a third group of “other factors.”
Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998; 2002
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4S
Outside–in Domain
The outside-in domain refers to children’s
knowledge of the context (i.e., the meanings of
words, concepts about the world, how
narratives are structured) in which reading and
writing exist.
Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998; 2002
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4T
Inside-out Domain
The inside-out domain refers to children’s
understanding of the rules (i.e., that letters form
words, that letters represent sounds, that
punctuation marks carry meaning) for
translating print into sounds or sounds into print.
Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998; 2002
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4U
Whitehurst and Lonigan’s
Domains of Emergent Literacy
•
•
Outside-in domain
 Knowledge about the conventions of print
 Emergent reading (pretending to read)
 Narrative knowledge
 Language (vocabulary)
Inside-out domain
 Alphabetic knowledge
 Letter-sound knowledge
 Emergent writing (pretending to write)
 Phonological awareness (metalinguistic skills)
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998, p. 850
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4V
Whitehurst and Lonigan’s
Model of Emergent Literacy
“Other factors” include
• phonological memory (short-term memory for
phonologically coded information),
• rapid naming (ability to quickly say aloud a
list of letters, numbers, or colors), and
• print motivation (interest in reading and
writing).
Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998, p. 850
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4W
Whitehurst and Lonigan:
Environmental Factors
Whitehurst and Lonigan also emphasize the
relationships of the home literacy environment
to later reading and writing, particularly early
shared reading and components of emergent
literacy, such as
• language development,
• conventions and intentionality of print, and
• print motivation.
Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4X
Sénéchal, LeFevre,
Smith-Chant, and Colton
Sénéchal et al. (2001) propose that literacy
evolves from skills and abilities that form three
separate, but related, constructs:
• emergent literacy,
• language, and
• metalinguistic skills.
Sénéchal, LeFevre , Smith-Chant, & Colton, 2001
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy?
4Y
Sénéchal et al. Versus
Whitehurst and Lonigan
• Aspects of Sénéchal et al.’s model of literacy
closely resemble those of Whitehurst and
Lonigan’s.
• Whereas Whitehurst and Lonigan propose
outside-in and inside-out domains, Sénéchal
et al. propose emergent conceptual
knowledge and emergent procedural
knowledge.
Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998; 2002
Sénéchal, LeFevre , Smith-Chant, & Colton, 2001
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4Z
Sénéchal et al.’s Model of
Emergent Literacy
•
•
Emergent conceptual knowledge (i.e., knowing why)
 Knowledge about the acts of reading and writing
 Knowledge about the functions of literacy
 Self-perception of learning to read
 Emergent reading in context
Emergent procedural knowledge (i.e., knowing how)
 Preconventional spelling in a variety of situations
 Letter knowledge
 Letter-sound knowledge
 Word reading (with help)
Sénéchal, LeFevre , Smith-Chant, & Colton, 2001
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4AA
Sénéchal et al. Versus
Whitehurst and Lonigan
Whereas Whitehurst and Lonigan include such
categories as language (vocabulary) and
phonological awareness (metalinguistic skills)
as components of emergent literacy, Sénéchal
et al. identify two constructs as distinct from
emergent literacy:
• language and
• metalinguistic skills.
Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998; 2002
Sénéchal, LeFevre , Smith-Chant, & Colton, 2001
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4BB
Language and Metalinguistic
Skills Constructs
Language
• Narrative
knowledge
• Vocabulary
• Listening
comprehension
Metalinguistic
Skills
• Phonological
awareness
• Syntactic
awareness
Senechal et al., 2001, p. 448
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4CC
National Early Literacy Panel
(NELP)
The mission of the NELP is to
•
•
summarize research on early literacy
development that will contribute to education
policy and practice decisions and
evaluate the role of teachers and families in
supporting language and literacy development
in order to create literacy-specific materials and
staff development programs for families,
educators, and family literacy practitioners.
Strickland & Shanahan, 2004
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4DD
NELP’s 11 Predictors
of Literacy Success
•
•
•
•
•
•
oral language/
vocabulary
listening
comprehension
print knowledge
environmental
print
alphabetic
knowledge
invented spelling
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
• phonemic
•
•
•
•
awareness
phonological shortterm memory
rapid naming
visual perceptual
skills
visual memory
Strickland & Shanahan, 2004
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4EE
Key Components of
Emergent Literacy for Young
Children With Disabilities
• Oral language (especially listening
•
•
•
•
•
comprehension, vocabulary, and narrative
knowledge)
Phonological awareness
Concept development
Knowledge of the conventions of print/braille
and of print/braille intentionality
Alphabetic knowledge
Environmental factors
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4FF
Oral Language
• Oral language is spoken communication.
• Children’s mastery of oral language is most
often measured by


listening comprehension or
size of vocabulary.
• Oral language can also be measured by
degree of mastery of grammar and syntax.
Strickland & Shanahan, 2004
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4GG
Grammar and Syntax
• Grammar refers to the system of rules that
govern a language.
• Syntax refers to the system of rules that
govern, for a given language, how words are
arranged to make meaningful sentences.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4HH
Listening Comprehension
Listening comprehension
• is the understanding of spoken
communication, including vocabulary and
syntax.
• is associated with the ability of preschoolers
and kindergartners to decode texts and read
with comprehension.
• can be facilitated through conversations with
children and through their active engagement
during storybook reading.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
Strickland and Shanahan, 2004
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4II
Vocabulary
• Vocabulary refers to the words used and
•
•
•
understood by a language user.
Vocabulary development in children is related
to the conversation of caregivers and to
storybook reading—opportunities that promote
oral language.
Vocabulary can be facilitated through direct
experiences that develop concepts.
Vocabulary is related to reading success and
reading comprehension in school.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4JJ
Narrative Knowledge
• Narrative knowledge is a set of expectations,
or knowledge, about the ways in which
stories conventionally proceed.
• For example, through experience, young
children learn that stories often begin with
“Once upon a time” and end with “The end.”
• Narrative knowledge is also called “narrative
schema” or “story schema.”
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4KK
Oral Language
Young children’s oral language, including
listening comprehension, may be influenced by
environmental factors such as
• family values, socio-economic status, and
culture;
• family’s vocabulary and language use;
• maternal education and IQ;
• number of books in the home;
• frequency of visits to library; and
• active participation in storybook reading.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4LL
Oral Language
Oral language
• is related to concepts about the world and
vocabulary that will help with reading
comprehension in second grade and beyond.
• promotes narrative knowledge.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4MM
Phonological Awareness
• Phonological awareness is the ability to
detect and manipulate the sound structures of
oral language.
• It includes the recognition that sentences are
composed of words and that words are
composed of sound units (syllables,
phonemes).
• Phonological awareness is metalinguistic.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4NN
Metalinguistics
• Metalinguistics is the study of language, not
just as a means of communication, but as its
own abstract entity.
• Metalinguistics involves consciously
observing or reflecting upon language use.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4OO
Phonological Awareness
• Phonological awareness includes children’s
ability to identify rhymes, delete or add
syllables or phonemes from words, and count
the phonemes in a word.
• Phonological awareness is related to the later
ability to decode words and to read fluently.
• Phonological awareness is also called
“phonological sensitivity.”
Whitehurst & Lonigan, 2002
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4PP
Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness is
• the ability to detect and manipulate the
smallest units of sound within words.
• a component of phonological awareness.
• demonstrated through the ability to isolate,
add, or delete phonemes from words.
• related to later ability to decode words and to
use invented spelling.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4QQ
Concept Development
• A concept is a general idea that develops
through repeated experiences with specific
events.
• Children need repeated experiences with
specific examples to generalize concepts.
Warren & Hatton, 2003
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4RR
Schema
Schemas
• are meaningfully organized cognitive
templates or frameworks, typically derived
from experience, that represent knowledge
about objects, people, events, activities, or
situations.
• help organize concepts so that they can be
retrieved efficiently; schemas assist in
predicting what is likely to happen in a given
context.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4SS
Concepts About the World
Gaining concepts about the world (schemas)
helps children understand concepts in books.
Making bread teaches children
many concepts. A book about
cooking will be enjoyed more
if children have previous
experiences with the concepts.
Rosenkoetter & Barton, 2002
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4TT
Conceptual Understanding
• Exposure to events in the home and
community is essential for building concepts
that support literacy.
• Frequent exposure to meaningful and
functional objects and experiences provides
the foundation for concept development,
communication, language, and literacy
development.
• Children with visual impairments may need
assistance in generalizing concepts.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy?
4UU
Conventions of Print/Braille
• Knowledge of the conventions of print/braille
refers to children’s understanding of standard
text formats (e.g., that texts are read from left
to right and from top to bottom; that books are
read from front to back; that pages are turned
during reading).
• Knowing the conventions of print/braille
facilitates literacy acquisition in young
children.
Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4VV
Conventions of Print/Braille
Books
• are generally made of paper, but can be
made of other materials;
• have pages to be turned;
• may contain words or pictures; and
• have pictures that represent familiar objects.
Harley, Truan, & Sanford, 1997
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4WW
Conventions of Print/Braille
Books
• have a top, bottom, front, and back.
• provide pleasure and information.
• have language that is consistent from page to
page.
• have print or braille symbols that read from
left to right and from top to bottom.
• have print or braille symbols that tell the
reader what to say.
Harley et al., 1997
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4XX
Print/Braille Intentionality
• Knowledge of print/braille intentionality refers
to children’s understanding of the functions
of texts—for example, that texts can tell
stories, give directions, and provide
information.
• Knowing why people read may facilitate
literacy acquisition in young children.
Senechal, LeFevre, Smith-Chant, & Colton, 2001
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4YY
Print/Braille Intentionality
Print/braille intentionality (also called print/braille
knowledge)
• is influenced by exposure to environmental
print, storybook reading, direct parent
teaching, and active involvement with
storybooks.
• is related to motivation to read and
understanding the process of reading.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4ZZ
Alphabetic Knowledge
• Alphabetic knowledge is the ability to name
the letters of the alphabet based on their
shapes.
• Children’s alphabetic knowledge may be
influenced by

exposure to the alphabet in their natural
environments and

direct teaching by adults.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4AAA
Alphabetic Knowledge
Alphabetic knowledge
• is related to the later ability to decode words
and to use invented spelling.
• may also be called “letter-name knowledge,”
“knowledge of graphemes,” and “knowledge
of letters.”
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4BBB
Environmental Factors
Emergent literacy is influenced by
environmental factors, or the contexts of
children’s lives.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4CCC
Environmental Factors
Literacy success in older children has been
linked to
• higher family socio-economic status,
• higher maternal education and IQ,
• high parental vocabulary and complex
language, and
• more books and literacy materials in
homes.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4DDD
Environmental Factors
Literacy success in older children has been
linked to
•
•
•
•
•
frequency of shared storybook reading,
active child participation in storybook
reading,
trips to the library,
parental enthusiasm for reading, and
high family expectations.
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4EEE
A Contextual Perspective of
Communication and Literacy
Speaking/Signing/AAC
Concept
Development
Writing
Reading
Listening/
Watching Signs
Communicative Context
Situational Context
Sociocultural Context
Early Intervention Training Center for
Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
FPG Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
August 1, 2005
Adapted from
Koppenhaver, D.A.,
Pierce, P.L.,
Steelman, J.D., &
Yoder, D.E. (1995).
Contexts of early
literacy intervention
for children with
developmental
disabilities. In M.E.
Fey, J. Windsor, &
S.F. Warren (Eds.),
Language
intervention:
Preschool through
the elementary years
(pp. 241-274).
Baltimore: Paul H.
Brookes.
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4FFF
Three Contexts
Three contexts influence communication
development:
• Communicative context—linguistic and
nonlinguistic interactions among children
and adults
• Situational context—physical characteristics
of children’s living and learning environments
• Sociocultural context—societal and cultural
values, expectations, beliefs, and resources
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4GGG
Communicative Context
The four interrelated modes of communication,
•
•
•
•
listening/watching signs,
reading,
writing, and
speaking/ signing/ using AAC devices,
depend heavily on concept development.
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4HHH
Emergent Literacy and
IDEIA 2004
The individualized family service plan (IFSP) for
infants and toddlers with disabilities should
include
measurable results or outcomes for infants or
toddlers and family, including preliteracy and
language skills, as developmentally appropriate
for the child, and the criteria, procedures, and
timelines used to determine the degree to which
progress toward achieving the results or
outcomes is being made and whether
modifications or revisions of the results or
outcomes or services are necessary. (IDEIA
2004, Part C, Section 631)
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4III
Recommended Practices
To facilitate emergent literacy in young children
with disabilities, early interventionists should
provide collaborative, family-centered support
that is developmentally appropriate and based
on evidence-based and recommended
practices that result in functional outcomes
within naturally occurring learning opportunities.
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4JJJ
Family-Centered and
Collaborative Practices
Interventions to facilitate emergent literacy
should be family centered:
• involve shared responsibility and
collaboration among all team members,
• strengthen family functioning,
• include individualized and flexible practices,
and
• employ strengths- and assets-based
practices.
Trivette and Dunst, 2005
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What is Emergent Literacy?
4KKK
Developmentally Appropriate
Practices
• Although most definitions of emergent
literacy recognize that it begins at birth, very
little is known about emergent literacy in
infants and toddlers.
• Consequently, many professionals and
families try to adapt information and research
about preschoolers and kindergarteners for
infants and toddlers.
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What is Emergent Literacy?
4LLL
Developmentally Appropriate
Practices
Therefore, until we have more empirically
based information, families, caregivers, and
professionals should
• use developmentally appropriate activities
that are functional and fun,
• use recommended practices from early
intervention and early childhood special
education, and
• carefully consider research and evidencebased practices that may be appropriate for
infants and toddlers.
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What is Emergent Literacy?
4MMM
Recommended Practices for
Child-Focused Interventions
Intervention that is child focused includes
• designing safe and accessible
environments that promote active and
interactive engagement,
• adapting practices to meet the individual
and changing needs of each child, and
• systematically promoting children’s learning
within and across environments, activities,
and routines.
Wolery, 2005
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What is Emergent Literacy?
4NNN
Recommended Practices for
Child-Focused Interventions
Child-focused interventions should promote
functional outcomes as identified by the Early
Childhood Outcome Center (2005):
• social interactions that provide the context
•
•
for meaningful communication and that
provide motivation for development across
domains,
active engagement in the world around
them, and
independence and self-efficacy.
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What is Emergent Literacy?
4OOO
Emergent Literacy
Interventions
Strategies and interventions to facilitate
emergent literacy facilitate the development of
the six key components of emergent literacy for
young children with disabilities:
• oral language,
• phonological awareness,
• concept development,
• knowledge of the conventions of print/braille
and print/braille intentionality,
• alphabetic knowledge, and
• rich literacy environments.
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4PPP
Strategies and Interventions to
Facilitate Emergent Literacy
Developmentally appropriate strategies and
interventions that promote functional outcomes
include
• play;
• routines-based literacy;
• responsive literacy environments;
• shared storybook reading (especially dialogic
reading, storybook preview, and storybook
sounds);
• storytelling, including decontextualized
language; and
• dialogue/conversation.
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4QQQ
Play
• Many emergent literacy interventions can be
•
•
•
encouraged through play.
Play is process oriented, not product
oriented.
Children learn through the process of playing,
not by creating a product or accomplishing a
task.
Play provides a developmentally appropriate
context for learning about the functions of
reading and writing.
McLane & McNamee, 1991
Roskos, Christie, & Richgels, 2003
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4RRR
Routines-Based Literacy
Lawhon and Cobb describe a literacy routine as
“the regular use of a variety of techniques to
enhance children’s abilities
• to listen,
• to observe,
• to imitate, and
• to develop their language, reading and writing
skills” (2002, p. 113).
Literacy routines should be integrated into the
context of daily routines.
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4SSS
Responsive Literacy
Environments
Responsive literacy environments include
experiences in which children
• observe adults modeling literate behaviors,
• interact with adults in reading and writing
situations, and
• explore literacy actively (self-initiated, handson, and independent exploration).
Teale & Sulzby, 1986
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Responsive Literacy
Environments
• The appropriateness, accessibility, and
number of literacy resources or artifacts
within children’s environments enhance
literacy modeling, interactions, and active
exploration.
• Responsive literacy environments help
children learn about the function of reading
and writing within day to day activities.
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Examples of Active and
Interactive Engagement
Seventeen-month-old
Allysandra and her mother
share a storybook.
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Here, at 22 months,
Allysandra explores a
book actively.
What Is Emergent Literacy? 4VVV
Shared Storybook Reading
Shared storybook
reading is
• evidence based,
• family centered,
• child centered, and
• developmentally
appropriate.
NAYEC, 1998
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4WWW
Shared Storybook Reading
Shared storybook reading helps children acquire
• oral language,
• phonological awareness,
• concept development,
• the conventions of print/braille and print/braille
intentionality, and
• alphabetic knowledge.
Shared storybook reading helps children to
develop a positive attitude about reading (i.e.,
gain print motivation).
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4XXX
Dialogic Reading
• Dialogic reading is a shared-reading technique
in which the adult assumes the role of an
active listener, and the child learns to become
a storyteller.
• In dialogic reading, the adult reader asks
questions, adds information, and prompts the
child to increase the sophistication of
descriptions in the book.
• The child’s responses are encouraged through
praise and repetition.
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Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998
What is Emergent Literacy?
4YYY
Dialogic Reading
• Dialogic reading produces greater effects on
children’s language skills than typical picture
book reading in which children listen
passively.
• It has been used successfully with children of
varying ages and abilities.
Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4ZZZ
Storybook Preview
• Storybook preview is the shared exploration
•
•
of the content of a book without
consideration of the storyline.
Children are given the opportunity to label
or describe illustrations of interest, ask
questions, and make comments to increase
narrative knowledge and vocabulary.
The caregiver’s role is to identify and
scaffold children’s communicative attempts.
McCathren & Allor, 2002
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4AAAA
Storybook Sounds
• Storybook sounds is an intervention that
focuses on the development of phonological
awareness.
• During shared storybook reading, caregivers
point out rhyming words or initial sounds.
• If children show an interest, caregivers can
make up little games to reinforce
phonological concepts.
McCathren & Allor, 2002
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4BBBB
Storytelling
Children who are told stories, whether fictional
ones or ones based on real-life experiences,
gain familiarity with decontextualized language.
For example, a parent who has just come home
from work uses decontextualized language to
describe what happened at the office earlier in
the day.
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4CCCC
Decontextualized Language
Decontextualized language refers to the
expression of ideas and concepts that are
removed from the immediate situation or
physical context.
Exposure to decontextualized language
facilitates children’s ability to recall events,
make predictions, ask and answer questions,
and problem-solve.
Bardige & Segal, 2004
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4DDDD
Dialogue/Conversation
• Young children who are exposed to a wide
variety of words in meaningful conversation
learn new words each day.
• When adults use a wide variety of descriptive
language, children pick up on the words and
learn their meaning in appropriate contexts.
Bardige & Segal, 2004
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4EEEE
Dialogue
• Children with larger vocabularies as
preschoolers become better readers and
writers.
• Children exposed to decontextualized
language often become more adept learners
in elementary school.
Bardige & Segal, 2004
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4FFFF
Assessment of Emergent
Literacy
• Current level of functioning descriptions of
•
•
communication and language can be used to
identify emergent literacy intervention goals for
children.
Assessment of family priorities, concerns, and
resources can also be used to identify
communication, language, and emergent
literacy priorities and goals.
Sensory assessments describe current levels
of visual and sensory functioning and sensory
preferences that can help guide intervention.
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4GGGG
Sensory Assessments and
Emergent Literacy
• Functional vision assessments, conducted by
•
teachers of children with visual impairments,
describe functional use of vision across
settings that can be used to identify
appropriate and accessible literacy media.
A developmentally appropriate learning media
assessment (DALMA) consists of interviews
and observations and is used to describe
children’s sensory behaviors and preferences.
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4HHHH
Developmentally Appropriate
Learning Media Assessment Tools
•
•
The Individual Sensory Learning Profile
Interview or ISLPI (Anthony, 2003a) includes
questions for caregivers about how a child with
visual impairments uses sensory information
during activities and routines.
The Observational Assessment of Sensory
Preferences of Infants and Toddlers With
Visual Impairments or OASP (Anthony, 2003b)
provides a framework for direct observations of
the child’s sensory behaviors.
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4IIII
Individual Sensory Learning
Profile Interview (ISLPI)
The ISLPI is used to secure information about
children’s sensory use through interviews with
caregivers and other team members. It provides
information about:
• response to visual stimuli;
• latency of visual response;
• preferences for auditory, vestibular, and
kinesthetic stimuli; and
• positioning preferences that support overall
sensory responsiveness.
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4JJJJ
Observational Assessment of
Sensory Preferences (OASP)
• Notes child’s sensory preferences through
observations across activities, settings, and
time
• Provides observational information about
how the child uses senses
• Compares sensory use in structured and
unstructured situations
• Notes motivating objects and activities and
preferences for certain toys and activities
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4KKKK
The Adult/Child Interactive
Reading Inventory (ACIRI)
The ACIRI
• is an authentic observation tool that
assesses interactions during shared
storybook readings.
• helps interventionists identify intervention
goals and strategies.
DeBruin-Parecki, 2000
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4LLLL
The Adult/Child Interactive
Reading Inventory (ACIRI)
The ACIRI assesses the following three
literacy categories through observation:
• enhancing attention to text,
• promoting interactive reading and
supporting comprehension, and
• using literacy strategies.
DeBruin-Parecki, 2000
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4MMMM
Kaderavek-Sulzby Bookreading
Observational Protocol (KSBOP)
The KSBOP is used to observe joint reading
behaviors of children and caregivers.
The KSBOP isolates four areas of shared
storybook reading:
• storybook selection,
• parent scaffolding,
• social-emotional climate, and
• verbal responsiveness.
Kaderavek & Sulzby, 1998
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4NNNN
Impact of Disabilities and VI on
Emergent Literacy
Early interventionists should carefully consider
children’s unique abilities and the impact they
may have on
• oral language (listening comprehension and
vocabulary development in particular),
• phonological awareness,
• concept development,
• knowledge of the conventions of print/braille
and of print/braille intentionality, and
• alphabetic knowledge.
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4OOOO
Concept Development
• Children with disabilities may have fewer
•
•
concepts about the world.
They may not readily grasp cause-and-effect
relationships, and they may not be motivated
to explore because they are unable to see the
enticing objects, people, and activities around
them.
Conceptual knowledge helps children
understand the content of stories and
conversation and is related to reading
comprehension in the second and later
grades.
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4PPPP
Responsive Caregiving
• Parents of children with disabilities are more
•
•
at risk for depression (Wheeler, Hatton,
Reichardrt, & Bailey, 2005).
Caregivers who are depressed are typically
not as responsive; therefore, children with
disabilities may have fewer literacy
opportunities.
Children with visual impairments often
provide subtle communication cues that are
difficult to interpret, thereby impeding
responsiveness.
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4QQQQ
Print/Braille Intentionality and
Alphabetic Knowledge
• Children with disabilities, and children with
•
•
visual impairments in particular, may not be
aware of the books, magazines, and writing
tools in their homes.
They may not be tuned into the literacy
activities that family members engage in, such
as reading the paper or writing checks.
Providing access to literacy materials in the
appropriate media and facilitating literacy
experiences promote print-braille intentionality
and alphabetic knowledge.
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4RRRR
Learning Media and
Emergent Literacy
• Determining a child’s primary literacy
•
•
medium or media is a complex process.
Intervention teams should carefully and
thoughtfully consider recommendations for
children’s primary literacy media.
If young children with visual impairments
have access to print and braille, the primary
literacy medium or media will probably
emerge naturally.
Craig, 1996
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4SSSS
Learning Media and
Emergent Literacy
• If children have a visual condition that results
in progressive vision loss or that may lead to
future vision loss, early exposure to braille
and tactile experiences should be provided.
• The developmentally appropriate learning
media assessment (DALMA) should be used
to provide ongoing guidance regarding
children’s current sensory preferences and
primary literacy medium or media.
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What Is Emergent Literacy? 4TTTT