Enhancing the Literacy Experience
for Students who are Deafblind
Presenter:
Deirdre Leech, M.Ed.
Perkins School for the Blind
Deafblind Program
Overview
• Literacy challenges for students with
Deafblindness and Multiple Disabilities
• Ideas on how to encourage other teachers of
Deafblind students to incorporate literacy into
the school day
• Several ways to adapt books for all types of
learners
What is literacy?
Old definition:
“ability to read and write”
New definition:
“Proficiency in understanding and using written as
well as spoken language as a reader, writer,
speaker, and listener. Literacy is an integrated
process which develops gradually from birth and is
built upon learning from broad experiences, linking
language with the development of concepts, and
providing exposure to the written word in a variety of
meaningful contexts” (Wright, 1997).
Goals of Reading & Writing
• Reading: for the reader to obtain
meaning from text and apply it to the world
and oneself.
• Writing: to communicate an individual’s
understanding of the world and themself
through written text.
(Koppenhaver, 2000)
Challenges
Children with Deafblindness have
limited opportunities for incidental
learning
•
•
•
•
•
Reduced exposure to literacy
Lack of early experiences
Read aloud to less
Lack of readily available materials
Motivation
Lack of Early Literacy Experiences
• Child may not oversee parents and siblings
reading newspapers, writing out grocery lists,
and reading books
• May not hear or process language in stories
being read aloud
• For medically fragile children, medical
interventions often take precedence over
other learning opportunities, including literacy
Lack of Early Literacy Experiences
Delayed concept development due to:
•
•
•
•
•
visual impairments
hearing impairments
motor impairments
health issues
behavioral issues
Lack of Exposure to
Stories Read Aloud
• Limited opportunity for reading time
• Limited access to appropriate print materials
• Access to dual media books
(Braille/Print/auditory/tactile)
• Limited sign language capabilities to
communicate the story
• Incorporating individual communication
strategies
“Reading aloud regularly to a child from infancy is the most important
factor in building a foundation for the enjoyment and success in
reading”
Lack of Motivation
• Child
• See no value in books or reading
• May only be motivated by music, sounds, flip-ups,
tactile components, movement
• Parents
• May not get enough feedback or response from
child
• May think story time is not enjoyable for child
• Teachers
• Time consuming to make materials
• Diversity of students in classroom
Motivating Books
What are some strategies to
incorporate literacy
throughout the school day
and at home?
Modify the environment
Exposure, exposure, exposure!
• Display visual, tactile, and sign language
alphabets
• Label the environment
• Use Bulletin boards
• Thematic Unit vocabulary, display favorite
books
• Organize room
• Accessibility to materials (height, distance)
• Name symbols (labeling, attendance cards)
Modify the Environment
Encourage Book Handling Skills
Books have:
•Top and bottom
•Front and back
•Title and Author
•We read print/Braille from left
to right, top to bottom
•Explore books through
touching and feeling
Have several options available
• A typical classroom has many shelves of
books for a child to choose from
• Children who are Deafblind do not have this
many choices available for many reasons
• Don’t just go to the library, create your own
personal library in classroom/home!
Reading Activities
Read aloud
Reading aloud regularly to a child from
infancy is the most important factor in
building a foundation for the
enjoyment and success in reading
Create Story Boxes & Literacy Kits
Story box includes:
Literacy Kit includes:
• Props related to the
story
• Adapted book(s)
• Story box
• Communication boards
• Extension activities
• Worksheets
• Games
• Electronic activities
• Assessment
• appropriate for each
student
• Switches
Story Boxes
Objects
only
Concrete
Repetitive
line picture
book with
objects
and
materials
Story
books with
materials
Curriculum
books with
materials
Abstract
Story Boxes and Literacy Kits
Story Boxes/Literacy Kits
Story Boxes/Literacy Kits
Supporting Activities
•
•
•
•
•
Preview & Review
Vocabulary
Book reports
Sentence starters
Questions
Curriculum activities
Expanded CORE
curriculum
Supporting Activities
Address the expanded
CORE curriculum
• Cooking recipe
related to book
• Community
experience
• Grocery shopping
• Special events
• Museums
Adapting Books
Student Considerations
•
•
•
•
•
Visual
Tactile
Physical
Cognitive
Lesson goals and objectives
Goals of the Lesson
• Teaching reading skills (decoding)
•
•
•
•
Simplified language
Length of text on each page
Material includes familiar vocabulary
Content is interesting
• Comprehension skills
• Use more listening (attention) skills
• Include picture and/or symbol support
• Assessment activity
Adapting books
• Modifications to the
TEXT
• Modifications to the
PICTURES
• Modifications to the
BOOK
Modifications to the TEXT
• Make text accessible by adding Braille
• Make text accessible by replacing smaller print with
enlarged print
• Provide contrast
• Simplify the content
• If student is not reading print or Braille at the level of the text
in the book
• Support print with picture or tactile symbols
Modifications to the TEXT
Modifications to the PICTURE
• Simplify the background
• Make accessible for student with CVI
• Highlight the main idea of the picture
• Provide tactile enhancement to the picture
Modifications to the BOOK
• Use cardboard to make pages thicker, easier to
manipulate, and more durable
• Add “page fluffers”
• Rebind the book so it stays open more easily
• Take pages out and put into protective sheets
• Laminate pages
• Tactile enhancements
Modifications to the BOOK
• Books that are on tape or CD can be adapted with a
switch so that a student can continue to read the
story by activating the switch
• Create an electronic version of the book
• Tape, CD, MP3
• PPT or other software
• Can be made accessible using a switch or touch-screen
Electronic Books
• Audiobooks
• On the computer
• Include animations
• Motivation
• Adapted with appropriate pictures and text
• Accessibility
• Attention
• Physical
• Cognition
Writing Activities
Make your own books
• Fun and engaging activity
• Promotes language skills
• Teaches books can be different:
• Shape and size
• have different parts (pages, cover, etc.)
• may contain pictures and writing
• Book skills
• read left to right
• Written by author
(Swenson, 1999, p.27)
Make Concept Books
• Create books that
describe abstract
ideas and objects
such as:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Actions
Emotions
Colors
Shapes
Size
Spatial relationships
Write Experience Stories Together
• Students participate in activities then write a story
based on the experience
• Stories incorporate real life experiences that may be
fun and memorable
• Experience stories can be written using objects,
pictures, print or any combination
• Experience stories can be reviewed at any time and
brought back out as routine/experience is repeated
Write Social Stories Together
• Definition
• Teaching a skill
• Stories incorporate real life experiences that may be
routines that are stressful and require desensitization
• Social stories can be reviewed at any time and
brought back out as routine/experience is repeated
• They evolve
Example Experience Story
Compose Journals/Home Books
• Develop memory skills: activities or events
that occurred earlier in the day are reviewed
and documented
• Writing may take form of objects, pictures,
line drawings, print, or voice output devices
• Take child’s communication mode/level into
consideration
Write letters together
• Writing letters is a motivating activity to
encourage and practice many literacy
skills.
• Sentence structure, Braille, vocabulary
• Letters can take shape in many
different formats including partial
objects, pictures, print, Braille, or any
combination of these.
Name Writing
For work samples, vocational jobs, signing cards:
•
•
•
•
•
Stencils
Name stamps
Stickers
Student’s initials
Tactile name symbol
Name Writing
Universal Access
• Write using symbols/text that the
student understands
• Objects, tactile symbols, Braille
• Pictures, MJ symbols, drawings, text
• Display “text” in an accessible format
• Slant board, book, sequence boxes
Universal Access
Incorporating Technology
• Computer access
• Reading
• Writing
• Communication devices
• Switches
“Researchers in the field of emergent
literacy define written language as
beginning at birth and continuing
throughout life. Consequently, written
language activities should not be withheld
while waiting for speech, language, and
cognition to reach a prerequisite level”
(Koppenhaver, 2000).
Functions of Reading and
Writing
Assessment Strategies
• Use meaningful activities
• Find ways to increase independence
• Assistive tech
• Design of the activity
• Teaching time vs assessment time
• Purposely change things and observe
• Invert letters, text, pictures, sentences
Positive Literacy Outcomes
•
•
•
•
•
•
Discover that books are fun
Foster a desire to read
Awareness that symbols represent meaning
Understand that stories come from print
Awareness of the structure of a story
Hearing “book language” as different from
“conversational language”
• Develop new vocabulary
• Learn book handling skills
(Stratton, 1996; Newbold, 2002)
What Now?
•
•
•
•
Prioritize what to do first
Meet with the team
Connect this to the IEP Goals
Try one thing; OK if it’s not perfect
before you try it out!
Every Child is a Potential
Reader
Questions, Comments &
Discussion
Thank you for Coming!
• Deirdre.Leech@perkins.org
Works Cited
•
•
•
•
Koppenhaver, D. 2000. Literay in AAC: What should be written on the
envelope we push? Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 16,
270-279.
Miles, B. 2000. Literacy for persons who are deaf-blind. Monmouth,
OR: DB-LINK: The National Information Clearinghouse on Children
Who Are Deaf-Blind.
Miller, Cyral. 2001. What is the Expanded Core Curriculum for Blind and
Visually Impaired Students? See/Hear.
Musslewhite, C. & King-DeBaun, P. (1997). Emergent Literacy
Success: Merging Technology and Whole Language for Students with
Disabilities. Park City, UT: Creative Communicating.
Newbold, S. 2000. Emergent literacy for young blind children. Phoenix:
The Foundation for Blind Children
Reading Language Arts: Shared reading. From the MCPS Early
Literacy Guide. Retrieved April 29, 2005, from
http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/english/shared_reading.ht
ml
Spadorcia, S. & Sturm. (2001). Literacy Kits. Adapted from K.
Erickson. Handout from Graduate Course: Emergent Literacy and
Numeracy Instruction for Children with Severe Special Needs
(ESPED 6127 Section 21). Lesley University, Cambridge, MA.
2003.
Stratton, J. 1996. Emergent literacy: A new perspective. Journal of
Visual Impairment and Blindness, 90(3), 177-18
Swenson, A. 1999. Beginning with braille: Firsthand experiences
with a balanced approach to literacy. New York: AFB Press.