Emergent Literacy Skills of Students who are Deafblind

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Emergent Literacy Skills of Students who are
Deafblind

• Dr. Amy R. McKenzie
• Florida State University
• CARD Conference
• January 21, 2006

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Presentation Outline

• What is Literacy?
• Current Research
• Assessment
• Environments
• Activities and Strategies
• IEPs
• Teacher Perceptions
• Conclusion

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What is Literacy?
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Three Facets of Literacy

• Emergent Literacy
• Academic Literacy
• Functional Literacy

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Emergent Literacy

• Emergent literacy is the process of developing
  literacy that begins at birth and ends when
  children begin to engage in conventional or
  functional reading and writing (Sulzby Teale,
  1991)

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Academic Literacy

• The basic reading and writing skills taught in a
  conventional literacy medium during elementary
  and middle school years (Koenig Holbrook, p.
  265, 2000)

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Functional Literacy

• The application of literacy skills and the use
  of a variety of literacy tools to accomplish
  daily tasks in the home, school, community and
  work setting (Koenig, 1992).

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Literacy for Students Who Are Deafblind

• A broader definition of literacy is needed due to
  the fact that
• Not all students will be traditional readers and
  writers, but they will have literacy!
• Communication is often the primary need of
  students with multiple disabilities.
• A variety of communication modes are used by
  students with multiple disabilities.

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A Broader Definition of Literacy

• literacy is communication especially when the
  concepts and issues are applied to students with
  visual impairments and additional disabilities.
  In this respect, then, literacy is the most basic
  foundation for all learning, for receiving and
  imparting information, and for initiating
  interactions with others.

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A Broader Definition of Literacy

• What is more important for students with visual
  multiple disabilities is that literacy opens
  the doors to personal relationships, shared
  interests, leisure activities, learning
  strategies, partial to full independence at home
  and in the community, and vocational
  possibilities
• (Langley, 2000, p. 1)

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Five Areas of Literacy

• Reading is the complex, recursive process through
  which we make meaning form texts using semantics
  syntax visual, aural and tactile clues context
  and prior knowledge (p. 75).
• Writing is the use of a writing system or
  orthography by people in the conduct of their
  daily lives to communicate over time and space.
  It is also by the process or results of recording
  language graphically by hand or other means, as
  by the use of computers or braillers (p. 77).

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Five Areas of Literacy

• Speaking is the act of communicating through such
  means as vocalization, signing or using
  communication aids such as voice synthesizers (p.
  75).
• Listening is attending to communication by any
  means includes listening to vocal speech,
  watching signing, or using communication aids (p.
  73).
• Viewing is attending to communication conveyed by
  visually representation (p. 76).

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Expanding the Framework

• The conceptual framework for literacy must be
  expanded beyond academic reading writing!

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Current Research
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Current Research

• Emergent literacy opportunities for students who
  are deafblind
• Investigated
• Environment
• Activities and strategies
• IEPs and Assessments
• Professional Perception

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Assessment
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Assessment is Key!

• For students who are deafblind, an initial
  Learning Media Assessment is the key to
  determining whether a student should learn
  braille, print, or both
• The decision must be an informed decision of the
  entire team

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Assessment is Key!

• Certified Teachers of Students with Visual
  Impairments perform Learning Media Assessments
• The assessment evaluates
• Students preferred sensory channel
• Type of literacy program

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Environments
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Environments Organization

• Print rich environment with extensive labeling
• Organization of the classroom into areas or
  centers
• Centers or areas should be labeled in an
  appropriate and accessible format
• Each center should contain literacy props, or
  literacy related items for reading, writing and
  communicating

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Environments Centers

• Classroom Library or Book Center
• Writing Center
• Dramatic Play or Daily Living Skill Centers
• Block and Puzzle Centers
• Math and Science Centers

• Listening Center
• Art/Tactile Center
• Music Center
• Class Large Group Area

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Environments Centers

• All centers must include literacy props that are
  appropriate for the students who is deafblind,
  based on assessment results
• For example, a writing or office center would
  include a braille writer for a student who will
  be learning braille

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Activities and Strategies for Fostering Early
Literacy
Note The following fostering early literacy
information in the following section was
developed by Dr. M. Cay Holbrook Dr. Alan J.
Koenig (2002)
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Fostering Early Literacy

• Four main areas of focus
• Providing enriched early experiences
• Reading aloud
• Shared reading
• Providing early literacy experiences

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Providing Enriched Experiences

• Home, school and community
• Students must be active participants in the
  experience!
• Ensure that students are using a variety of
  senses during the experience.

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Providing Enriched Experiences

• In sequential experiences, students should be
  involved start to finish.
• Provide accurate consistent vocabulary
  throughout the experience.

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Reading Aloud

• Read early and read often!
• Choose books that are interesting to your
  students are based on real life experiences.

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Reading Aloud

• Pick a daily time for reading aloud make it part
  of a routine. Talk about reading!
• Make the reading aloud process as multi-sensory
  as possible!

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Shared Reading

• Shared reading is the process of an adult and a
  student reading together in some capacity.
• Use stories with predictable patterns or a
  repeated story line, as well as familiar stories
  or rhymes.

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Shared Reading

• Make the reading aloud process as multi-sensory
  as possible!
• Use alternative or augmentative communication
  systems as part of shared readings.

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Provide Literacy Experiences

• Including
• Experience stories
• Book bags or boxes
• Shared writing or scribbling

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Experience Stories

• Joint story writing process based on an activity
  or event experienced by the student.

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Experience Stories

• Arrange an experience.
• Take time throughout the experience to explore
  using all senses collect artifacts.
• Sit down with the student and write a story based
  on the experience.
• Turn the story into a book and read!

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Books Bags or Boxes

• Bags or boxes with objects associated with a book
  or story.
• Use the objects while reading the book or story
  either in a reading aloud or shared reading
  experience.
• The type of objects should be based on students
  communication needs!

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Shared Writing or Scribbling

• Shared writing or scribbling is a vital component
  of literacy development.
• Model writing for student at any given moment.
• Have plenty of paper, crayons, pencils, paints
  and a braillewriter in a location accessible to
  students in a variety of locations.

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Unique Needs of Students who are Deafblind

• Also consider the following to be literacy
  experiences
• Activity or Schedule Calendars
• Choice Boards

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IEPs
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IEPs

• Although teachers are working on so many of the
  skills and activities suggested in the previous
  sections, they are not being highlighted a
  emergent literacy activities and skills in IEP
  development.
• As a field, we need to change this!

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Teacher Perceptions
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Teacher Perceptions

• The perceptions of teachers who work with
  students who are deafblind varies in terms of
  their thoughts on what entails emergent literacy.
  

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Teacher Perceptions

• For students who are deafblind, we are often so
  focused on their uniqueness that we forget that
  they are children who have the same developmental
  needs as other children.

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Conclusion
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Conclusion

• We all have to step outside of the box when it
  comes to our philosophies and teaching of
  literacy to students with multiple impairments.
• We are implementing many strategies that
  encourage emergent literacy development we just
  need to realize it!