For students with disabilities, many encounter difficulties with literacy development. However, when literacy skills are taught in conjunction with assistive technologies including AAC, improvements with word recognition, spelling, and expressive communication have been witnessed (Fenlon, McNabb, & Pidlypchak, 2010, p. 43)
Augmentative Communication Community Partnerships CANADA supplies teachers with Early Literacy resources that can be used when working with students with communication delays or disabilities. Teachers have access to:
· Assessment tools, including a literacy environment checklist, that can be implemented in order document literacy opportunities, team needs, parent needs, and student behaviours and goals
· Tools and strategies developed in order to support literacy development in the classroom
Literacy Instruction for Individuals with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, and Other Disabilities is a Penn State website that provides teachers with information on what literacy skills to teach as well as how to teach them using assistive technology. In addition, teachers are able to view videotaped examples of literacy instruction to students with disabilities. Some of the literacy skills addressed include:
· Sound blending
· Decoding
· Shared reading
Assistive Technology for Reading
“To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.” Victor Hugo
The one skill that has direct impact on every area of a student’s education is READING. The National Reading Panel identified five areas that are essential for children to become proficient readers, they include:
· Phonemic awareness – understanding the sounds of language
· Phonics – recognizing the correspondence between sounds and letters
· Fluency – reading orally with speed, accuracy, and expression
· Comprehension – understanding the meaning of text
· Vocabulary – understanding the meaning of words in print and orally
The following link has detailed information on these topic areas and the summary report by the Panel.
Next Steps – The problem has been identified, now what are teachers to do? If using technology as an instructional tool no longer meets the needs of the student, is it time to switch to AT as a compensatory tool? (Edyburn, 2003) When the decision has been made to use AT for reading, the following link suggests modification strategies to assist the classroom teacher in tailoring the tool to fit the individual.
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