Introduction

Let's Begin with a Quiz

Take this quiz to see how much you know about teaching literacy to students with disabilities.

Instructions: Read each question and choose the best answer.

Debunking the Myth

Students with disabilities are often perceived to be unable to read, write, learn, and understand. Even highly-educated people and service providers can be prone to this misconception.

Sitting with an audience of graduate-level students, speech-language clinicians, and teachers for disabled students, Dr. David Yoder, Director Emeritus at the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill asked, "How many of you believe the persons for whom you are providing services can learn to read and write?" Only 20-30% of the participants raised their hands (2001). Reasons such as "speech is a prerequisite to reading" were given, despite the fact that people who are mute or minimally-verbal have proven to be able to read, write, learn, and understand.

Literacy is for everyone, and not only for a select few. It is our belief that, provided with a supportive environment and knowledgeable teacher, everyone can learn to read and write. It is our hope to educate service providers and family members that all students, even those with significant disabilities, can read, write, learn, and understand. It is time to debunk the myth that "students with disabilities cannot learn" once and for all!

Everyone Can Learn to

Read and Write

We believe that all everyone can learn to read and write. Our main problem is our limited conceptions of reading and writing. Every student should be able to master some form of symbolically mediated communication that will allow them to interact meaningfully with other people.

Click on the arrow!

Everyone can learn to read and write. Erickson and Koppenhaver (2020) uses emergent literacy (a term used to describe children's experiences of reading and writing experiences before they learn how to read and write conventionally) to explain that "individuals with even the most significant disabilities begin to make progress toward becoming independent readers, writers, and symbolic communicators when given appropriate support and experience over time" (p. 4).

Emergent literacy skills progress when students have the opportunities to:

  1. be engaged in using reading and writing in real-world contexts;

  2. have access to explore forms of print work to develop understandings of its uses and functions; and

  3. interact with literate others to gain a better understanding of reading and writing experiences.

Comprehensive emergent literacy instruction is a set of experiences that lead to the development of print concepts, alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, language comprehension, and communication skills. Students should be given opportunities every day to engage in purposeful reading and writing experiences such as shared reading, shared writing, alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness, independent reading, and independent writing.

Emergent literacy experiences are important first steps that lead to independent reading and writing. Conventional literacy and communication skills enable individuals with significant disabilities to "experience increased autonomy, self-advocacy, and human connection. They and we will be richer for it" (p. 14).


"Progress begins when learning opportunity begins" (p. 6).

__________


"Emergent literacy is highly dependent on the nature, frequency, accessibility, and interpretability of experiences with print" (p. 7).

Setting Up the Conditions for Learning

"Students with significant disabilities need teachers who understand that learning is not dependent on perfectly functioning bodies" (p. 17).


It is important to establish an environment for successful literacy learning. Students with significant disabilities successfully learn to read and write by having the following conditions:

  1. "Knowledgeable others

  2. Means of communication and interaction

  3. Repetition with variety

  4. Cognitive engagement

  5. Cognitive clarity

  6. Personal connection to the curriculum

  7. Encouragement of risk-taking

  8. Comprehensive instruction

  9. Significant time allocation

  10. High expectations" (p. 16)


"Ultimately, a learning failure is a singular instance best characterized as a teaching failure" (p. 30).


The time needed for literacy learning each day is approximately 2 or more hours. When provided with a supportive literacy learning environment, students with even the "most significant disabilities can and do learn to read, write, and communicate, and their lives are qualitatively different as a result" (p. 30).

The United States has the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and the Literacy Bill of Rights to ensure that "all persons, regardless of the extent or severity of their disabilities, have a basic right to use print" (p. 28).