Supporting Alphabet Knowledge and Phonological Awareness for

SUMMARY Students with complex communication needs including CVI, face significant challenges when it comes to meaningful liter- acy learning. When designing instruction, professionals must recognize the role of emergent literacy in providing a neces- sary foundation. Comprehensive emergent literacy instruction is made up of many different components, including shared reading, independent reading, predictable chart writing, inde- pendent writing, alphabet knowledge and phonological aware- ness, each strongly supported by the use of AAC for students with complex communication needs. Historically, the areas of alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness have been treated more mechanically and have been taught through a rote trials format, disconnected from the other crucial concepts of emergent literacy, such as the purpose of letters and sounds, what they mean and how they are used in reading and writing. However, viewed from an emergent literacy perspective, litera- cy instruction should be done in a highly interactive and social format where these concepts can be taught through different activities. Alphabet and phonological awareness can be taught using a balance between short, focused, explicit lessons, and instruction that is embedded in daily activities, such as shared reading. There also needs to be a balance between when stu- dents use their vision for learning and when learning can be auditory and tactile; it is important that vision doesn’t become a gatekeeper to higher level literacy concepts. Ultimately, alpha- bet knowledge and phonological awareness are necessary foun- dational skills. However, they have little value unless students are given regular opportunities to apply what they have learned during daily emergent reading and writing activities. To make all of this come together, professionals will need a basic set of student tools: letter cards with appropriate visual adaptations, a method for the student to access alphabet books, an alterna- tive pencil with the appropriate visual adaptations, and a way to communicate. Now, pick an activity and it’s time to clap, rap, dance and sing!

Yolanda has ‘stacked the deck’ with about 80% cards that start with /m/ words. Each learner draws a card, and they see who has the ‘odd sound out.’ That person gets to hit a voice output device that calls out ‘wah wah wah.’ Ramona uses an All-Turn-It Spinner from Ablenet Inc to ‘draw’ her card. Ms. Yolanda gives feedback to learners to help them figure it out without provid- ing too much help. Alliteration Awareness: Match Initial Sounds Match Initial Sounds means that the learner tells us which word starts with the same sound as a target sound (“Which one begins with the same sound as mat?”). Sample instructional tasks for students with CVI are described below. Find Your Animal. This is a fun activity that SLP Roberta does with groups that are working on matching initial sounds. Learn- ers are told that they are going to find the matching animal, and to listen for an animal with the same initial sound: “Which animal begins with the same sound as Carmen?” Roberta calls out a few animals, and Carmen uses her device to tell her ‘That’s the one.’ Carmen selects ‘horse’ and Roberta gives her informative feed- back: “Listen: Carmen / horse, horse / Carmen. Do they sound the same at the beginning?” If Carmen says yes, Roberta repeats the pairing, then says “Carmen starts with the /k/ sound. Let’s listen for /k/ at the beginning of horse, /k/ - horse. I don’t hear the /k/ sound. Let’s try another.” Alliteration Awareness: Initial Sound Sorts The task for Initial Sound Sorts is to figure out ‘Which one starts like run and which one starts like kite?’ An instructional task for students with CVI is described below. Name Sorts: Pick names of two learners in the class and set up an initial sound sort activity. For example, the first time she did this, Ms. Brenda picked the names Molly and Supna, because each name starts with a continuing sound (a sound that can be drawn out) and she knew those would be easier for her students. She made a chart with Molly / Supna. Then she put cards in the hat picturing words that started with the /m/ or /s/ sound. She pulled cards out and asked learners to tell her where to put each one. Rajit is a 12 year old with Phase III CVI. He is sometimes able to quickly recognize pictures (e.g., cat, milk, sun), so his aide encourages him to try the activity first without having her name the word out loud. She does remind him to ‘say it to yourself’ be- fore asking him where to put the card. Staff gives Rajit informa- tive feedback whether he is right or wrong in where to place the card. If he is wrong, they first make sure that he knows what the picture represents (e.g., ‘milk’ rather than ‘box’). If he knows the name of the picture, but still places it with the wrong word (e.g., puts ‘milk’ under that name ‘Supna’), they give him informative feedback about the initial sound in each word.

RESOURCES / CREATIVITY TOOLS: Alternative Pencils - Alternative pencil downloads:

• The Center for Literacy and Disability Studies — https:// www.med.unc.edu/ahs/clds/alternative-pencils/ Dynamic Learning Maps - https://www.dlmpd.com/writ- ing-resources/ AAC Intervention: www.aacintervention.com • ABC Order Direct Select (Tip 1, 2017)

• QWERTY Order Direct Select (Tip 2, 2017) • How To Use Alternative Pencils (July, 2014)

Light Tech Tools All-Turn-It Spinner available from https://www.ablenetinc. com/all-turn-it-spinner

BACK TO CONTENTS

Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator