INTRODUCTION This series of articles is specifically focused on the importance of providing emergent literacy instruction to student with signif- icant disabilities including cortical vision impairments (CVI) and complex communication needs (CCN). Emergent literacy instruc- tion is quite different from conventional literacy instruction. Con- ventional literacy instruction focuses on areas such as sight word identification, phonics, spelling and learning formal comprehen- sion strategies. Emergent literacy focuses on all of the foundation- al skills that precede conventional literacy, such as simply learn- ing that print carries meaning, how books work, what it means to be a writer and alphabet knowledge and sound awareness skills. Due to their vision, verbal and physical issues, students with CVI have had extremely limited experiences with reading, writing and language. Many of them clearly need rich emergent literacy com- prehensive instruction. Erickson (2017) suggests that emergent literacy comprehensive instruction should include: shared read- ing, independent reading, independent writing, alphabet instruc- tion and shared writing. Communication opportunities using AAC must be woven throughout each of these areas. Instruction needs to be designed in such a way that CVI does not become the gate- keeper, limiting literacy learning. This article, along with previous articles, focuses on how to provide such instruction for each one of the areas outlined by Erickson (2017) and expanded by Erick- son & Koppenhaver (2020). OVERVIEW OF CORTICAL VISION IMPAIRMENT CVI is a neurological disorder that impacts the visual process- ing of information in the brain. It is frequently undiagnosed or unrecognized due to multiple physical/cognitive impairments. In the past decade, knowledge about CVI has grown rapidly (Ro- man-Lantzy, 2018, 2019; Lueck & Dutton, 2015). Roman-Lantzy (2018) describes visual function through 10 CVI characteristics: color preferences, visual field preferences, need for light, need for movement, problems with visual complexity and visual nov- elty, problems with using vision to guide their reach, visual laten- cy, atypical visual reflexes and problems with distance viewing. Students can be assessed for the level of impact of each charac- teristic using the CVI Range Assessment Tool. The 10 character- istics can be used to guide intervention and instructional adap- tations. Each student will have different needs based on their characteristics. Students’ abilities within and across the char- acteristics can be used to describe the severity of CVI. In broad terms, Roman-Lantzy (2019) refers to three different phases of severity of CVI. Phase I, Building Visual Behaviors, describes students who have little functional use of their vision and are learning to simply use their vision to look at something. Phase II, Integrating Vision and Function, describes students who are learning about what they are looking at and attaching meaning. Phase III describes students who have a great deal of vision but require specific instructional support as they are Developing Vi- sual Curiosity. To date, this series on providing emergent literacy
instruction for students with significant disabilities, including cortical visual impairment, has introduced readers to compre- hensive emergent literacy instruction (Hanser, Musselwhite, & Wagner, 2019a), provided strategies for one component of com- prehensive emergent literacy – predictable chart writing (Hans- er, Musselwhite, & Wagner, 2019b), discussed setting the stage for augmentative communication (Wagner, Hanser, & Mussel- white, 2020) and delved more deeply into complexity issues for students with CCN and CVI (Howery & Barros, 2020). ALPHABET KNOWLEDGE AND PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS OVERVIEW Alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness instruc- tion are two components of comprehensive emergent literacy instruction (Erickson & Koppenhaver, 2020). These two areas are grouped together because they are highly connected and both are crucial to becoming conventional readers and writers. Developing alphabet knowledge supports phonological aware- ness and vice versa. Alphabet Knowledge Alphabet knowledge includes a range of understandings about the alphabet: the ability to distinguish letter shapes, name them, write them and identify the sounds they represent (Erickson & Koppenhaver, 2020, p. 34). As Sheldon & Erickson assert, ‘Knowledge of the alphabet is the foundation of conven- tional reading and writing' (2020, p. 17). Phonological Awareness Phonological awareness is a multilevel skill of breaking down sounds in words into smaller units and has been described as the single best predictor of early reading performance’ (Gillon, 2018). This term represents the conscious sound awareness of words in a sentence, syllables, rhymes, first letter or blends in a syllable (onsets), word families (rimes) and then of each indi- vidual sound (phonemic awareness). Erickson & Koppenhaver explain that it ‘refers to the ability to identify and manipulate sounds in spoken language’ (2020, p. 34).
INSTRUCTIONAL CONSIDERATIONS
Don’t Let Vision Become the Gatekeeper Vision is not a prerequisite for participation in emergent liter- acy activities. It is important that professionals do not limit liter- acy activities to only what the student is working on seeing. A wide range of emergent literacy concepts can be learned with- out vision. Sighted communication partners and students with- out visual impairments use shared referencing through visual channels. For students with CVI, interactions that foster learning and growth will need to reflect how they process information and share what they know. Individual letters (or words that have been outlined in a preferred color) can be used as single objects
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