Emergent Literacy in Early Childhood Special Education

Abstract

The purpose of Project I.E.P. (Intervention for Early Progress) was to discover whether young children with handicaps who were exposed to structured, print-rich environments with opportunities to engage in a variety of preliteracy and literacy experiences would develop behaviors indicative of early “reading'' and “writing.'' Thus, Project I.E.P. sought to replicate emergent literacy studies previously conducted with youngsters with and without handicaps. The results of a year-long study confirm the findings of an exploratory investigation in emergent literacy conducted with very young children with handicaps. Emergent literacy behaviors were developed in a group of children ( n = 14; mean CA = 5.4) identified as having special needs who were exposed to numerous structured literacy activities every day. A statistically significant difference in concepts of print from pre- to posttest between experimental and control groups was found. The children's independent book interactions were found to progress in complexity and sustained attention, and they demonstrated a marked preference for certain types of books in the classroom library over the period of study. Finally, the “writing'' behaviors of participants also increased in complexity, variety, and structure over the period of the study. Theoretical and practical implications for how we view literacy development in general, as well as how and when special education literacy programs are implemented, are considered.

Using Clicker 5 to Enhance Emergent Literacy in Young Learners

“…When compared to typical learners, young children who are at-risk or have disabilities may require more intensive interventions to acquire emergent literacy skills (Cook, Klein, & Tessier, 2004;Katims, 1991;Lerner, Lowenthal, & Egan, 2003;Phillips, Clancy-Menchetti, & Lonigan, 2008). For a variety of reasons, computer based emergent literacy activities may be especially effective with these challenged learners.…”

Interpreting writing of children with intellectual disabilities: A comparative study

“…Palavras-chave: literacia emergente, deficiência cognitiva, estudos comparados sobre literacia. INTRODUCTION Although number of studies (Vieira de Figueiredo Boneti, 1995;Cousin, Aragon & Rojos, 1993;Katims, 1991Katims, , 1994Katims, , 2001Klenk, 1994;Gomes & Vieira de Figueiredo, 2003;Vieira de Figueiredo, 2004) point at the benefits that children with intellectual disabilities can obtain from literacy, specially on the subject of their independence within their communities, the research on emergent reading among them seems rather scarce compared with research on reading among with children without intellectual disabilities. Ferreiro and Teberosky (1986) studied emergent written language among children.…”

Teaching Word Recognition to Young Children Who Are at Risk Using Microsoft® PowerPoint™ Coupled With Direct Instruction

“…Emergent literacy refers to the reading and writing behaviors of young children that serve as prerequisites for reading and writing (Justice 2006;Katims 1991;Lerner et al 2003). The literacy experiences of preschool children have a significant effect on their later abilities to read and write on entering public school settings (Justice 2006;National Reading Panel 2000;Pierce and McWilliam 1993).…”

“…The literacy experiences of preschool children have a significant effect on their later abilities to read and write on entering public school settings (Justice 2006;National Reading Panel 2000;Pierce and McWilliam 1993). Although many emergent literacy skills are acquired through active engagement in daily, meaningful activities and communication interactions with others, young children who are at risk (i.e., from non-white and/or low SES backgrounds, or who have difficulty learning to read) often (a) have difficulty with development of such skills (Cook et al 2004;Katims 1991; van Kleeck 1990); and (b) may not benefit from traditional emergent literacy instructional strategies as they progress in school (Snow et al 1998). Thus, many of these children will require intensive reading interventions (Torgeson et al 2001), including systematic and explicit instruction of emergent literacy skills before formal reading instruction can take place (Adams 2001;Katims 1991;Lerner et al 2003).…”