The "Wh" Questions of Visual Phonics: What, Who, Where, When, and Why

Abstract

Visual Phonics is a reading instructional tool that has been implemented in isolated classrooms for over 20 years. In the past 5 years, several experimental studies demonstrated its efficacy with students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Through a national survey with 200 participants, this study specifically addresses who, where, how, and why a sample of teachers use Visual Phonics in their everyday reading instruction. Through checklists of teaching practice, rating scales, and open-ended questions, teachers self-reported their use of Visual Phonics, reflected upon its efficacy, and what they think about using it with students with a diverse set of instructional needs. The majority reported that Visual Phonics was easy to use, engaging to students, and easy to integrate into a structured reading curriculum. The majority of respondents agreed that it helps increase phonemic awareness and decoding skills, build vocabulary, as well as increase reading comprehension. The implications of these findings in bridging the research-to-practice gap are discussed.

“For a Long Time Our Voices have been Hushed”: Using Student Perspectives to Develop Supports for Neurodiverse College Students

“…Autistic adults may be particularly unprepared to engage in self-advocacy, as they tend to be less involved in their own transition planning relative to students with other disabilities (Fiedler and Danneker, 2007; Shogren and Plotner, 2012). Approximately 77% of autistic high school students play a very limited or no role in planning for the post-secondary school transition compared to 47% of students with intellectual disabilities and 27% of students with all other disabilities except intellectual disabilities.…”

Διερεύνηση Των Παραγόντων Που Σχετίζονται Με Την Κατανόηση Της Ανάγνωσης Των Κωφών Και Βαρήκοων Μαθητών

“…Δθηφο απφ ηελ ελεξγφ ζπκκεηνρή ησλ γνληψλ, βαζηθή πξνυπφζεζε γηα ηελ εθκάζεζε ηεο αλάγλσζεο είλαη η καηάκηηζη εκθπαζηικών και ανηιληπηικών γλωζζικών δεξιοηήηων (είηε πξνθνξηθήο είηε λνεκαηηθήο γιψζζαο). Απφ ηε ζηηγκή πνπ ζα ρηηζηνχλ ηα ζεκέιηα ζηε γιψζζα, νη ππφινηπεο δεμηφηεηεο πνπ απαηηνχληαη γηα ηελ αλάγλσζε κπνξνχλ λα δηδαρζνχλ θαη λα θαηαθηεζνχλ (Narr & Cawthon, 2011). Η θαηάθηεζε θάπνηαο γιψζζαο, αθφκα θη αλ δελ είλαη ίδηα κε ηε γιψζζα ηνπ γξαπηνχ ιφγνπ, είλαη θαιχηεξε απφ ην λα κελ έρεη θαηαθηήζεη ην παηδί θακία απνιχησο γιψζζα (Bunch, 1987, Perfetti & Sandak, 2000, Goldin-Meadow & Mayberry, 2001, Luetke-Stahlman & Nielsen, 2003.…”