What Is Emergent Literacy? Session 4

1
What Is Emergent Literacy?Session 4
Communication and Emergent Literacy Early
Intervention Issues
Early Intervention Training Center for Infants
and Toddlers With Visual Impairments FPG Child
Development Institute, 2005
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Objectives

• After completing this session, participants will
• define emergent literacy as the developmental
  process that begins at birth whereby children
  acquire the foundation for reading and writing.
• describe two important models of emergent
  literacy.

4A
3
Objectives

• After completing this session, participants will
• identify six key components of emergent literacy
  for children with disabilities oral language,
  phonological awareness, concept development,
  knowledge of the conventions of print/braille and
  of print/braille intentionality, alphabetic
  knowledge, and environmental factors.

4B
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Objectives

• After completing this session, participants will
• define oral language, including listening
  comprehension, vocabulary, and narrative
  knowledge, and describe how it is related to
  reading and writing.
• define phonological awareness, including phonemic
  awareness, as a metalinguistic process that
  contributes to emergent literacy and literacy.

4C
5
Objectives

• After completing this session, participants will
• discuss concept development, including the
  formation of schemas, and how it relates to
  emergent literacy.
• describe knowledge of the conventions of
  print/braille and print/braille intentionality
  and their relationship to reading and writing.

4D
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Objectives

• After completing this session, participants will
• define alphabetic knowledge and describe its
  contribution to reading and writing.
• describe the relationship between environmental
  factors, including the communicative,
  situational, and sociocultural contexts within
  which literacy develops, and literacy.

4E
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Objectives

• After completing this session, participants will
• describe effective early intervention practices
  for facilitating emergent literacy as
  collaborative and family-centered,
  developmentally appropriate, and based on
  evidence-based and recommended practices to
  achieve functional outcomes within naturally
  occurring learning opportunities.

4F
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Objectives

• After completing this session, participants will
• describe strategies and interventions to
  facilitate emergent literacyplay, routines-based
  literacy, responsive literacy environments,
  shared storybook reading (especially dialogic
  reading, storybook preview, and storybook
  sounds), storytelling, and dialogue and how they
  facilitate the development of six key components
  of emergent literacy for young children with
  disabilities.

4G
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Objectives

• After completing this session, participants will
• describe assessments that can be used to
  identify, plan, and implement emergent literacy
  interventions.
• discuss the potential impact of visual
  impairments on emergent literacy, the challenge
  of determining whether children will be print or
  braille readers, and considerations for providing
  appropriate adaptations that will facilitate
  emergent literacy in these children.

4H
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Emergent LiteracyBegins at Birth

• Emergent literacy is the developmental process
  that begins at birth whereby children acquire the
  foundation for reading and writing.
• The term emergent literacy is used to denote
  the idea that the acquisition of literacy is best
  conceptualized as a developmental continuum, with
  its origins early in the life of a child, rather
  than as an all-or-none phenomenon that begins
  when children start school (p. 848).
• Whitehurst Lonigan, 1998

4I
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Emergent Literacy is Appropriate for all Children

• Disability, as well as the reactions of others
  to disability, can result in fewer opportunities
  for children to experience literacy.
• Children with disabilities, including children
  with visual impairments, can and do experience
  literacy success when provided with appropriate
  support and modifications.
• Koppenhaver, Coleman, Kalman, Yoder, 1991
• Marvin Mirenda, 1993

4J
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Family Literacy

• Families are essential to emergent literacy
  development.
• Reading and writing are usually first introduced
  to children in the home.
• Researchers have repeatedly found that the home
  literacy environments of toddlers and
  preschoolers have measurable effects on later
  literacy skills.
• Marvin Mirenda, 1993
• Payne, Whitehurst, Angell, 1994
• Rosenkoetter Barton, 2002 Weinberger, 1996

4K
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Family Literacy Characteristics

• Family and environmental characteristics that
• are related to literacy include
• a variety of literacy activities in the home
  (e.g., many books and writing materials that are
  used regularly),
• language and vocabulary used in the home,
• opportunities for children to learn about people
  and activities, and
• high parental expectations for child literacy.
• Bennett, Weigel, Martin, 2002

4L
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Concurrent and Interrelated Development of
Literacy

• Emergent literacy is based on the idea that
• reading, writing, and oral language develop
• concurrently and interdependently from an
• early age from childrens exposure to
• interactions in the social contexts in which
• literacy is a component, and in the absence of
• formal instruction (p. 849).
• Whitehurst Lonigan, 1998

4M
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The Interrelationships ofLiteracy Development
4N
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Interrelated Development of Communication and
Literacy

• Young childrens abilities to
• listen,
• read,
• write, and
• speak (or use augmentative communication
• devices)
• develop concurrently and interrelatedly.

4O
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Function and Form

• Literacy tasks have both functions and forms.
• The function of writing a note to a family member
  can take many forms, such as writing with a pen
  or brailling with a slate and stylus.

4P
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Functional Literacy Events

• Functions and forms of literacy are equally
  important in the development of reading and
  writing.
• Young children learn the forms and functions of
  literacy concurrently through functional literacy
  experiences (e.g., writing a grocery list with a
  parent before going grocery shopping).
• Isolated practice of literacy forms (e.g.,
  writing the letter g repeatedly on the braille
  writer) would not be as meaningful as writing a
  note to a beloved family member.
• Koppenhaver et al., 1991

4Q
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Two Important Modelsof Emergent Literacy

• Whitehurst and Lonigan (1998, 2002)
• Sénéchal, LeFevre, Smith-Chant, and Colton (2001)

4R
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Whitehurst and Lonigans Two Domains of Emergent
Literacy

• Whitehurst and Lonigan (1998) propose that
• emergent literacy consists of two
• interdependent sets of skills and processes
• outside-in
• inside-out
• as well as a third group of other factors.
• Whitehurst Lonigan, 1998 2002

4S
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Outsidein Domain

• The outside-in domain refers to childrens
• knowledge of the context (i.e., the meanings of
• words, concepts about the world, how
• narratives are structured) in which reading and
• writing exist.
• Whitehurst Lonigan, 1998 2002

4T
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Inside-out Domain

• The inside-out domain refers to childrens
• understanding of the rules (i.e., that letters
  form
• words, that letters represent sounds, that
• punctuation marks carry meaning) for
• translating print into sounds or sounds into
  print.
• Whitehurst Lonigan, 1998 2002

4U
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Whitehurst and Lonigans Domains of Emergent
Literacy

• Outside-in domain
• Knowledge about the conventions of print
• Emergent reading (pretending to read)
• Narrative knowledge
• Language (vocabulary)
• Inside-out domain
• Alphabetic knowledge
• Letter-sound knowledge
• Emergent writing (pretending to write)
• Phonological awareness (metalinguistic skills)
• Whitehurst Lonigan, 1998, p. 850

4V
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Whitehurst and LonigansModel of Emergent
Literacy

• Other factors include
• phonological memory (short-term memory for
  phonologically coded information),
• rapid naming (ability to quickly say aloud a list
  of letters, numbers, or colors), and
• print motivation (interest in reading and
  writing).
• Whitehurst Lonigan, 1998, p. 850

4W
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Whitehurst and Lonigan Environmental Factors

• Whitehurst and Lonigan also emphasize the
• relationships of the home literacy environment
• to later reading and writing, particularly early
• shared reading and components of emergent
• literacy, such as
• language development,
• conventions and intentionality of print, and
• print motivation.
• Whitehurst Lonigan, 1998

4X
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Sénéchal, LeFevre,Smith-Chant, and Colton

• Sénéchal et al. (2001) propose that literacy
• evolves from skills and abilities that form three
• separate, but related, constructs
• emergent literacy,
• language, and
• metalinguistic skills.
• Sénéchal, LeFevre , Smith-Chant, Colton, 2001

4Y
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Sénéchal et al. VersusWhitehurst and Lonigan

• Aspects of Sénéchal et al.s model of literacy
  closely resemble those of Whitehurst and
  Lonigans.
• Whereas Whitehurst and Lonigan propose outside-in
  and inside-out domains, Sénéchal et al. propose
  emergent conceptual knowledge and emergent
  procedural knowledge.
• Whitehurst Lonigan, 1998 2002
• Sénéchal, LeFevre , Smith-Chant, Colton,
  2001

4Z
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Sénéchal et al.s Model of Emergent Literacy

• Emergent conceptual knowledge (i.e., knowing why)
• Knowledge about the acts of reading and writing
• Knowledge about the functions of literacy
• Self-perception of learning to read
• Emergent reading in context
• Emergent procedural knowledge (i.e., knowing how)
  
• Preconventional spelling in a variety of
  situations
• Letter knowledge
• Letter-sound knowledge
• Word reading (with help)
• Sénéchal, LeFevre , Smith-Chant, Colton, 2001

4AA
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Sénéchal et al. VersusWhitehurst and Lonigan

• Whereas Whitehurst and Lonigan include such
• categories as language (vocabulary) and
• phonological awareness (metalinguistic skills)
• as components of emergent literacy, Sénéchal
• et al. identify two constructs as distinct from
• emergent literacy
• language and
• metalinguistic skills.
• Whitehurst Lonigan, 1998 2002
• Sénéchal, LeFevre , Smith-Chant, Colton,
  2001

4BB
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Language and Metalinguistic Skills Constructs

• Language
• Narrative knowledge
• Vocabulary
• Listening comprehension

• Metalinguistic
• Skills
• Phonological awareness
• Syntactic awareness
• Senechal et al., 2001, p. 448

4CC
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National Early Literacy Panel (NELP)

• The mission of the NELP is to
• summarize research on early literacy development
  that will contribute to education policy and
  practice decisions and
• evaluate the role of teachers and families in
  supporting language and literacy development in
  order to create literacy-specific materials and
  staff development programs for families,
  educators, and family literacy practitioners.
• Strickland Shanahan, 2004

4DD
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NELPs 11 Predictorsof Literacy Success

• oral language/
• vocabulary
• listening
• comprehension
• print knowledge
• environmental
• print
• alphabetic
• knowledge
• invented spelling

• phonemic awareness
• phonological short-term memory
• rapid naming
• visual perceptual skills
• visual memory
• Strickland Shanahan, 2004

4EE
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Key Components of Emergent Literacy for Young
Children With Disabilities

• Oral language (especially listening
  comprehension, vocabulary, and narrative
  knowledge)
• Phonological awareness
• Concept development
• Knowledge of the conventions of print/braille and
  of print/braille intentionality
• Alphabetic knowledge
• Environmental factors

4FF
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Oral Language

• Oral language is spoken communication.
• Childrens mastery of oral language is most often
  measured by
• listening comprehension or
• size of vocabulary.
• Oral language can also be measured by degree of
  mastery of grammar and syntax.
• Strickland Shanahan, 2004

4GG
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Grammar and Syntax

• Grammar refers to the system of rules that govern
  a language.
• Syntax refers to the system of rules that govern,
  for a given language, how words are arranged to
  make meaningful sentences.

4HH
36
Listening Comprehension

• Listening comprehension
• is the understanding of spoken communication,
  including vocabulary and syntax.
• is associated with the ability of preschoolers
  and kindergartners to decode texts and read with
  comprehension.
• can be facilitated through conversations with
  children and through their active engagement
  during storybook reading.
• Strickland and Shanahan, 2004

4II
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Vocabulary

• Vocabulary refers to the words used and
  understood by a language user.
• Vocabulary development in children is related to
  the conversation of caregivers and to storybook
  readingopportunities that promote oral language.
• Vocabulary can be facilitated through direct
  experiences that develop concepts.
• Vocabulary is related to reading success and
  reading comprehension in school.

4JJ
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Narrative Knowledge

• Narrative knowledge is a set of expectations, or
  knowledge, about the ways in which stories
  conventionally proceed.
• For example, through experience, young children
  learn that stories often begin with Once upon a
  time and end with The end.
• Narrative knowledge is also called narrative
  schema or story schema.

4KK
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Oral Language

• Young childrens oral language, including
• listening comprehension, may be influenced by
• environmental factors such as
• family values, socio-economic status, and
  culture
• familys vocabulary and language use
• maternal education and IQ
• number of books in the home
• frequency of visits to library and
• active participation in storybook reading.

4LL
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Oral Language

• Oral language
• is related to concepts about the world and
  vocabulary that will help with reading
  comprehension in second grade and beyond.
• promotes narrative knowledge.

4MM
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Phonological Awareness

• Phonological awareness is the ability to detect
  and manipulate the sound structures of oral
  language.
• It includes the recognition that sentences are
  composed of words and that words are composed of
  sound units (syllables, phonemes).
• Phonological awareness is metalinguistic.

4NN
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Metalinguistics

• Metalinguistics is the study of language, not
  just as a means of communication, but as its own
  abstract entity.
• Metalinguistics involves consciously observing or
  reflecting upon language use.

4OO
43
Phonological Awareness

• Phonological awareness includes childrens
  ability to identify rhymes, delete or add
  syllables or phonemes from words, and count the
  phonemes in a word.
• Phonological awareness is related to the later
  ability to decode words and to read fluently.
• Phonological awareness is also called
  phonological sensitivity.
• Whitehurst Lonigan, 2002

4PP
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Phonemic Awareness

• Phonemic awareness is
• the ability to detect and manipulate the
• smallest units of sound within words.
• a component of phonological awareness.
• demonstrated through the ability to isolate, add,
  or delete phonemes from words.
• related to later ability to decode words and to
  use invented spelling.

4QQ
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Concept Development

• A concept is a general idea that develops through
  repeated experiences with specific events.
• Children need repeated experiences with specific
  examples to generalize concepts.
• Warren Hatton, 2003

4RR
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Schema

• Schemas
• are meaningfully organized cognitive templates or
  frameworks, typically derived from experience,
  that represent knowledge about objects, people,
  events, activities, or situations.
• help organize concepts so that they can be
  retrieved efficiently schemas assist in
  predicting what is likely to happen in a given
  context.

4SS
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Concepts About the World

• Gaining concepts about the world (schemas) helps
  children understand concepts in books.
• Making bread teaches children
• many concepts. A book about
• cooking will be enjoyed more
• if children have previous
• experiences with the concepts.
• Rosenkoetter Barton, 2002

4TT
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Conceptual Understanding

• Exposure to events in the home and community is
  essential for building concepts that support
  literacy.
• Frequent exposure to meaningful and functional
  objects and experiences provides the foundation
  for concept development, communication, language,
  and literacy development.
• Children with visual impairments may need
  assistance in generalizing concepts.

4UU
49
Conventions of Print/Braille

• Knowledge of the conventions of print/braille
  refers to childrens understanding of standard
  text formats (e.g., that texts are read from left
  to right and from top to bottom that books are
  read from front to back that pages are turned
  during reading).
• Knowing the conventions of print/braille
  facilitates literacy acquisition in young
  children.
• Whitehurst Lonigan, 1998

4VV
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Conventions of Print/Braille

• Books
• are generally made of paper, but can be made of
  other materials
• have pages to be turned
• may contain words or pictures and
• have pictures that represent familiar objects.
• Harley, Truan, Sanford, 1997

4WW
51
Conventions of Print/Braille

• Books
• have a top, bottom, front, and back.
• provide pleasure and information.
• have language that is consistent from page to
  page.
• have print or braille symbols that read from left
  to right and from top to bottom.
• have print or braille symbols that tell the
  reader what to say.
• Harley et al., 1997

4XX
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Print/Braille Intentionality

• Knowledge of print/braille intentionality refers
  to childrens understanding of the functions of
  textsfor example, that texts can tell stories,
  give directions, and provide information.
• Knowing why people read may facilitate literacy
  acquisition in young children.
• Senechal, LeFevre, Smith-Chant, Colton, 2001

4YY
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Print/Braille Intentionality

• Print/braille intentionality (also called
  print/braille
• knowledge)
• is influenced by exposure to environmental print,
  storybook reading, direct parent teaching, and
  active involvement with storybooks.
• is related to motivation to read and
  understanding the process of reading.

4ZZ
54
Alphabetic Knowledge

• Alphabetic knowledge is the ability to name the
  letters of the alphabet based on their shapes.
• Childrens alphabetic knowledge may be influenced
  by
• exposure to the alphabet in their natural
  environments and
• direct teaching by adults.

4AAA
55
Alphabetic Knowledge

• Alphabetic knowledge
• is related to the later ability to decode words
  and to use invented spelling.
• may also be called letter-name knowledge,
  knowledge of graphemes, and knowledge of
  letters.

4BBB
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Environmental Factors

• Emergent literacy is influenced by
• environmental factors, or the contexts of
• childrens lives.

4CCC
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Environmental Factors

• Literacy success in older children has been
• linked to
• higher family socio-economic status,
• higher maternal education and IQ,
• high parental vocabulary and complex language,
  and
• more books and literacy materials in homes.

4DDD
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Environmental Factors

• Literacy success in older children has been
• linked to
• frequency of shared storybook reading,
• active child participation in storybook reading,
• trips to the library,
• parental enthusiasm for reading, and
• high family expectations.

4EEE
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A Contextual Perspective of Communication and
Literacy

• Adapted from
• Koppenhaver, D.A., Pierce, P.L., Steelman, J.D.,
  Yoder, D.E. (1995). Contexts of early literacy
  intervention for children with developmental
  disabilities. In M.E. Fey, J. Windsor, S.F.
  Warren (Eds.), Language intervention Preschool
  through the elementary years (pp. 241-274).
  Baltimore Paul H. Brookes.

4FFF
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Three Contexts

• Three contexts influence communication
• development
• Communicative contextlinguistic and
  nonlinguistic interactions among children and
  adults
• Situational contextphysical characteristics of
  childrens living and learning environments
• Sociocultural contextsocietal and cultural
  values, expectations, beliefs, and resources

4GGG
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Communicative Context

• The four interrelated modes of communication,
• listening/watching signs,
• reading,
• writing, and
• speaking/ signing/ using AAC devices,
• depend heavily on concept development.

4HHH
62
Emergent Literacy and IDEIA 2004

• The individualized family service plan (IFSP) for
  infants and toddlers with disabilities should
  include
• measurable results or outcomes for infants or
  toddlers and family, including preliteracy and
  language skills, as developmentally appropriate
  for the child, and the criteria, procedures, and
  timelines used to determine the degree to which
  progress toward achieving the results or
  outcomes is being made and whether
  modifications or revisions of the results or
  outcomes or services are necessary. (IDEIA
  2004, Part C, Section 631)

4III
63
Recommended Practices

• To facilitate emergent literacy in young children
• with disabilities, early interventionists should
• provide collaborative, family-centered support
• that is developmentally appropriate and based
• on evidence-based and recommended
• practices that result in functional outcomes
• within naturally occurring learning opportunities.

4JJJ
64
Family-Centered and Collaborative Practices

• Interventions to facilitate emergent literacy
• should be family centered
• involve shared responsibility and collaboration
  among all team members,
• strengthen family functioning,
• include individualized and flexible practices,
  and
• employ strengths- and assets-based practices.
• Trivette and Dunst, 2005

4KKK
What is Emergent Literacy?
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Developmentally Appropriate Practices

• Although most definitions of emergent literacy
  recognize that it begins at birth, very little is
  known about emergent literacy in infants and
  toddlers.
• Consequently, many professionals and families try
  to adapt information and research about
  preschoolers and kindergarteners for infants and
  toddlers.

4LLL
What is Emergent Literacy?
66
Developmentally Appropriate Practices

• Therefore, until we have more empirically
• based information, families, caregivers, and
• professionals should
• use developmentally appropriate activities that
  are functional and fun,
• use recommended practices from early intervention
  and early childhood special education, and
• carefully consider research and evidence-based
  practices that may be appropriate for infants and
  toddlers.

4MMM
What is Emergent Literacy?
67
Recommended Practices for Child-Focused
Interventions

• Intervention that is child focused includes
• designing safe and accessible environments that
  promote active and interactive engagement,
• adapting practices to meet the individual and
  changing needs of each child, and
• systematically promoting childrens learning
  within and across environments, activities, and
  routines.
• Wolery, 2005

4NNN
What is Emergent Literacy?
68
Recommended Practices for Child-Focused
Interventions

• Child-focused interventions should promote
• functional outcomes as identified by the Early
• Childhood Outcome Center (2005)
• social interactions that provide the context for
  meaningful communication and that provide
  motivation for development across domains,
• active engagement in the world around them, and
• independence and self-efficacy.

4OOO
What is Emergent Literacy?
69
Emergent Literacy Interventions

• Strategies and interventions to facilitate
• emergent literacy facilitate the development of
  the six key components of emergent literacy for
  young children with disabilities
• oral language,
• phonological awareness,
• concept development,
• knowledge of the conventions of print/braille
• and print/braille intentionality,
• alphabetic knowledge, and
• rich literacy environments.

4PPP
70
Strategies and Interventions to Facilitate
Emergent Literacy

• Developmentally appropriate strategies and
• interventions that promote functional outcomes
• include
• play
• routines-based literacy
• responsive literacy environments
• shared storybook reading (especially dialogic
  reading, storybook preview, and storybook
  sounds)
• storytelling, including decontextualized
  language and
• dialogue/conversation.

4QQQ
71
Play

• Many emergent literacy interventions can be
  encouraged through play.
• Play is process oriented, not product oriented.
• Children learn through the process of playing,
• not by creating a product or accomplishing a
• task.
• Play provides a developmentally appropriate
  context for learning about the functions of
  reading and writing.
• McLane McNamee, 1991
• Roskos, Christie, Richgels, 2003

4RRR
72
Routines-Based Literacy

• Lawhon and Cobb describe a literacy routine as
• the regular use of a variety of techniques to
• enhance childrens abilities
• to listen,
• to observe,
• to imitate, and
• to develop their language, reading and writing
  skills (2002, p. 113).
• Literacy routines should be integrated into the
• context of daily routines.

4SSS
73
Responsive Literacy Environments

• Responsive literacy environments include
• experiences in which children
• observe adults modeling literate behaviors,
• interact with adults in reading and writing
  situations, and
• explore literacy actively (self-initiated,
  hands-on, and independent exploration).
• Teale Sulzby, 1986

4TTT
74
Responsive Literacy Environments

• The appropriateness, accessibility, and
  number of literacy resources or artifacts within
  childrens environments enhance literacy
  modeling, interactions, and active exploration.
• Responsive literacy environments help children
  learn about the function of reading and writing
  within day to day activities.

4UUU
75
Examples of Active and Interactive Engagement

• Here, at 22 months,
• Allysandra explores a book actively.

• Seventeen-month-old
• Allysandra and her mother
• share a storybook.

4VVV
76
Shared Storybook Reading

• Shared storybook
• reading is
• evidence based,
• family centered,
• child centered, and
• developmentally
• appropriate.
• NAYEC, 1998

4WWW
77
Shared Storybook Reading

• Shared storybook reading helps children acquire
• oral language,
• phonological awareness,
• concept development,
• the conventions of print/braille and
  print/braille intentionality, and
• alphabetic knowledge.
• Shared storybook reading helps children to
• develop a positive attitude about reading (i.e.,
• gain print motivation).

4XXX
78
Dialogic Reading

• Dialogic reading is a shared-reading technique in
  which the adult assumes the role of an active
  listener, and the child learns to become a
  storyteller.
• In dialogic reading, the adult reader asks
  questions, adds information, and prompts the
  child to increase the sophistication of
  descriptions in the book.
• The childs responses are encouraged through
  praise and repetition.
• Whitehurst Lonigan, 1998

4YYY
What is Emergent Literacy?
79
Dialogic Reading

• Dialogic reading produces greater effects on
  childrens language skills than typical picture
  book reading in which children listen passively.
• It has been used successfully with children of
  varying ages and abilities.
• Whitehurst Lonigan, 1998

4ZZZ
80
Storybook Preview

• Storybook preview is the shared exploration of
  the content of a book without consideration of
  the storyline.
• Children are given the opportunity to label or
  describe illustrations of interest, ask
  questions, and make comments to increase
  narrative knowledge and vocabulary.
• The caregivers role is to identify and scaffold
  childrens communicative attempts.
• McCathren Allor, 2002

4AAAA
81
Storybook Sounds

• Storybook sounds is an intervention that focuses
  on the development of phonological awareness.
• During shared storybook reading, caregivers point
  out rhyming words or initial sounds.
• If children show an interest, caregivers can make
  up little games to reinforce phonological
  concepts.
• McCathren Allor, 2002

4BBBB
82
Storytelling

• Children who are told stories, whether fictional
• ones or ones based on real-life experiences,
• gain familiarity with decontextualized language.
• For example, a parent who has just come home
• from work uses decontextualized language to
• describe what happened at the office earlier in
• the day.

4CCCC
83
Decontextualized Language

• Decontextualized language refers to the
• expression of ideas and concepts that are
• removed from the immediate situation or
• physical context.
• Exposure to decontextualized language
• facilitates childrens ability to recall events,
• make predictions, ask and answer questions,
• and problem-solve.
• Bardige Segal, 2004

4DDDD
84
Dialogue/Conversation

• Young children who are exposed to a wide variety
  of words in meaningful conversation learn new
  words each day.
• When adults use a wide variety of descriptive
  language, children pick up on the words and learn
  their meaning in appropriate contexts.
• Bardige Segal, 2004

4EEEE
85
Dialogue

• Children with larger vocabularies as preschoolers
  become better readers and writers.
• Children exposed to decontextualized language
  often become more adept learners in elementary
  school.
• Bardige Segal, 2004

4FFFF
86
Assessment of Emergent Literacy

• Current level of functioning descriptions of
  communication and language can be used to
  identify emergent literacy intervention goals for
  children.
• Assessment of family priorities, concerns, and
  resources can also be used to identify
  communication, language, and emergent literacy
  priorities and goals.
• Sensory assessments describe current levels of
  visual and sensory functioning and sensory
  preferences that can help guide intervention.

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Sensory Assessments and Emergent Literacy

• Functional vision assessments, conducted by
  teachers of children with visual impairments,
  describe functional use of vision across settings
  that can be used to identify appropriate and
  accessible literacy media.
• A developmentally appropriate learning media
  assessment (DALMA) consists of interviews and
  observations and is used to describe childrens
  sensory behaviors and preferences.

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Developmentally Appropriate Learning Media
Assessment Tools

• The Individual Sensory Learning Profile Interview
  or ISLPI (Anthony, 2003a) includes questions for
  caregivers about how a child with visual
  impairments uses sensory information during
  activities and routines.
• The Observational Assessment of Sensory
  Preferences of Infants and Toddlers With Visual
  Impairments or OASP (Anthony, 2003b) provides a
  framework for direct observations of the childs
  sensory behaviors.

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Individual Sensory Learning Profile Interview
(ISLPI)

• The ISLPI is used to secure information about
• childrens sensory use through interviews with
• caregivers and other team members. It provides
• information about
• response to visual stimuli
• latency of visual response
• preferences for auditory, vestibular, and
  kinesthetic stimuli and
• positioning preferences that support overall
  sensory responsiveness.

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Observational Assessment of Sensory Preferences
(OASP)

• Notes childs sensory preferences through
  observations across activities, settings, and
  time
• Provides observational information about how the
  child uses senses
• Compares sensory use in structured and
  unstructured situations
• Notes motivating objects and activities and
  preferences for certain toys and activities

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The Adult/Child Interactive Reading Inventory
(ACIRI)

• The ACIRI
• is an authentic observation tool that assesses
  interactions during shared storybook readings.
• helps interventionists identify intervention
  goals and strategies.
• DeBruin-Parecki, 2000

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The Adult/Child Interactive Reading Inventory
(ACIRI)

• The ACIRI assesses the following three
• literacy categories through observation
• enhancing attention to text,
• promoting interactive reading and supporting
  comprehension, and
• using literacy strategies.
• DeBruin-Parecki, 2000

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Kaderavek-Sulzby BookreadingObservational
Protocol (KSBOP)

• The KSBOP is used to observe joint reading
• behaviors of children and caregivers.
• The KSBOP isolates four areas of shared
• storybook reading
• storybook selection,
• parent scaffolding,
• social-emotional climate, and
• verbal responsiveness.
• Kaderavek Sulzby, 1998

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Impact of Disabilities and VI on Emergent Literacy

• Early interventionists should carefully consider
• childrens unique abilities and the impact they
• may have on
• oral language (listening comprehension and
  vocabulary development in particular),
• phonological awareness,
• concept development,
• knowledge of the conventions of print/braille and
  of print/braille intentionality, and
• alphabetic knowledge.

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Concept Development

• Children with disabilities may have fewer
  concepts about the world.
• They may not readily grasp cause-and-effect
  relationships, and they may not be motivated to
  explore because they are unable to see the
  enticing objects, people, and activities around
  them.
• Conceptual knowledge helps children understand
  the content of stories and conversation and is
  related to reading comprehension in the second
  and later grades.

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Responsive Caregiving

• Parents of children with disabilities are more at
  risk for depression (Wheeler, Hatton, Reichardrt,
  Bailey, 2005).
• Caregivers who are depressed are typically not as
  responsive therefore, children with disabilities
  may have fewer literacy opportunities.
• Children with visual impairments often provide
  subtle communication cues that are difficult to
  interpret, thereby impeding responsiveness.

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Print/Braille Intentionality and Alphabetic
Knowledge

• Children with disabilities, and children with
  visual impairments in particular, may not be
  aware of the books, magazines, and writing tools
  in their homes.
• They may not be tuned into the literacy
  activities that family members engage in, such as
  reading the paper or writing checks.
• Providing access to literacy materials in the
  appropriate media and facilitating literacy
  experiences promote print-braille intentionality
  and alphabetic knowledge.

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Learning Media and Emergent Literacy

• Determining a childs primary literacy medium or
  media is a complex process.
• Intervention teams should carefully and
  thoughtfully consider recommendations for
  childrens primary literacy media.
• If young children with visual impairments have
  access to print and braille, the primary literacy
  medium or media will probably emerge naturally.
• Craig, 1996

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Learning Media and Emergent Literacy

• If children have a visual condition that results
  in progressive vision loss or that may lead to
  future vision loss, early exposure to braille and
  tactile experiences should be provided.
• The developmentally appropriate learning media
  assessment (DALMA) should be used to provide
  ongoing guidance regarding childrens current
  sensory preferences and primary literacy medium
  or media.

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