5 Things We Love for Supporting Literacy Learning by People Who Use AAC
The joys of being able to read and write should be made available to everyone. No matter what the type or extent of disabling condition, it is now known that we can be effective in teaching real literacy skills. While not every learner gets to the same point in the journey, all augmentative communicators have the right to high expectations and quality instruction. There are lots of wonderful literacy support programs that have emerged in the past decade. Here are five to to take a (second) look at.
- Bookshare: An accessible book service available without charge to US students who have disabilities that impede their ability to use print effectively. Schools and other organizations can also register. This video says, um raps, it all.
- Some of our favorite people with AAC needs grew up in an era where they had no legal right to attend public school or did attend school but never received real instruction in literacy skills. There are so few things out there for teaching reading to people who are just learning to read in their teenage or adult years. If you know someone like this and believe in second chances, check out Route 66. Read more about it here.
- We love the design of Literacy Lab, particularly the way it integrates communication into the reading program. Want your students to be able to talk and learn in the same program? This is one to check out.
- MEville to Weville is a program that has been around for awhile and something worth taking a second look at if it has fallen off your radar. It is really prAACtical for busy classrooms and clinicians, especially those who might be new to AAC or teaching literacy skills to individuals with significant disabilities.
- We’re excited to know that the digital version of the Accessible Literacy Learning (ALL) program is on the way. The ALL program is great for its systematic approach to early reading instruction and takes all the guesswork out of the implementation process.
How about you? What are your favorite tools or strategies for literacy instruction?
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: literacy, reading, writing
This post was written by Carole Zangari
2 Comments
I believe nothing substitutes for daily lap reading, and giving our kids a way to actively “talk about” stories is paramount.
My pick item is Velcro for adapting books with picture symbols so our non-verbal kids have a way to talk about the stories. Especially wonderful is old repositionable short-hooked/fabric Velro that could even be used to adapt LIBRARY books (wahoo!). It looks like the current re-adhesive poster coins from Velcro could work too…maybe cut in quarters to stretch your dollar?
For more clarification, here’s an older blog post on the topic…
http://adaptingcreatively.blogspot.com/2010/11/adapting-picture-books-for-lap-reading.html
Rose-Marie, we couldn’t agree more! Nothing will ever take the place of shared storybook reading as a great way to build literacy skills, practice language, and connect with one another. Plus, it is just plain fun! Thanks for the link to your post – we are big fans of your blog and all the creative ideas. Thanks for stopping by to read and share. Much appreciated!