July 6 A New Definition of Literacy

In class today we discussed the importance of making literacy experiences available and accessible to all students. We watched YouTube videos of Deirdre Leech, a Speech and Language Pathologist at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, MA. She described several examples of ways to enhance children's literacy experiences.

Students who are blind or visually impaired can experience text and stories through tactile and auditory means. For example they can "read" ...

Experience Stories - stories created about events in their lives using Braille, tactile features and/or large print.

Daily journals - a reflection of the day's events that create a shared daily experience and help bridge the connection between home and school.

Story Boxes - an adaptive book with a collection of tactile props (objects that help tell the story), puppets and switches to increase comprehension and vocabulary. 

Literacy Kits - a story box plus extension activities and assessment activities.

Concept books - books that teach concepts like sizes, colors, and spatial relationships.

Children's books can be made accessible so that all students can experience them. The actual physical book can be modified. The pages can be made more durable, more able to be turned and more capable of staying open. Tactile features can be added. The text in a book can be enhanced to be more accessible to more readers. Text can be re-typed, abbreviated, enlarged, typed in Braille, set on a contrasting background color or even be replaced with tactile symbols. The illustrations in books can be modified by simplifying the background, cutting out important pictures, adding tactile enhancements and outlining important features or shapes. Adding audio components can greatly enhance the literacy experience as well. Books can have things added to them like sound buttons, music, tactile cues to activate sounds. Putting a book on CD or creating an electronic version are also great ways to make books accessible. With iPad apps like BookCreator the possibilities almost seem limitless.

My classmate, Sarah, and I are creating a Story Kit and Adaptive Book for "Sleep Tight, Ginger Kitten". I will post photos in an upcoming blog post.

The primary goal with any of these book enhancements is to create a literacy experience that will allow a student to feel motivated to read and to enjoy reading. These books also help build vocabulary and build book handling skills.

Every child is a potential reader!

Deirdre Leech gives us a new definition of literacy - it includes reading, writing, communicating, speaking, and listening. This is 21st Century Literacy!