Module 5: Inclusive Literacy

Summary

Inclusive literacy connects students’ life experiences with meaningful learning activities. Students benefit when they can explore a range of literacy materials. A wide variety of resources, such as technology-based literacies, means students can be engaged and actively working on their learning goals. Identifying different ways the student can participate helps educators assess the student’s learning and measure their progress with literacy goals.

Key Terms

Core Words or Core Vocabulary: The spoken words used most frequently on a daily basis.
Literacy: Being able to communicate, to take in, and to share information in a wide variety of ways.
Sight Words: Sight words are common words like "it, the, and," that students are expected to learn to recognize without having to sound them out. These words may be called popcorn words because they "pop-up" so often in reading and writing activities.

References and Resources

Burkhart, L. (2019). Developing communication and access skills for children who face severe physical and multiple challenges. Retrieved January 13, 2021, from https://lindaburkhart.com/handouts/

Caron, J., Holyfield, C., Light, J., & McNaughton, D. (2018a). “What have you been doing?”: supporting displaced talk through augmentative and alternative communication video visual scene display technology. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 3(12), 123-135. doi: 10.1044/persp3.SIG12.123

Caron, J., Light, J., Holyfield, C., & McNaughton, D. (2018b). Effects of dynamic text on an AAC app on sight word reading for individuals with autism spectrum disorder, Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 34 (2), 143-154. doi: 10.1080/07434618.2018.1457715

Comber, B. & Kamler, B. (2004). Getting out of deficit: pedagogies of reconnection, Teaching Education,15(3), 293-310. doi: 10.1080/1047621042000257225

Deagle, E. & D’Amico. (2016). Defining meaningful literacy: findings from a socially-oriented literacy intervention for adults with developmental difficulties. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 63(2), 163-180. doi: 10.1080/1034912X.2015.1065959

Erickson, K., Geist, L., Hatch, P., & Quick, N. (2019). The Universal Core Vocabulary [Technical Report]. Chapel Hill, NC: Center for Literacy & Disability Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Fossett, B. & Mirenda, P. (2006). Sight word reading in children with developmental disabilities: a comparison of paired associate and picture-to-text matching instruction. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 27(4), 411-429. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2005.05.006

Ruppar, A. L. (2017). Without being able to read, what’s literacy mean to them?”: situated beliefs about literacy for students with significant disabilities, Teaching and Teacher Education,67, 114-124. Doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2017.06.003