Evidence-Based Emergent Literacy Model for Students with Significant Disabilities 5/5/08 Angel Lee, MEd Linda R. Schreiber, MS, CCC-SLP © 2008 L. Schreiber & A. Lee

Session Overview Background and Research (Project RAISE) Early Literacy Skills Builder Curriculum –Sounds and Symbols Component –Story-Based Lessons Component © 2008 L. Schreiber & A. Lee

Effectiveness of an Early Literacy Curriculum: Early Outcomes Project RAISE –Funded by Institute for Education Science (H324K040004) –Focus is literacy for students with moderate and severe disabilities in grades K-5 –Diane Browder & Claudia Flowers, Co-Investigators Diane M. Browder & Claudia Flowers, Co- Investigators –Fred Spooner, Faculty –Lynn Ahlgrim-Delzell, Candice Meyer, Josh Baker, Research Associates Tracie-Lynn Zakas and Angel Lee, School Liaisons Pam Mims & Kelly Carmola, Trey Willis, Graduate Assistants © 2008 L. Schreiber & A. Lee

Contrast Science of Reading & Focus for Students with Moderate-to-Severe Disabilities National Reading Panel summary (2000) –Phonemic awareness –Phonics –Fluency –Vocabulary –Comprehension Research with students with moderate and severe developmental disabilities –Sight words Rarely measured comprehension of the sight words © 2008 L. Schreiber & A. Lee

Development of a curriculum- –Early Literacy Skills Builder Development of an assessment- –Nonverbal Literacy Assessment Randomized trials comparison of ELSB and sight word approach (5 year study) with students who have autism and intellectual disabilities © 2008 L. Schreiber & A. Lee

Population In grades K-5 Classified as having moderate-to-severe intellectual disabilities or autism with IQ below 55 Adequate hearing and vision to respond to verbal instructions and printed materials Some progress in English instruction if ESL Able to participate in assessment with or without assistive technology Adequate attendance at school © 2008 L. Schreiber & A. Lee

Research Design Group experimental study Randomly assigned students to treatment Pre-/post-testing in September and April/May © 2008 L. Schreiber & A. Lee

Comparison of Treatments Experimental Early Literacy Skills Builder Includes Phonemic Awareness Phonics Listening Comprehension Print Awareness Needs of Nonverbal Learners Control –Sight words and pictures –Edmark –Inclusdes sight word instruction Both –Participation in story reading with systematic instruction (Story-based lessons) © 2008 L. Schreiber & A. Lee

Implementing the ELSB Teachers trained to follow scripted Fidelity: mean 93% Repeated lessons 2, 4, or 10 day cycle Taught to mastery Assessment Measures Moved to next level when 75% correct on lessons Small group or 1:1 © 2008 L. Schreiber & A. Lee

Reference for First-Year Outcomes Browder, D.M., Ahlgrim-Delzell, L., Courtade, G., Gibbs, S.L., & Flowers, C. (in press). Evaluation of the effectiveness of an early literacy program for students with significant developmental disabilities using group randomized trial research. Exceptional Children. Also see for white paperwww.attainmentcompany.com © 2008 L. Schreiber & A. Lee

Early Literacy Skills Builder Two Components I. Building with Sounds and Symbols II. Building with Stories Browder, D.M., Gibbs, S.L., Ahlgrim-Delzell, L., Courtade, G., & Lee, A. (2007). Early Literacy Skills Builder. Verona, WI: Attainment Company. © 2008 L. Schreiber & A. Lee

ELSB Objectives Flashcard Game Students read vocabulary words using time delay, then use words to fill in sentences. Text Pointing Students point to text as teacher reads. Hidden Word Game Students point to the word that completes a repeated story line. © 2008 L. Schreiber & A. Lee

Letter Sounds Students identify letter-sound correspondences. First/Last Sounds Game – Students point to/say first/last sounds in words. Finding Pictures with Special Sounds Students identify pictures that begin with named sounds. © 2008 L. Schreiber & A. Lee

Stretching Words Students point to sounds in words. Finding Pictures Students point to pictures that match segmented words. The Picture Game Students point to pictures representing new vocabulary words. Fun with Writing Students complete one page of their own book. © 2008 L. Schreiber & A. Lee

Level A Objectives Recognize a book from a nonbook Interact with objects related to a book Select own photo or written name Select named photo or word Physically engage with a book and/ or visually attend to a story © 2008 L. Schreiber & A. Lee

Story-Based Lessons in 10 Easy Steps © 2008 L. Schreiber & A. Lee

Steps of Story-Based Lesson 1.Engaged by anticipatory set 2.Identify author/illustrator and title 3.Answer a prediction question 4.Open the book 5.Turn the pages 6.Complete a repeated story line 7.Point to text 8.Pointing to/say vocabulary word(s) 9.Answer comprehension questions 10. Summarize story © 2008 L. Schreiber & A. Lee

Contact Information Linda Schreiber Angel Lee