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Scales Assessment tool for Literacy

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Progress Monitoring Tool Training Resources – Project VC

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The Core Word Curriculum as assembled to support language learning by focusing on core vocabulary. You will find songs, books, activities, and Predictable Chart Writing prompts to target each of the core words available.

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The Complex Communication Needs (CCN) team consists of Speech-Language Pathologists, Occupational Therapists and Assistive Technology Specialists. Their focus is on supporting students who may not be able to communicate on their own through:

assessment, skill development, and possible funding applications for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)

evaluation of appropriate access methods to communication and other school tasks

building capacity with teachers and educational staff to support their students in using AAC and other communication strategies

Individuals who are unable to meet their daily communication needs using speech alone have a Complex Communication Need (CCN). They and their communication partners may benefit from using alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) tools and strategies, either temporarily or permanently. AAC tools and strategies can enhance or augment natural speech. They can include non-electronic and electronic options. The range of available options includes gestures, signing, paper-based communication systems (e.g. PECS, PODD, paper communication board), and electronic S peech- G enerating C ommunication D evices (SGCD) that use iPads or other tablet, smartphone or computer equipment (e.g. Accent, NovaChat, GridPad, TobiiDynavox device, LAMP app, TouchChat app, Proloquo2Go app, Unity vocabulary set, PODD vocabulary set, WordPower vocabulary set) .

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Overview The Core Word Curriculum was assembled to support language learning by focusing on core vocabulary. You will find songs, books, activities, and Predictable Chart Writing prompts to target each of the core words available.

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Literacy Instruction for Students with Significant Disabilities offers information, research-based instructional approaches, and effective instructional and learning strategies to support school leaders, teachers, and other specialists working to better meet the literacy and communication needs of students with significant disabilities, including students with:

moderate to severe cognitive disabilities

complex communication needs

multiple disabilities including deaf/blindness and/or physical access challenges

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Literacy Instruction for
Students with Significant Disabilities

Karen Erickson and David Koppenhaver from Children With Disabilities: Reading and Writing the Four Blocks Way " We do not believe that a different curriculum is required in order for children with disabilities to succeed in learning to read and write. We have learned, however, that teachers must attend consciously and thoughtfully to the significant learning differences of children with disabilities in order to make good instruction accessible to these students."
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Literacy Instruction for Students with Significant Disabilities offers information, research-based instructional approaches, and effective instructional and learning strategies to support school leaders, teachers, and other specialists working to better meet the literacy and communication needs of students with significant disabilities, including students with:

moderate to severe cognitive disabilities

complex communication needs

multiple disabilities including deaf/blindness and/or physical access challenges

The Four Blocks Literacy Framework is a comprehensive approach to teaching literacy developed originally Dr. Patricia Cunningham and Dr. Dorothy Hall and then adapted by Karen Erickson and David Koppenhaver for students with disabilities. The Four Blocks include Guided & Shared Reading, Writing, Self-Selected Reading and Working With Words.

Using the Four Blocks framework, Literacy Instruction for Students with Significant Disabilities is built on the work of Dr. Karen Erickson, Dr. David Koppenhaver, and Dr. Caroline Musselwhite and the many sessions and workshops they have provided across the province of Alberta:

Karen Erickson, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies, Professor in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, and the Yoder Distinguished Professor in the Department of Allied Health Sciences, School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research addresses literacy assessment and instruction for students of all ages who struggle with reading including those with significant disabilities. Karen is co-developer of the Tar Heel Reader online library of accessible books for beginning readers, as well as several other assistive and learning technologies.

Visit the Center for Literacy and Disabilities
http://www.med.unc.edu/ahs/clds

David Koppenhaver, Ph.D., Professor and Reading Program Graduate Director, Reading Education and Special Education Department, Appalachian State University. David holds a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). He is the former director of the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies and has worked for the past 25 years with preschool and school-aged children who have a wide variety of literacy learning difficulties. He currently teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in reading methods, special education, and instructional technology.

Visit Dave's Literacy & Disability Blog http://www.litdis.com

Dr. Caroline Musselwhite is an assistive technology specialist with more than 35 years of experience working with children and adolescents with significant disabilities in a variety of settings. Dr. Musselwhite has written a number of textbooks and "how-to" books on a range of topics, and has also authored many books and software programs for youth with disabilities. She has presented thousands of workshops throughout North and South America, Australia, Europe, and Africa, and is a founding member and Fellow of the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication.

Visit http://aacgirls.blogspot.ca and http://www.aacintervention.com.

Support for Implementation

The resources found on this site were developed by the ERLC, a member of Alberta Regional Professional Development Consortia (ARPDC), as a result of grants from Alberta Education, to support implementation.

Learning for All | Copyright © 2016
Terms of Use | Contact Us

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Literacy Instruction for Students with Significant Disabilities

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Literacy Instruction for Students with Significant Disabilities Karen Erickson and David Koppenhaver from Children With Disabilities: Reading and Writing the Four Blocks Way " We do not believe that a different curriculum is required in order for children with disabilities to succeed in learning to read and write.

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This site provides information about comprehensive literacy instruction with a focus on students with complex communication needs and significant disabilities.  The aim of the site is to provide information and resources which will help in your classrooms.

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This site provides information about comprehensive literacy instruction with a focus on students with complex communication needs and significant disabilities. The aim of the site is to provide information and resources which will help in your classrooms. Click on the menus above to get information in different areas of comprehensive literacy instruction.

In October 2019 I was one of the plenary speakers at the Angelman UK Communication and Literacy Conference. The topic was Literacy and Complex Communication Needs: Developing Language and is an overview of why literacy is important for every student in our schools. Below is a video of the presentation. Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is also a critical component of all literacy intervention for students with complex communication needs.

Blog posts from Jane Farrall Consulting related to Comprehensive Literacy as a general topic:

Other Resources

For much more detailed information see: Comprehensive Literacy for All: Teaching Students with Significant Disabilities to Read and Write (2020) by Erickson and Koppenhaver.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all the students, staff and families I have worked with over the years who have taught me so much.

Huge thanks to Karen Erickson and David Koppenhaver, from the Centre for Literacy and Disability Studies, who changed my life when I first met them in 2000 and who continue to challenge and educate me.

Special thanks to Sally Clendon - who teaches me more every year

And a final, heartfelt thanks to the people who support me almost daily - Helen Tainsh, Mary-Louise Bertram, Clare Dole and everyone else in my tribe.

Jane Farrall, Jane Farrall Consulting

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Comprehensive Literacy for ALL - Maintained by Jane Farrall Consulting

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This site provides information about comprehensive literacy instruction with a focus on students with complex communication needs and significant disabilities. The aim of the site is to provide information and resources which will help in your classrooms. Click on the menus above to get information in different areas of comprehensive literacy instruction.

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Learning Trajectories:  Decide what area of math you want to teach. Search developmental stages. Review instructional activities for your students.

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This site provides a comprehensive math framework with ready-to-use lesson plans, routines and assessment resources for math instruction for students that require instruction aligned to the Essential Elements and who are on Alternate Assessment. The lessons are grouped in sets for emergent and conventional learners. To determine which set of lessons to use with a student, teachers use the guiding criterion provided.

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Math Essential Element Lesson Plans and Resources

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Welcome! This site provides a comprehensive math framework with ready-to-use lesson plans, routines and assessment resources for math instruction for students that require instruction aligned to the Essential Elements and who are on Alternate Assessment. The lessons are grouped in sets for

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Just Adapt It is dedicated to making physical education and fitness accessible, inclusive, and empowering for individuals of all abilities.

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JustAdaptIt.com: Adapted P.E. for Everyone At JustAdaptIt.com, we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to participate in physical education, regardless of their abilities. We provide resources for teachers, parents, and students on how to adapt physical education activities for all students.

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Physical Education | Adapted PE | TOOLKIT4PE

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Adapted PE (APE) teachers, advocates for physical educators, and physical education (PE) teachers for students of all abilities developed this TOOLKIT4PE! We are educating by creating an ever-growing online community supporting with special education resources for the PE classroom.