Teaching Literacy to Students with Significant Disabilities by Downing June E.;

Author:Downing, June E.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Corwin Press
Published: 2005-01-20T00:00:00+00:00

Providing Opportunities

Practice makes perfect, so the more opportunities for students to engage in literacy activities, the better. Opportunities for reading and writing experiences are plentiful in most general education classrooms. For students who may not be able to easily take advantage of these naturally occurring opportunities, effort must be made to bring them to the student. In addition to natural times during the day to read and write across all subject matter, additional opportunities can be created for meaningful practice. See Table 4.2 for ways to increase the number of literacy experiences.

Rereading material to and with students helps them become familiar with the material and is a recommended practice (Beukelman, Mirenda, & Sturm, 1998; Westling & Fox, 2000). Different reading partners can be used to add some novelty to familiar material. Different reading partners change the social situation and can highlight different aspects for the student. Older students in the school can practice oral reading skills by reading to younger students and students having severe disabilities. At times, students who do not have disabilities but may experience difficulty reading, such as English language learners, may gain some self-confidence by reading to students who do not possess the reading skills that they have. Both students can benefit from such a partnership.

Table 4.2 Creating Opportunities for Literacy

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