Post #1 - Emergent Literacy Skills Through Interactive Shared Reading

eric_sanders@pacificu.edu

5/23/2016 3:54 PM

I will begin the discussion by speaking about the context of interactive shared reading. Interactive shared reading is a context in which both oral language and written language skills can be targeted. For example, there is a robust body of research showing that shared reading that focuses on communicative interaction has been shown to increase the oral language abilities in children who can speak and the number of multi-symbol utterances in children who communicate through augmentative and alternative communication. Through techniques such as modeling, this context can be a powerful way to address specific linguistic targets like vocabulary and syntactic skills.

This context also holds considerable power for targeting skills such as phonemic awareness and alphabet knowledge in children with complex communication needs. For example, a more knowledgeable other can reference print, paying close attention to letter identification when reading a storybook. Additionally, the reader can point out words that rhyme and provide an AAC user with the vocabulary to indicate whether they think a word rhymes or not while reading a book. This context can also be used to target skills related to concepts about print. This includes teaching children about things such as the directionality of print, the fact that print carries meaning, and helping them understand the concept of a one-to-one match with a written and spoken word.

I would like to ask the community how they use the context of interactive shared reading to address any of these areas with children who have complex communication needs. For example, are there any specific things that community members have done while reading the book to reference print that has helped your clients increase their alphabetic knowledge? Have you addressed phonological or phonemic awareness within this context? Has anyone in the community adapted books in any way in order to teach about concepts about print?

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Hi Eric. Thanks for the post. As you know, shared reading is one of the context we've been using to support students in learning to use graphic symbols to initiate and respond. In our earlier work with girls with a diagnosis of Rett syndrome and their moms, we found that shared reading offered an opportunity for repetition with variety. In other words, moms could read and retread the same book over a number of days (repetition) but the ways they interacted and the things their girls responded to varied just a little each time. As a result, the girls, who had little to know symbolic communication prior to the introduction of repeated, shared storybook reading with their moms, experienced really nice communication outcomes. We've continued to investigate shared reading and are currently doing a study to investigate the added benefits of print referencing strategies that draw the child's attention to the printed words. We're using beginning level books like those on http://tarheelreader.org so that the distinction between the illustration and the print is clear. We don't have results just yet, but have 5 parent-child pairs who should finish by the end of June. I will try to share results here when we get them

erickson@unc.edu - 5/27/2016