AT for Emergent Literacy: Making Comprehensive Literacy Instruction Accessible to All Students

This session will explore comprehensive emergent literacy instruction and assistive technology options for students with complex instructional needs. Emergent literacy is the foundation upon which conventional literacy skills develop, but the nature of complex disabilities creates barriers to participation in early literacy experiences. Students with significant disabilities stagnate in their literacy growth unless school teams systematically create access to comprehensive instruction. This session will demonstrate how school teams can analyze the nature of a student’s disabilities to create access (both with assistive technology and with changes to their instruction) to participation in shared reading, listening comprehension, alphabet instruction, phonological awareness, word study, and writing for all students.