20190612 Tibaudo-Cannaughton
Welcome to Perkins eLearning's webinar series. My name is Robin Sitten program manager for Perkins eLearning. Welcome to today's presentation on literacy for students who are Deaf/Blind with Megan Connaughton and Marguerite [INAUDIBLE].
Perkins eLearning webinars are presented throughout the year on a monthly basis as live events or prerecorded presentations such as today's discussion. Our webinar series is just one of the offerings in our professional development program, which includes publications, e-newsletters, webcasts, online and in-person classes, and self-paced study.
You can see our entire listings at our website Perkinselearning.org. Today's presentation will address various literacy adaptations, accommodations, and educational strategies used in classrooms for students who are deafblind with multiple disabilities.
Literacy formats will include story boxes, tactile books, and ideas on how to promote the inclusion of literacy across environments. This conversation was recorded June 13, 2019 on the Perkins campus based on a presentation originally shared at the 2018 Northeast AER Conference.
When viewing this recorded presentation, you will find that headphones or earbuds or external speakers give the best sound. Megan Connaughton is a teacher in the Deafblind Program at Perkins School for the Blind. She holds a Master's of Education degree from Boston College in severe and multiple disabilities with a concentration in deafblindness.
Megan's interests in the field include early literacy and strategies and adaptations for students with additional physical disabilities. Marguerite [INAUDIBLE] received her Master's of Education degree from Boston College in severe special education with a specialization in deafblindness.
Additional degrees include a Bachelor of Science degree in speech language pathology and audiology and a graduate certificate through Gallaudet University in working with infants and toddlers who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Marguerite is currently working toward her Teacher of the Visually Impaired Master's Degree through the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Marguerite is lead teacher CVI mentor of the Deafblind Program at Perkins School for the Blind where she mentors and supports teachers in the areas of CVI, curriculum development, and systematic instruction.
It's great to have this conversation with you both today. And I really thank you for your time.
Welcome, everybody. I'm looking forward to doing this webinar, focused on literacy for students who are deafblind. What Megan and I will be covering is really looking at a variety of ways to adapt literacy materials for all types of learners who are deafblind including those who are [INAUDIBLE].
So to begin, we just wanted to start with a definition of what literacy is. By Wright 1997, it is "proficiency and understanding and using written as well as spoken language as a reader, writer, speaker, and listener.
Literacy is an integrated process which develops gradually from birth and is built upon learning from broader experiences, linking language with the development of concepts, and providing exposure to the written word in a variety of meaningful context."
And the reason Megan and I found this to be a valuable place to start is that we don't want to just think of literacy as reading and writing. It's really so much more. And there's so many areas of attention and need when it comes to addressing literacy with our students.
So we want to go beyond braille, large print, written print, and just expanding upon what our students need in order to access literacy across environments.
So now when we think of literacy in terms of students who are deafblind, we have to consider the areas of impact that our students are affected by. So what we know is that as much as 90% of early learning is visual.
Hearing impacts our ability to communicate, connect with others, and respond to environmental cues. And we know that the combination of vision and hearing loss greatly reduces access to learning and communication.
Additionally, 90% of children who are identified as deafblind have additional physical, medical, and/or cognitive disabilities. And outside of common belief-- or a common misconception rather-- is that most individuals who are deafblind have residual use of vision and/or hearing.
So we really need to think about all the ways in which our students are impacted. Because as you can see from these five bullets, their access to incidental learning is significantly reduced compared to that of their peers.
Also by noting the 90% having additional disabilities, notes that we're not just talking about reading braille or accessing sign language. There are a variety of modes that our students use in order to access literacy and communication. So when we're thinking about literacy, we have to really look at it as it's not cookie cutter. And there's really not one way or route of accessing literacy.
But some overall considerations when we're looking at developing literacy programs for our students are considering their age. We'll get into modes in a little bit-- But looking at how students of any age can be working on any level of communication with any mode of communication. And it's still important that they are accessing age-appropriate materials and communication.
We want to think about their accessibility-- so thinking about visual access, auditory access, tactile access. In thinking about any accessibility needs such as visual and auditory, thinking of the type of vision loss, the degree of hearing or vision loss, and the onset. Because we know that our teaching strategies will change based on the student's needs in those areas.
Additionally, when we want to think about their cognition, we want to think about if we're taking a formal literacy approach or we're taking it from a very functional standpoint-- and then looking at communication mode and specifically where the student falls in the hierarchy of communication. And we'll be getting into that a little bit.
So when looking at accessibility, I think this is at the forefront of our minds as educators of students who are deafblind, in thinking of those three primary senses-- especially when we're evaluating students using the word and media assessment-- looking at vision as a distant sense, hearing as a distant sense, and then tactile as a near sense.
So some considerations when we're thinking about development of literacy programs and access from a vision standpoint, we have to think about the student's acuity, any field loss that may be present. We have to consider whether the student has a neurological visual impairment-- that would be CVI.
We have to think about their access to sign language from a visual standpoint, whether or not it's in air or tactile. We have to think about the student's positioning, where are they able to sit in relation to the teacher to have access to instruction?
We need to think about their access to gestures. I think while we're reading stories, we tend to act things out with students. But if they don't have the vision to access our gestures, they're going to lose some of that communication, even if it's as simple as some pointing to the page.
To go along with that, access to facial expressions-- we can be very dynamic storytellers. But if we don't have access to those social cues or facial expressions the student can also have reduced access to some of those social cues.
We need to consider the student's need for contrast and/or complexity. We need to think about can they process and understand three-dimensional materials, two-dimensional materials. There's a variety of three dimensional two-dimensional materials available. So looking at exactly what the student can see and understand is absolutely essential.
And then, of course, considering lighting and the environment, lighting on the materials in order to prevent any glare that may disrupt the student's access.
Next, you want to think about how their hearing is impacted. So we need to think about the degree of hearing loss. It can go from mild to deaf, bilateral to unilateral. We need to think of the impact of the hearing aid or a bone-anchored hearing aid.
So if the student has a moderate hearing loss, what effect does that aid have? We need to think about can they access speech? So if we're providing only verbal instruction or verbal directions, are they able to hear it with or without their hearing aids?
We need to consider auditory processing disorder. Can they process our language? How much language can they receive at any one given time and have it still be meaningful?
We need to think about if they can access voice outputs, whether it be a single step or something higher text, such as NOVA chat-- so making sure that they have access to the auditory components of any one device.
Can they respond to verbal cues? And also some considerations when it comes to group setting access. The student might be very well able to participate in a one-to-one setting within a very controlled, quiet environment, but then lose those skills when it comes to a group lesson. So these are some very critical considerations that need to be made.
Next, we want to think about the student's access to tactile information, thinking about the student's fine motor skills, gross motor skills, thinking about their ability to discriminate tactually. We have to consider tactile defensiveness.
We have to think about their organized motor movements. So if we're asking them to participate in the sequencing task, do they have the ability to do that? Do they have the ability to reach out and make a choice in a coordinated manor?
Can they manipulate three-dimensional materials? So for offering materials for exploration, how much fine motor and gross motor ability does it take in order for the student to really gain essential information from those items that we're presenting to them.
Last, we want to think about just their tactile sensitivity. Some of our students may have nerve damage in their fingertips which reduces access to [INAUDIBLE]. So this is just some examples of considerations that we need to be making with our students.
And before going down any road of accommodation or adaptation, we really have to have the whole child in focus and knowing exactly what they need from any given standpoint.
So this is a video of an access simulation of a student using a story box within a classroom setting. And it's designed for a student who has tunnel vision and a profound hearing loss. So you might want to think of a student you would be working with who has Usher syndrome.
But some things to look out for during the video are how you would position yourself as the teacher for access to sign language, as well as the use of real whole objects for concept development.
A title slides into view, access simulation. Our view represents that of a student with hearing loss and a small central field of vision. Through this small field, we find Megan signing a greeting from a distance.
She beckons us closer. Now we see Megan's face in close-up surrounded by blackness. At times, her eyes are within the visual field, then her mouth, then her hands, holding the students hands as they touch a fuzzy object. Megan lifts the object to her head.
Now, in full view--
Under my foot I have hat. Hat.
Hand-under-hand Megan touches her head. They lift a fuzzy pom pom hat together. Megan puts it on her head.
A hat on my head. Your turn.
The video ends.
You can see how much can be missed for a student because of their positioning and their access to sign language. So that's something you really need to consider on an individual basis for each student.
Concept development refers to the basic understanding that is necessary to make sense of one's world. This includes ideas about self and other, objects, and the environment.
Typical children develop an understanding of basic concepts through incidental learning. But children who are deafblind must be taught these same concepts for repeated exposure and in an intentional and methodical manner.
This is something that we always stress when working with deafblind learners. For example, if you're teaching a student about the concept of an apple, you don't want to just give them an apple and label it. And that's the end of it.
You would take a whole apple, peel it with the student, describe it, and then together, cut the apple open so they see the process of how an apple goes from a whole to a part. And then together explore the inside of the apple by touching, tasting, smelling, and really experiencing the apple as a whole.
A lot of students would make the mistake of putting an apple in front of them and then taking it away. And then magically, a cut up apple is in front of them. And they don't understand that a cut apple is the same as a whole apple.
So really involving a student in the whole process whenever possible is best way to really ensure [INAUDIBLE] on a very basic level.
So take, for example, the case of the feather duster. If you were to see this in a student you didn't know in their calendar system, you might as a typically sighted hearing person, think, oh, a feather duster. This must represent chores or cleaning.
But in actuality, this symbol represented play time. When this students started in our principal class, he came in every morning. And all he wanted to do was sit on the floor and cry. And one day while he was exploring a band of random objects, he found this feather duster that he loved to play with.
So the first thing he would do when he came to school was go to his calendar system, take the feather duster out of it, and sit and play. Eventually, he began to become more comfortable and explore new toys. And the feather duster became a symbol for play.
It shows you how individualized a calendar system and literacy as a whole needs to be. This is an example of a communication hierarchy. And just as a note, this is an example of how a student may progress through the communication hierarchy. It's not the case for all students.
And it's important to note that some students may be whole object users for their whole lives. And that's totally OK. In this example, we would start with a real object, which would be a spoon-- maybe the spoon another student eats their lunch with every day.
They would take the spoon out of their calendar system, [INAUDIBLE], and then put it in [INAUDIBLE]. Eventually, they may move on to recognizing a photo of the spoon. From there, they may progress to recognizing that a picture symbols, such as Mayer-Johnson symbol, represents a spoon, represents lunch time-- and finally, the written word for a spoon.
Similarly, for a tactile learner, they may begin with the full object, such as the exact fork that they eat with, and then move on to a symbolic object-- so a different fork that still represents eating. But they're not eating with that exact fork.
Then they may move on to it as a peripheral object, and eventually the braille word. And, again, can't stress enough that this is an example of moving throughout the communication hierarchy. And it's not the rule for every student.
For example, when you're working with a student, they may learn that the picture on the top left, the spoon, the whole object is a spoon. It represents lunch. You may work with them for many months, and say, oh, they recognize this is a spoon. I'm ready to move up the hierarchy.
That's not necessarily the case. We have to make sure that there's a strong sense of generalization.
Does the student recognize that a wooden spoon is also a spoon, that a plastic spoon is also a spoon, that a broken spoon is the same thing, the written word for spoon, a colored spoon, a picture of a spoon, measuring spoons, and the sign for spoons?
Can they understand that all of those things represent spoon? It's important to build the foundation before we can build the house. Just because a student recognizes some objects, doesn't mean that they recognize all objects and doesn't mean that they're ready to move up in the hierarchy.
It's important to make sure that they're able to recognize objects across all settings. And even if they do move up in the hierarchy, it's always OK to return to real whole objects, especially when learning new concepts, to really solidify a concept development.
This is the same student with the feather duster three years later. And, again, I should note not all students will progress in the same manner. But this student happened to move up very methodically through the communication hierarchy. And here he is making his calender system three years after the initial feather duster [INAUDIBLE].
The student and Marguerite work at a slant board.
Today is Wednesday. She signs close to the boy's face.
Wednesday. Can you sign Wednesday?
She shapes his fingers.
Wednesday. Let's put it on.
Labeled sign cards are placed on a schedule board with Velcro.
Yesterday was Tuesday. And today is Wednesday. Good job. We're going to--
Marguerite shows a ring bound set of cards.
How about today? Tommy, when you came to school today, what was the first thing you did?
Played.
You played. You are right. Can you find--
She shows time cards for PT and play and signs play.
P-L-A-Y.
Play.
Play. Can you put it on?
He places the word in his schedule.
Play. After play, you are going to count one, two, and three.
She selects another word. Where do you count?
The boy views PT and math.
[MUMBLING]
N--
Math.
Math. Nice work.
Marguerite signs as well. A privacy blur on the video obscures our view of Tommy placing math in his schedule. She slips the word PT out of Tommy's view.
Time with Danielle. A name signed with a letter D.
Where do you see Danielle?
PT and the word textures blurred from our view.
Nice work.
The video ends.
So as Meg mentioned, this is a great example of how a student worked his way up from using concrete, meaningful objects up to more abstract forms of communication, such as sight words. Additionally, there's a plethora of literacy related skills demonstrated within this video.
So he's able to identify his schedule words from print. He's able to access a calendar system of the days of the week from left to right using [INAUDIBLE] and print.
And then in relation to building his daily schedule, he's also demonstrating higher concepts in that he's answering higher level comprehension questions using different types of vocabulary, associating activities, and also utilizing his memory.
So what did you do when you first came in-- thinking back to what he did when he first arrived in the classroom. Saying, who do you have PT with-- so addressing who questions. Where do you work on counting during math? So he really excelled in addressing some of these higher level literacy forms.
So now in going on to thinking about modes of communication, individuals who are deafblind may use one mode for expressive communication and another for receptive communication.
For myself and Megan, we're both sighted. We are both hearing. We use speech as our primary expressive. And we use our hearing as our primary receptive-- how we're taking in all that information.
But this varies very differently among our students who are deafblind. So when we're thinking of choosing a form of communication, we have to consider the social, physical perceptual, and cognitive skills of the individual. And then, of course, the reason we're doing this is that communication is embedded in all literacy related activities.
So we can't think of communication as one learning area and literacy as another. They are very tightly woven together. And it's important that whatever mode of communication the child's using expressively or receptively is present in all literacy related activities and, it goes without saying, any other activity that the student may be participating in throughout the day.
Just a little bit on tactile sign language and instruction. So clarifying the use of hand-under-hand versus hand-over-hand instruction-- so hand-under-hand is the preferred mode of presenting a student with instruction via tactile sign language.
So hand-under-hand would be if I am the instructor-- I'll hold up my hands for demonstration in the video-- and Megan is the student. Megan's hands would go on top of mine to read my signs. So this is the sign for sign language.
So the benefit of using hand-under-hand as opposed to hand-over-hand is that Megan, if she doesn't want to have communication with me, she can easily remove her hand. Not only that, she's able to learn the motor pattern without me manipulating her.
So it's much more invasive if I were to take Megan's hands and create the sign for her, where she tried to pull away there might be a little bit more resistance, could create tactile defensiveness over time. And it doesn't really allow her to gain as much information.
Now, that's not to say that hand-over-hand physical modeling would not be appropriate. Because in many cases it is for our students who really need to refine their use of sign. It's just important that we are sensitive in how we are approaching them physically in order not to cause distress or discomfort.
Just noting that tactile sign language is used for receptive language, so it's really just meant for when we are providing the student with information. If a student's going to be signing to you, there's no need for your hands to be in physical contact with that student unless you yourself are deafblind.
And then as far as initiating any tactile instruction, which is what we do very, very frequently here in our program, is making sure to give a light touch cue on the student's elbow or upper arm for initiation. Even better is a shoulder tap. And then you can move your hand slowly down to the child's hand in order to initiate that conversation.
There's a few reasons for that. One, it's significantly less invasive if a stranger were to walk up to you and try to get your attention and touch your hand, you would be a little bit more disturbed than if they were to touch you in an area such as your shoulder.
Here's a list-- it's by no means conclusive-- of the different modes of receptive and expressive communication our students may have. So receptive, I'll just list them briefly-- sign language, tactile sign language, spoken language, print in braille, object cues, touch cues, pictures, photographs, gestures, and tangible representations.
For expressive-- sign language, spoken language, written word, body movement, touching the object and/or person, using behavior, gestures, vocalizations, tangible symbols, pictures, photographs, augmentative communication, and eye gaze.
And I think the reason that I find it valuable to list out this extensive list of receptive and expressive communication is to then consider how any two of these modes could be paired with each other for any individual who is deafblind.
So, for example, you could have a student who receptively receives instruction via sign language and is expressive through sign language. But you could also have a student who respectively understands sign language but maybe is using augmentative communication to express themselves due to motor difficulties.
So if you're looking at this list and thinking of all the combinations that can occur, how can literacy be standardized? How can communication be standardized? It can't.
And so really the focus is what does the child need? What mode of communication is the child using? And how can we best present them with learning materials in order to maximize their instruction and their ability to really take in what we are teaching them in an accessible way?
Just to briefly note on how to incorporate voice output devices, this could be a series of webinars in itself. So just simply, you can use voice output devices, whether they're simple voice output or higher augmentative communication devices for looking at the story vocabulary, answering comprehension questions, gaining reactions.
Did you like the story? Tell me how you feel? Having the student press a switch just the request to turn the page if they don't have the motor ability to do it themselves, using prerecorded voice output with repetitive lines from the story.
So if there's a repeat line which typically occurs in those early childhood books, the student can use a prerecorded switch in order to turn-take with the teacher as far as participating in reading that story.
You can use it in turn-taking in small groups and also activating the switch in response to auditory cues or lack thereof. So if there's a natural pause in the book, will the student initiate asking for more? And how can they express their wants and needs using their voice output device?
So now we're going to give some examples for inclusions of literacy throughout the school day. I like to say beyond the bookshelf.
So in this video, it shows a preschool-aged child who has a moderate hearing loss and is totally blind using his object calendar system.
So some things to look out for while watching this video, look for the use of real whole objects, both in the calendar system and at the destination, the use of the child's tactile name symbol as an indicator of where to find his calendar system, and also the frequent referencing of the calendar symbol and conversations about what is happening during the activity.
Megan steadies a young boy by standing behind him. She leads his trailing hand along the wall toward a shelf of cubbies.
Here's your name.
He grabs a label from the wall. Megan replaces it and guides him through gently removing it. He finds a fresh diaper and grabs it. Megan brings him a shoulder bag, and Velcro's the diaper to it.
Put your schedule on. Can you put it on there so we can walk? Let's walk to--
She signs into his palm. They turn together. Megan holds his hands in hers and presses her legs behind his to urge his steps. They find a rhythm and make their way slowly across the floor.
We're walking to the bathroom.
Megan pauses and brings the boy's hands to the fresh diaper.
Can you hold the trailing bar. Let's walk til we find the bathroom symbol.
She encourages him to trail the wall. At child level several labels and symbols mark the bathroom including another diaper. The boy removes it from the wall.
There's the bathroom
They compare the two diaper symbols.
So what do we do at the bathroom? What do we do? Good job, bathroom.
He pats the door and wiggles dropping his diaper.
It's also important to note that this student had limited motor control on one side of his body. And he was learning how to walk. So he required a lot of assistance at the time. But he did really well with learning how to match objects to their location. Object calendar system worked very well for him and is still working really well for him.
And he associated that when he got to the bathroom symbol on the door, he knew he was at the bathroom and showed that by knocking on door before he entered.
So just some ideas for labeling the environment. The first picture shows multiple representations of bathroom symbols for different learners to be able to have labels throughout the environment.
And it's important to note that even if you're not working with students who are braille or print readers, to include braille and print for exposure purposes throughout the environment. Another idea is to label your student's drawers so they know where different clothing items are located.
And think about including checklists throughout your environment, including reminders to put things away when you're done and even incorporating a checklist in the shower, which you can make accessible by laminating it.
And this would help promote not only independence and reminders within a shower routine, but also provide an opportunity for privacy. It's a tough place to have to remember a lot of steps. And it's also someplace that you want to promote privacy. So it's a place you might not think of including a checklist. But it's pretty easily done.
And this can also be done for a braille reader. It's hard to see. But this is a brailled shower routine on clear braille paper, which is posted on the shower wall. So the student was able to independently follow along with their routine.
Also consider including signs for environmental exposure. This sign says in print, "Please close the door" also using Mayer-Johnson symbols. And that includes the universal symbol for do not enter, which may not be something we would explicitly teach.
But it's something that is frequently seen throughout the environment-- so to include it with a way that the student typically accesses and really just provide that exposure throughout their day.
Another great way to include literacy is following a recipe. And this is a really nice place to include different forms of literacy. If you're working with a group of diverse learners, you could all be following the same recipe using multiple modes of communication.
You could follow an object recipe, which would have each of the steps, the ingredients in a row. And they would follow from left to right, a print or brailled recipe, a recipe that's broken down into steps using Meyer-Johnson or other picture symbols, or a photograph sequence.
It's really easy to include forms of literacy outside of simply reading a book and answering questions. And when you think about all the different opportunities for it, there are really a lot. And it is possible to really include lots of different learners in the same activity.
And one thing to think about too, as Megan mentioned earlier, in reference to developing concept development that a student who does understand pictures, for example, may need to start off that recipe using the objects themselves to really understand whether it's measurement or what's going to come first, what's going to come second.
It's really important that we not assume that they are understanding more than maybe they are. In thinking about labeling the environment as well, there's an example of using tiles as a tactile symbol outside the bathroom wall.
So that could be completely appropriate. But it also need to make sure that the students learn explicitly that that tile is a representation for the restroom. So if the wall of the bathrooms can be made of tile, then that could absolutely be a great tactile representation.
If the floor of the bathroom is tile, it might not be ideal because when would the student actually be interacting with the tiles on the floor? And it goes back to the meaningful concept of also the student in the video as far as using a diaper for representation.
Because that's what he used. That's what he understood. So I think that it's important that that idea really be maintained throughout this presentation as we can't really increase learning without it.
So in going along with that thinking about adapting books, this is really a brief overview of ideas on how to adapt books. There's many, many different ways that you could go about it. But first and foremost, we have to think about why we're adapting books to begin with.
For one, we have to consider the visual complexity of books. They are significantly cluttered. It's just filled with color and objects and animation, which often is just visually unaccessible for students who have visual impairment, whether it be ocular or neurological.
We have to adapt books because there's often very small print. There's difficult concepts. And there's also a lack of age-appropriate books that match visual and tactile needs. So often, you'll find the most simplified books are that of early childhood or those infant baby books.
And they are great for early intervention. They are great at a preschool level. However, those books and materials should not be used with students who are in middle school, elementary, high school. They really need access to content that is appropriate for their age.
So in thinking about adapting books, we want to think about some modifications to the text, modifications to the pictures, and modifications to the book itself.
So just a brief example of some ways that you might consider modifying any given book starting with the text. So you could add braille, you could have large print, use of Mayer-Johnsons to supplement written print that might be too abstract for the student, the addition of tactile symbols, using voice output as a means of access or audio book presentation.
You could add high contrast. You want to think about the amount of text per page. So whether that be the amount of information a student can handle. Or for students who have difficulty tracking and scanning, students who have CVI, it might be too complex to have too many lines of print on any one given page.
You want to think of the spacing between words in a text, thinking about removing text from complex backgrounds. Often in books, you'll see the text is right on top of the colorful pictures, which makes discrimination quite difficult.
You'll want to think about simplifying the content of the text and, ultimately, the plot, and modifying vocabulary. Some students might be at grade level and that's fine. You might have to make minimal modifications to content. But it is something to consider with whoever you're teaching.
In thinking about modifications to pictures, you can enlarge them. You can simplify them. So if you have a really busy page, just taking the main point.
You can consider alternate modes-- so thinking of all the examples that Megan just gave as far as pictures, photographs, use of objects, tactile graphics or tactile symbols, looking at high-contrast. So what are the salient features of that picture and how can you make it quite evident to the child?
And then again, emphasizing the main point-- so if you're looking for context clues from the picture, what do you need in order to get the information that the page is focused on?
As far as modifying the book in itself, would be the addition of page bumpers. We often use just foam stickers to add onto the back of a page to support page turning and/or orientation of the book.
You can use laminate for the preservation of the materials. Preservation is often sought after, because we work very hard to adapt our books. So we want them to be in use as long as possible.
One thing to think of, though, is to be aware of glare. Unfortunately, a lot of laminate is glossy. So you'll have to be considerate when you're positioning the book when reading it to the child.
You can think in the pages of a book. So using cardboard or layered card stock to make it a little bit thicker and easier to turn, manage. And then using binding rings as a means of putting it all together.
Here's a very simple example of how one book might be modified in relation to the text, the picture, and the book itself. So it's a simple black and white drawing. And the text has been changed. So I'm not sure what the original word was. But it was changed to thin, assumingly that that was a term that the child was either working on or understood.
And then there's the addition of tactile graphics to the picture-- so one long, thin strand of hair. And then the book modification itself, you can see it has two binding rings at the top.
So in thinking of just this book modification, you would want to think about how this was specially designed with a student in mind. It might not be appropriate for all children to access. You would assume they have that tactile discrimination.
They might be using some sort of key in order to match textures. So there's a variety of routes you can take when modifying a book.
Next in thinking about the use of story boxes-- so this ties in nicely with objects, pictures, and really any mode of communication the student might be using. Very often, you'll see story boxes in our preschool. But they can be used appropriately across all ages as long as the content is appropriate.
It's wonderful for building concept development and relating more abstract language to concrete experiences. So when we're thinking of story boxes, you want to use symbolic objects to represent the focus of the story.
You can use real life objects for experience-based stories. You'll have multiple objectives for learning available. So you could be focused on matching object to object, matching object to picture, pictures to text, focused on color, focused on form.
There's really no one single concept that can be developed through a story box. It's really quite diversive. And it can be used, as I mentioned earlier, across all age ranges as long as it's age-appropriate.
And most importantly, having story boxes, and really any lesson, being created based on the student's interests. We know that our students learn best if they are motivated and want to participate.
So if we can start offering materials that really focus in on what they want to learn, it increases engagement, increases language development. And it's a fantastic place to start.
You'll want to think about books and literacy activities that really encourage exploration. We talked about it earlier. But that lack of incidental learning greatly impacts our students.
And so how can we make multi-sensory lessons that really engage all the senses and have the student engage in hands-on lessons-- so thinking about interacting with those real objects and materials, incorporating new experiences such as cooking or painting.
So in thinking of the student earlier on looking at the process of cutting a whole apple down to a part apple, that could be something that's taught during a cooking lesson. It could be then carried over into a painting lesson, doing apple prints, reading a book about apple picking and being able to feel the apple in different contexts and generalizing.
So just as creative as you can be in order to maximize that generalization and exploration of materials across contexts is fantastic.
So here's an example of an adapted book. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See-- so preschool level. And to the right, you'll see that the main picture has been simplified and provided with high contrast. Eric Carle books in general are pretty simple.
However, they don't really provide high contrast. And some of the textured art within it makes those salient features a little bit difficult to discriminate. So what we've done here has been scanned the book print it out, put it on black background, and then add a tactile component.
So in this case, it's a red bird with a red feather. And then below it is an example of the duck and an object to go along with that picture. Now, I do want to say that a lot of people would look at this and say, oh, this is a great book for someone with CVI, which absolutely it could be.
But I do want to throw in a word of caution in the transition from three-dimensional to two-dimensional pictures for students who have CVI. That transition would really be dependent on where they are on the CVI range and also their ability to jump from 3-D to 2-D.
As you can see, the duck in the bottom photo is not an exact photograph of the duck. So that does take a big leap as far as being able to recognize salient features in relation to difficulty with novelty.
So in this example of an adapted version of the book Five Little Ducks, you can not only be working on early literacy skills such as book handling and page turning, it's a great opportunity for early concept development and early math skills such as counting up to five and one-to-one correspondence.
Also, it's a great example of a book that is based on a song. So for students who might not be motivated to sit down and really engage with a book but are motivated by music, it's a really nice bridge. You can sing the song while still interacting with the book, turning the pages. And we've seen from multiple students in the past, it's a really great way to get them excited about literacy activities.
So in thinking about creating story boxes using real objects, make sure they're objects that are meaningful to the student. If you're making a story box based on the book Little Bear Gets Dressed, consider using clothing that the student actually wears. Maybe use the student's actual shoe during the process.
If you're making a book about eating, instead of using just a general cereal bowl, consider does the student use an adapted bowl to eat? If so, include that. That's what's meaningful to them. And that's the experience if they have.
Also, think about the language that you're using when talking about real objects. If you're calling the shoe a shoe, make sure that all of the people who are working with this student and interacting with this story box are using the same vocabulary-- that they're labeling it as a shoe versus a sneaker.
That's not to say that later you couldn't teach the student that a shoe can also be called a sneaker. But when first developing a new concept, it's really important to keep the language and labeling very consistent.
Also think about incorporating the other senses into your literacy activities. These photos depict reviewing a recipe that the student had worked on earlier in the day. And they feel the representations on the board as they move along. And then interact with the real objects.
So the student isn't just feeling a tactile representation, they're touching it. They're tasting the popcorn that they made. They're smelling the cinnamon. They're really building on their other senses, which is important in helping build memory and connection with students who are deafblind.
You can also consider creating a sensory experience adapted book. If you're making a book about holiday smells, instead of just making a visually adapted picture of a candy cane, you could consider gluing an actual candy cane to the book.
It has the same feeling. It will give you the same smell. And this book was created for a student who is blind and profoundly deaf. So it really gave them a way to meaningfully interact with the book, especially being at a pre-braille level.
And in the next picture, it's a book about your senses. And this student had low vision and a moderate hearing loss and did use their hearing.
So for example, this page depicts I hear with my ear and has a set of bells glued to the page. They're bells that the student interacted with on a regular basis. And it's something meaningful to them. And they're actually hearing it.
For students who are at a pre-braille level, you could create a simplified book and use tactile matching. This is a really great opportunity for students who are working on discrimination skills. You can adapt the picture within the book and put one salient tactile feature on each page. And then have cards with matching textures.
This will allow the student throughout the book to answer basic comprehension questions. For example, on this page you would ask the student who did the boy go to see? Did he go to see the dog or the bird?
And then you can reference the page, feel the dog's tactile color, and it gives that assignment of the texture to that character. It's a really nice and simple way to incorporate early pre-braille skills and basic comprehension question/answering skills into literacy activities for young learners.
And as Marguerite mentioned earlier, age appropriateness with them books is very important. And oftentimes, some of our older students who might be younger learners can be overwhelmed by the amount of text within a book.
So in this example, a Mayer-Johnson sentence strip was created to focus on the key words that are presented in the page. So instead of a whole paragraph describing what's happening, we're talking about family eat breakfast.
It simplifies the text of the story while still getting the main idea across and allows the student access to age-appropriate books.
So before we end, Megan and I went through the different age categories-- so ranging from age three up through high school with some ideas as far as how you might think about adapting literacy materials with that age range in mind.
So, again, these are just some examples. They can be adapted at any level. But you'll hear more often than not it's really difficult to make a story box for a high school student. Or it's really easy to just pick out those infant baby books. But we want to show that with some creative thought it can be done.
So we'll start with ages three to five-- so looking at really early childhood, preschool, kindergarten. This is the book Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell. So a page on the left shows a typical representation from the book.
So "I wrote to the zoo to send me a pet. They sent me E-N." And then there's a yellow crate. This is very heavy. And it says, "He was too big. I sent him back."
So an adaptation would be was just showing the actual picture of the elephant saying, the elephant was too big. And blowing up that elephant to take over the entire page which supports the concept of being big.
Additionally, you could use story box objects if you want to add on some exploration opportunities, as long as the concept of big and small maybe was very clearly defined. And then as we mentioned earlier, using voice output devices.
You could have a prerecorded switch that says, I sent him back. So this is one of those stories with a repeat line. So it really encourages engagement and turn-taking and participation as a whole.
For ages six to eight, an idea is If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff. So in the page from the actual story on the left, you'll see there's three lines of text and very detailed photograph or picture representation of the mouse looking in a mirror.
And for someone who is visually impaired, this could be quite difficult to gain any context clues from the picture because of its detail. So one way that you might want to modify that-- and this was done using Board Maker through Mayer-Johnson-- and this is a simplification of the content as well-- just emphasizing the main point.
So the mouse now is looking in the mirror. So just including the one word mirror, a picture representation of the mirror, and the mouse on a black background. So it takes out all that background clutter and simplifies the main point of that page.
Some additional ideas is that you can still read the entire text to the student. It doesn't mean you just have to say nearer. But as far as the vocabulary exposure, maybe just that one word is essential.
And if you add in an actual mirror, then that gives a nice object for a story box. The student can look at themselves in the mirror and talk about how the mouse did it as well.
For ages nine to 12, here's the book Rainbow Fish. A lot of similar issues of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie-- the complexity of the photograph. The text is quite lengthy. So if a student requires modified text and modified access to picture, here's an example on the right of how you might do that-- so simplifying what the fish is experiencing.
So from a two paragraph explanation to rainbow fish shared. Rainbow fish is happy. That might be conceptually appropriate for that child. And then taking just a picture of the rainbow fish smiling.
So just to emphasize, we're simplifying the text to the main point. We're reducing clutter, just including the main picture. And then additionally, you can use MJs to support vocabulary. So while one student might be accessing this form, you could be using Mayer-Johnsons to encourage group engagement for a child who's using Mayer-Johnsons.
And then this was always a fun one to make. But for a young adult, we would be looking at Harry Potter. Harry Potter is not a picture book. It's a series of novels. But looking at how we could maybe simplify the content to a Mayer-Johnson strip.
So Harry Potter is a wizard-- or Harry Potter is a boy. Harry Potter is a wizard. Wizards know magic. So simplifying it drastically. But one, I think, really valuable aspect of doing something like this is if Harry Potter is very popular among high schoolers or young adults-- well, I guess now 10 years ago or so.
But being able to have access to that content and that pop culture and being able to have conversations with their siblings or peers, I think, is really important for social development and being able to have those experiences, even if the understanding or access is modified.
So that's it for our presentation. Thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you.