Literacy
Resources for the Deafblind Community

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Need literacy support for your family or classroom?
Register here to consult with the FAVI DeafBlind Collaborative’s Reading Specialist.

image of PowerPoint shows one emoji that is thinking and another with a lightbulb over head. The title reads considerations when making and adapting books for students with vision loss and other needs.

This presentation introduces features that need to be considered when making or adapting texts for students with vision loss, multiple disabilities, and other needs. Resources include Literacy for Children with Combined Hearing Loss , Paths to Literacy for Students who are Blind or Visually Impaired, the Florida Instructional Materials Center for the Visually Impaired, and other sites.

Explore resources from Gwyn McCormack from Positive Eye whose work with Paths to Literacy and the Southeast Deaf-Blind Projects is featured here.

Image of early literacy tools with title Early Literacy for students with multiple disabilities or deaf-blindness
Perkins eLearning webinar

 

Lightbox Story Hour: A Tool to Provide Access to Literacy

The lightbox is a tool to provide access to literacy materials for students with multiple disabilities, including those with cortical or cerebral visual impairments (CVI).  In the past, the lightbox has typically been used to promote sensory efficiency, but it can also be used to support literacy-focused lightbox programming.  The lightbox can be used to build upon visual skills using the lighted background to draw visual attention to stories. The objective is to make literacy activities more meaning-focused, as with I-M-ABLE, which is an approach developed by Dr. Diane Wormsley.  Using the lightbox for literacy activities is a way that we can work on sensory efficiency, while also making it fun and engaging.

Red letters on black background read CVI Teacher Ellen Cadigan Mazel, M.Ed. CTVI, DeafBlind Specialist, CVI Endorsed Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments
CVI Teacher Ellen Cadigan Mazel, M.Ed.
CTVI, DeafBlind Specialist,
CVI Endorsed Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments

Get lots of useful tips, from the American Society for Deaf Children, for simple things you can do to enrich literacy skills and increase bonding with your deaf or hard of hearing child.

logo shows two clasped hands and reads RMTC-D/HH Resource Materials and Technology Center for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing
Resource Materials & Technology Center for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing

Center on Literacy And Deafness Webinar Series: Literacy Instruction for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

 8 presentation videos (to be watched in sequential order) co-sponsored by:

Southwestern Project to Prepare Teachers of Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, University of Arizona, Grant # H325K080241 U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs

Center on Literacy and Deafness (CLAD), Grant # R24C12001 US Institute of Education Sciences

CLAD Research and Presentations

Resources from Gallaudet University’s Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center

The Clerc Center’s beliefs about the importance of language and communication in the development of students’ literacy skills are the foundation of our literacy program. Through a review of best practices in reading and writing, we have identified nine practices that create a comprehensive approach to literacy learning. These include dialogue journals; shared reading and writing; other journals and logs; independent reading; guided reading and writing; reading to children; language experience; writers’ workshop; and research reading and writing. Creating an ideal learning environment with high expectations for all students is the goal of incorporating all nine areas into a comprehensive approach.

 

 

The AACliteracy website provides guidelines for teaching literacy skills to learners with special needs, especially learners with complex communication needs (CCN) . . .

This website provides information on:

Penn State logo is shown above the words literacy instruction for individuals with autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and other disabilities and the names Janice Light & David McNaughton