by FLAVIA DANIELA DOS SANTOS MOREIRA, reposted with permission from DBI Review
The concept of emergent literacy serves to highlight the different ways in which children perceive and engage with reading and writing. It is a dynamic and unique process that begins at birth and involves many aspects throughout the child’s life (Stratton, 1996).
Emergent literacy takes place from the child’s first verbal and nonverbal interactions with other people and with the surrounding environment, through explorations (Stratton, 1996). Hands-on experiences with a variety of elements made of so many different materials, textures, smells, sounds and tastes allow the child to experience skills and learn more about the environment. Thinking about literacy possibilities through this perspective reflects the break with traditional models, focused only on readiness for reading and writing (Williams, 2004). When children realize that abstract symbols have meanings and that people use them to represent different concepts, they expand their intentional language and their abilities to explore objects, which is essential for concept formation (Erickson; Hatton, 2007).
Children with visual impairment and multiple disabilities often reemergent literacy takes place from the child’s first verbal and nonverbal interactions with other people and with the surrounding environment, through explorations (Stratton, 1996).
Hands-on experiences with a variety of elements made of so many different materials, textures, smells, sounds and tastes allow the child to experience skills and learn more about the environment. Thinking about literacy possibilities through this perspective reflects the break with traditional models, focused only on readiness or reading and writing (Williams, 2004).
When children realize that abstract symbols have meanings and that people use them to represent different concepts, they expand their intentional language and their abilities to explore objects, which is essential for concept formation (Erickson; Hatton, 2007).
Children with visual impairment and multiple disabilities often receive information in a fragmented way, making the perception of meanings a great challenge (Goldware; Silver, 1998). In addition, some of these children demonstrate tactile defensiveness when touching certain materials. Therefore, the objectives of educational practice should include multimodal options and encourage the child’s active and successful participation in their surrounding environment.
But in practice, how can we involve a child with visual impairment and multiple disabilities in emergent literacy activities? What emergent literacy is this? The objective of this study was to organize a pedagogical sequence for creating personal experience books for children with visual impairment and multiple disabilities. It is believed that the publication of this study may inspire other teachers to develop meaningful activities with their students to create books of personal experiences.
Method
This is an experience report carried out between March and June 2024, during individualized alternative communication sessions, carried out by this teacher/researcher, once a week, lasting 50 minutes, at an institution specialized in visual impairment in Brazil.
P1’s grandmother also participated in these sessions. The participating student, identified here as P1, is seven years old, has cerebral palsy, is hypertonic, has complex communication needs, and has epilepsy. The information was recorded through filming, which was watched only by this teacher/researcher. It is important to explain that four stories were created from the adaptation of children’s songs. Instead of telling stories in a traditional way, the children’s songs were transformed into olfactory, tasting, tactile, and sound experiences. First, concrete experiences and then the creation of two-dimensional representations.
Table 1 shows a schedule with the songs and the content of the videos.
Pedagogical sequence for creating personal experience books
The individualized alternative communication sessions were organized into a beginning, middle, and end, as described below:
Beginning: greet the child with a tactile body signal to begin and a tactile body signal to say okay. Then, play by opening and closing hands using coactive movements.
Middle: use of reference objects to present the actions of playing, hygiene for washing hands, and eating. To play, this teacher provided elements that gave meaning to the characters and the scenario described in each of the children’s songs used in this that the lake almost dried up report. After the child was encouraged to participate coactively in these activities, he or she was invited to wash his or her hands, and finally, this teacher/researcher offered the child a cookie.
End of the session: to represent the end of the session, this teacher/researcher caressed P1’s hands using moisturizing cream and then sprayed lavender water to give a goodbye scent.
This is the pedagogical sequence for creating the experience books.
Results
Considering the amount of information collected in this experience report, only one of the stories of student P1’s personal experiences is presented here. The story chosen was Mr. Lobato’s fish. This teacher/researcher adapted the lyrics of this song:
Mr. Lobato has a farm
And on his farm he has a fish
But one day it was so hot
And Mr. Lobato’s fish got really hot Hey! Let’s help Mr. Lobato’s fish
For each song, elements were provided that gave meaning to the setting and characters. In the song Mr. Lobato’s fish, the following were provided: a plastic fish, two plastic basins, water, a sponge, and a plastic tray. Image 1 shows these elements:
First, this teacher/researcher sang the song Mr. Lobato’s fish. Then she invited P1 to save the fish. Since P1 is hypertonic, his grandmother did the activity with him. They had to transfer water from the large bowl to the small bowl to help the fish, which was very hot and had no water. After doing this activity, it was time to represent these actions in a two-dimensional way, as shown in image 2:
This fish activity took place on May 15 and May 25, 2024. In the first activity, P1 had to save the fish from the heat. In the second activity, P1 had to save the fish from the hook and then place the fish on the beach. In the second activity, this teacher/researcher brought a fishing rod and plastic fish for P1 to catch. There was also a plastic toy boat.
It is worth noting that everything was done with the help of P1’s grandmother.
The other activities for creating the stories of the painted caterpillar and the pirate Billy
One-Eyed followed the same organization: objects, food, smells, textures and music to represent the characters and settings.
Final considerations
Following the traditional literacy model, the student P1 would not be able to create pages of a book of personal experience, nor would he be able to understand the meaning of the songs. However, the emergent literacy model is inclusive and values all forms of learning and communication. Although it is not possible to state that P1 understood the meaning of all the activities, one cannot underestimate the ways in which he may have perceived the smells, sounds, tastes and different textures through touch, smell, hearing and perception of light/dark.
Children with visual impairments and multiple disabilities are at a disadvantage in relation to instructions, anticipation of activity transitions and therefore need the physical help of others to explore the surrounding environment (Goldware; Silver, 1998). In this sense, the use of story boxes for practical and two-dimensional representation of children’s songs that can become stories, can be very useful to enrich the educational practice and the receptive and expressive communication of students with complex communication needs (Goldware; Silver, 1998).
The use of the pedagogical sequence served to determine the beginning, middle and end of the activities, thus preventing P1 from being surprised and frightened.
Another positive aspect of this pedagogical sequence for creating personal experience books refers to the practical experiences that were offered to promote P1’s learning and communication. According to Straton (1996), practical experiences are essential to instigate the perception of information and strengthen children’s relationship with their surrounding environment. These children may even have cognitive delays and restrictions on movement, however, interactions with the environment favor the formation of concepts.
Changes in the environment can increase the possibilities of perception and engagement of these children, in addition to improving aspects of the child’s development, including emergent literacy. Obviously, this experience report is not intended to end this subject, but rather to share an experience and provoke reflection on this subject.
Original article in the Dbl review magazine
Deafblind International Website in English, Spanish and Russian issue archives.
References
ERICKSON, Karen A.; HATTON, Deborah. Expanding Understanding of Emergent Literacy: Empirical Support for a New Framework. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, v. 101, n. 5, p. 261-277, May 2007
GOLDWARE, Marjorie; SILVER, Marsha. AAC strategies for young children visual impairment and multiple disabilities. Paper presented at the CSUN 1998 Conference (Los Angeles, CA, March, 1998.
STRATTON, Josephine. Emergent literacy: a new perspective. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, v. 20, n. 3, p. 177-83, May-Jun 1996.
WILLIAMS, Cheri. Emergent literacy of deaf children. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, v. 9, n. 4, p. 352-365, 2004.
