We all benefit from exposure to a variety of teaching and learning techniques when developing a set of skills. For students with multiple disabilities, it is important to provide a range of experiences and strategies, while also trying to be consistent in the structure, materials, and vocabulary.
Language Development on the Path to Literacy
Language and literacy are closely intertwined, and the articles below offer suggestions of ways in which to support the development of language and literacy simultaneously.
Colby’s Growth to Language and Literacy: The Achievements of a Child who is Congenitally Deafblind
Susan Bruce, Amy Randall, Barbara Birge
Teaching Exceptional Children Plus: Volume 5, Issue 2, November 2008
This article tells the story of how Colby, a young boy who is congenitally deafblind, developed language and literacy. Narrative is coupled with video to illustrate how the following four instructional approaches and interventions supported his development: (1) daily schedule, (2) home-school journal, (3) experiential based literacy, and (4) child-guided instruction. Both Colby’s mother and his teachers developed individualized literacy lessons that were delivered with daily consistency. Repetition of highly interesting activities paired with consistent exposure to representations about those activities (expressed in objects, verbalizations, sign language, and braille) supported Colby to literacy.
Talking Photo Albums
Mary Ann Demchak, Nevada Dual Sensory Impairment Project: Tips for Home or School (September 2004)
Talking photo albums can be used as a conversation aid for individuals who have limited verbal communication skills. They can be used as a conversation starter or a daily journal to share information about what happened at school or at home.
Making Choices
To learn more about Tangible Symbols, see the Perkins Webcast The Use of Tangible Symbols to Support the Development of Communication and the accompanying handout by Elizabeth Torrey or Tangible Symbol Systems Primer by Charity Rowland and Philip Schweigert.
Calendar Boxes

To learn more about Calendar Boxes or Object Calendars, see Let me Check My Calendar, by Robbie Blaha and Kate Moss, Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, or Using a Schedule with Your Child from Family Connect for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments.
