Story Boxes: Literacy Adaptations for Students Who Are Deafblind – Paths to Literacy

Adaptations for a child who has a combined vision and hearing loss will depend on many factors, such as the amount of vision and hearing the child has, age, cognitive abilities, motor skills, and personal interests. This post is the first of four parts presenting different aspects of literacy for students who are deafblind. Many of these techniques or strategies can be used with children with multiple disabilities or visual impairment as well. This particular blog focuses on Storyboxes.

A group of teachers in the Deafblind Program at Perkins School for the Blind presented an hour-long webinar on various aspects of literacy for children with deafblindness: Literacy Adaptations for Students Who Are Deafblind with Christa Hulburt, Ira Padhye, Megan Connaughton, and Marguerite Bilms.

Overview

What is Literacy?
Story Boxes

Stay Tuned for more parts of Literacy Adaptations for Students Who Are Deafblind featuring:

CVI and Adaptations for Literacy
Adaptations for Total Deafblindness
Teaching Strategies for moving towards a more traditional approach to literacy

What is Literacy?

finger over braille — Reading braille

child writing — Young girl writing “ABC” on blackboard

stack of books — Stack of books

baby with glasses reading a book — A young child with glasses looks at a book

In addition to reading and writing print or braille, literacy also includes communication!

Where to Start?

Learning Media Assessment (LMA) – Assessment for selecting the appropriate literacy media for students with visual impairments. “Literacy media” refers to the way in which students access the general education curriculum.

Hierarchy of Communication

object -> picture of object -> Mayer-Johnson -> Formal Written Word
concrete -> abstract

Story Boxes & Adaptations for Literacy

by Megan Connaughton, M.Ed

Story Box Overview

Pre-literacy
Concrete -> abstract concepts
Appropriate for students at different cognitive levels

very hungry caterpillar — Adapted version of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”

very hungry caterpillar — Real and plastic fruit to illustrate book

How to create access for different learners

if you take a mouse to school — Story box for “If You Take a Mouse to School”

if you take a mouse to school — Lego blocks to illustrate story

child hugging stuffed cat — A girl hugs a stuffed cat while looking at a book about a cat.

Why Use Story Boxes?

Interaction
Concrete examples
Develop various concepts
Fun and engaging!

Unique

Story boxes should be unique to the student
Age appropriate
Reflect the student’s interests

"Dear Zoo" with stuffed animals — “Dear Zoo” with stuffed animals

Stuffed giraffe, illustration of giraffe, picture symbol of giraffe — Stuffed giraffe, illustration of giraffe, picture symbol of giraffe

Concrete -> Abstract

Unique to student’s level of communication

Cover of "Good Enough to Eat" — Cover of “Good Enough to Eat”

blue bowl on table — A child’s blue bowl, with a photo of the bowl and text in print and braille

Concrete: Real objects that are meaningful to the student

Cover of "Little Bear Gets Dressed" — Cover of “Little Bear Gets Dressed”

child sneaker — Photo of child’s shoe

Abstract – Represents another meaning

2-dimensional strawberry with 3-dimensional strawberry — 2-dimensional strawberry with 3-dimensional strawberry

Concept vs. Abstract

A student who is not yet an abstract thinker can still use abstract objects in a story box
Use to focus on concepts

red dot with red and green apples — Focus on the object being read, not on it representing an apple.

For All Story Boxes

Consistency of words and labels

shoe vs. sneaker — shoe vs. sneaker

Repeat Exposure

weekly schedule — Weekly schedule

Unique & engaging

child reading story book — A girl looks at an adapted book.

How to Create a Story Box

Book Materials:

Paper (Black)
Lamination
Sheet Protectors
Hole Puncher
Rings

Pictures:

Scanner
Internet Search
Personal Camera
Draw it
Cut out of Book

Objects:

Donation
Dollar Stores
Craft Stores
E-Bay

very hungry caterpillar — The Very Hungry Caterpillar book with adapted version and 3-d caterpillar and strawberry

Remember … Have Fun!

References

http://www.pathstoliteracy.org/learning-media-assessment

Roman-Lantzy, C. (2007). Cortical Vision Impairment: An Approach to Assessment and Intervention. AFB Press.

Collage of creating storyboxes for children who are deafblind