1. Implications of the National Early Literacy Panel for Early Braille Literacy PART ONE
National Center for Family Literacy
American Printing House for the Blind
Visually Impaired Preschool Services

2. Preliminary Findings of the National Early Literacy Panel
Update: the final report of the National Early Literacy Panel was released January 8, 2009 and can be accessed at
Bonnie Lash Freeman
Director – Training/Special Projects
National Center for Family Literacy

3. Purpose of the Family Partnership in Reading Project
Purpose of the Family Partnership in Reading Project Instructional strategies will be identified based on the scientific research that will enable staff in family literacy programs and early childhood programs to:

4. Purpose of the Family Partnership in Reading Project
Help young children develop the foundational skills they need to become good readers
Equip parents to support their children’s literacy development
Improve reading instruction for parents in
family literacy programs

5. National Early Literacy Panel Members
Dr. Anne Cunningham, University of California at Berkeley
Dr. Kathy Escamilla, University of Colorado at Boulder
Dr. Janet Fischel, State University of New York at Stony Brook
Dr. Susan H. Landry, University of Texas—Houston

6. National Early Literacy Panel Members
Dr. Christopher J. Lonigan, Florida State University
Dr. Victoria Molfese, University of Louisville
Dr. Chris Schatschneider, Florida State University
Dr. Timothy Shanahan (Chair), University of Illinois at Chicago
Dr. Dorothy Strickland, Rutgers University

7. Purpose of the NELP
To:
Synthesize the research on early literacy development including parent and home program effects
Deliver a final report of their findings

8. Emergent Literacy
Emergent literacy involves the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are developmental precursors to conventional forms of reading and writing
(Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998).

9. Emergent Literacy
Emergent literacy skills are the basic building blocks for learning to read and write.

10. How to define emergent literacy
Two conditions need to be satisfied for something to be considered an emergent literacy skill:
Must come before conventional
literacy skills.
Must be related to (i.e., predictive of) conventional literacy skills.

11. What is a Research Synthesis?
A research synthesis, also referred to as a research integration, research review, literature review, and a meta-analysis is a method of inquiry used to derive generalizations from the collective findings of a body of existing studies.

12. Benefits of a Research Synthesis
The aggregation of research allows for an accounting and weighing of research evidence in support of a research question.

13. Limits to a Research Synthesis
Limited most by the availability and quality of research on a particular question.
Generalizations made from a research synthesis must stay within the bounds of the research.

14. Four Synthesis Questions

15. What are young children’s (ages birth through five years) skills and abilities that predict later reading, writing and spelling outcomes?
2. What programs and interventions contribute to or inhibit gains in children’s skills and abilities and are linked to later outcomes in reading, writing and spelling?

16. 3. What environments and settings contribute to or inhibit gains in children’s skills and abilities and are linked to later outcomes in reading, writing and spelling?
4. What child characteristics contribute to or inhibit gains in children’s skills and abilities and are linked to later outcomes in reading, writing and spelling?

17. What skills constitute the domain of conventional literacy skills?
Receptively
Decoding (accuracy and fluency)
Reading Comprehension

18. What skills constitute the domain of conventional literacy skills?
Although decoding is not all there is to skilled reading, it is a critical component.
You can decode what you cannot comprehend, but…
you cannot comprehend what you cannot decode.

19. What skills constitute the domain of conventional literacy skills?
Expressively
Spelling
Composition

20. Strong Predictors: Alphabet Knowledge Concepts About Print
Phonological Awareness
Invented Spelling
Oral Language
Writing Name/Writing
RAN (Rapid Automatic Naming)

21. Unique predictors from the multivariate studies:
Alphabet Knowledge
Phonological Awareness
Rapid Automatic Naming
Writing/Writing Name
Phonological STM

22. Summary of the #1 Primary Analyses

24. Oral Language Subcategories Predicting Decoding & Comprehension

26. Oral Language Defined In pairs, define the oral language terms.
Chart your definitions.
In small groups, discuss one strategy that you can use with children that matches the term you defined.
Add to your chart

27. Components of Oral Language
What aspect of oral language is being examined matters a lot.
Vocabulary is a weak predictor of later decoding and comprehension.
More complex aspects of oral language, like grammar and definitional vocabulary, are very strong predictors of decoding and comprehension.
Implications for early childhood programs.

28. Components of Phonological Awareness
Early forms of phonological awareness are strong predictors of later reading skills.
Measures of rhyme are not the best indicator of how well children are acquiring this key pre-reading skill.

29. Answering Question 2 (Effects of Interventions) Process & Results

30. Category 1:
Helping Children Make Sense of Print--Cracking the Alphabetic Code and Teaching Letters and Words
(PA, Letter Knowledge, Spelling, Phonics, Print Awareness, Visual Perceptual/Perceptual Motor)

31. Category 2:
Reading to and Sharing Books with Young Children
Category 3:
Parent and Home Programs for Improving Young Children’s Literacy

32. Category 4:
Preschool and Kindergarten Programs
Category 5:
Language Enhancement Studies

33. Example: Storybooks and Print Awareness
Laura M. Justice and Helen K. Ezell
30 Head Start children, native English speakers
Pretest-posttest control-group research design
8 week book-reading intervention – small group reading sessions
Experimental – print focus
Control – picture focus

34. Cont. Example: print focus prompts
Print Conventions – Where is the front of this book? Show me the way I need to read.
Concept of word – Where is the first word on this page?
Alphabet knowledge – Does anyone see any letters in their name on this page?

35. Cont. Results indicated that for three of the subtests
Print Recognition
Words in Print
Alphabet Knowledge
and in terms of the Phonological Awareness composite

36. Cont.
the children who participated in print focused reading sessions demonstrated significantly greater gains from pretest to post test compared to the children in the picture focused reading groups.

37. Summary: Overall Intervention Findings
Evidence for significant effects of some (but not all) early childhood interventions in the promotion of literacy and literacy-related skills.

38. Summary: Overall Intervention Findings
Efforts to teach code-related skills are highly successful.
Phonological Awareness Skills
Alphabet Knowledge
Concepts About Print
Shared-book reading helps promote oral language skills.

39. Summary: Overall Intervention Findings
Evidence of a sizable impact of parent and home programs for the promotion of oral language skills.
Relatively weak evidence for the effectiveness of undifferentiated preschool programs on reading achievement.
Oral language interventions work.

40. Implications for Early Childhood Education

41. Provides evidence for building children’s language and literacy skills in the preschool period.
Identifies early skills that give children the strongest foundation for learning to read.

42. Provides guidelines for professional development (e. g
Provides guidelines for professional development (e.g., read-aloud practices, PA activities).
Supports the importance of assessment of early literacy skills.

43. Informs decisions about developing or selecting the most appropriate curricula (e.g., content, intensity, sequence).
Helps to guide the development of goals and selection of content for parent programs.
Provides strong direction about future research.

44. Implications of the National Early Literacy Panel for Early Braille Literacy PART TWO
Suzette Wright APH Emergent Literacy Project Leader
Pauletta Feldman VIPS Special Projects Coordinator

45. Preliminary findings of the National Early Literacy Panel (NELP ) point to early skills that predict favorable literacy outcomes for young, typically sighted print readers.

46. parents and the home environment
NELP confirms the critical importance of the years before school and the contributions of:
parents and the home environment
teachers of preschoolers and preschool programs
Photo: Mother reads to preschool child.

47. NELP
Correlative information regarding early predictive skills and later
decoding
comprehension
spelling

48. NELP Guide for future research
address observed gaps in existing research
secondary and more detailed analyses of NELP data

49. What does NELP indicate about:
skills needed by a preschooler who will read braille?
the settings and circumstances in which those skills may be learned and developed?

50. Can NELP findings guide us as we work to ensure a foundation for literacy for children who will read braille?
Photo (left, middle, right): mother and young child explore braille in braille storybook; adult and preschool child talk as adult writes out shopping list; preschool child sits in front of a braillewriter.

51. NELP predictors Alphabet knowledge* Concepts about print
Phonological awareness*
Invented spelling
Oral language
Writing name/writing*
Rapid automatic naming (RAN)*
letters, digits, also things and colors

52. Unique predictors Alphabet knowledge* Phonological awareness*
Writing name/writing*
Rapid automatic naming (RAN)*
letters, digits, things and colors

53. Oral Language
Literacy is about connecting written words to spoken language that has meaning for the reader.
Photo: Young child pretend reads from large storybook.

54. Oral language--closely correlated subskills
receptive language
expressive language
grammar
definitional vocabulary

55. Oral language—what to do?
Ensure development of oral language skills is a part of work with children and their families
Begin early: complex language abilities are related to the child’s ability as a 6-month-old to distinguish basic units of spoken sounds (Kuhl, 2002)

56. Oral language—what to do?
Build early communication skills through turn-taking
Extend early language
Ensure exposure to a wide range of concepts and related language

57. Oral language—what to do?
Read-aloud—talking about the story, unfamiliar words, and meaning; asking questions
Text box gives this web address for further information about dialogic reading
Photo: Child responds to a question her teacher has asked about the story the teacher is reading aloud.
Dialogic reading—

58. Oral language—what to do?
Be watchful for and share strategies to handle common problems areas
misuse of pronouns
echolalia
use of questions

59. Oral language—what to do?
Talk with the child—
extended discourse
- things that interest the child
- using nouns and descriptive words
- connecting words to experiences
modeling proper grammar
Photo: Adult and preschooler tactually explore and talk about the shapes the child is cutting from playdough.

60. Oral language—importance of home setting and caregiver characteristics
Hart & Risley (1995) longitudinal study
42 families
9 mos. to 3 years
amount/type of language spoken
caregiver style

61. Oral language—Hart & Risley study
Linked to higher scores on language and intelligence tests at 4th grade:
frequently interacting with the young child
inviting child’s involvement
following the child’s lead
using encouragement and a positive tone
extended conversations

62. Oral language--vocabulary
Students who enter kindergarten knowing more vocabulary learn new vocabulary at twice the rate of students who begin with a lower vocabulary (Neuman, 2005).

63. Vocabulary—what to do? Pairing language with related experiences
Engaging in extended discourse, introducing new words
Reading aloud—exposure to rare words, broader vocabulary

64. Phonological awareness (PA)
PA appears to support decoding skills by helping a child notice letter-sound relationships and comprehension by helping the beginning reader recognize words as he blends sounds (McGee & Richgels, 2000; Gillon & Young, 2002).

65. Phonemic awareness is important to success in decoding and learning to decode leads to further improvement in phonemic awareness (Gillon, 2004)

66. PA-closely correlated subskills
phonemes
subphonemes
not rhyme—although rhyme may be important as a building block for more refined phonemic awareness skills . . .
Photo: Mother talks to her infant.

67. PA—importance for child with vi
Study of students who used braille as their primary reading medium showed a strong relationship between the students' level of phonemic awareness and braille reading skills (Gillon & Young, 2002)

68. PA—what to do? Talking with a child, from birth
Photo: Adult talks to infant as she touches her.

69. PA—what to do? Play with words, rhymes, alliteration
Daily conversation
Read-aloud from books with word play/rhyme
Songs and chants— clapping/marching in time

70. PA—what to do? Play games that draw attention to beginning sounds
Use objects to substitute for pictures
Gather household objects with same beginning sound
Photo: Basket of objects that begin with a /b/ sound: ball, book, bear, boot.

71. Alphabetic knowledge
Unique predictor/strong relationship—average r for decoding was .5 indicating it accounts for 25% of the variation in decoding performance

72. Alphabetic knowledge-subskills
A B C
Letter recognition
Knowledge of letter-names
Knowledge of letter-sound associations
Letter-writing ability

73. Alphabetic knowledge-subskills
Although letter-name knowledge is + correlated to later reading achievement, evidence suggests letter-sound knowledge accounts for more variance in reading achievement and delays (McBride-Chang, 1999; Duncan & Seymour, 2000).
A B C

74. Alphabetic knowledge-subskills
Research with typically sighted children shows letters and letter sounds should be taught at the same time to make the greatest contribution to reading (Whitehurst & Lonigan, 2001)
A B C

75. Alphabet knowledge—what to do?
Involve children
in actively exploring
letters and sounds
together
braillewriter
letters and words
brailled on cards
braille labels around house
Photo: Adult guides child to examines braille the child has just brailled on the braillewriter.

76. Alphabet knowledge—what to do?
Find daily opportunities to involve the child in writing in braille, linking letters and letter sounds
shopping lists
notes/messages to family members
calendar
experience stories

77. Alphabet knowledge—what to do?
Use household objects to create “alphabet boxes” and braille letter cards; play sorting and matching games that draw attention to beginning sounds and the corresponding braille letter
Photo: Two shoe boxes are side by side. One holds a toothbrush and in front of it is a card showing the letter t in braille and print. The other holds a sock and in front of it is a card showing the letter s in braille and print.

78. Alphabet knowledge—what to do?
Share appropriate alphabet books that:
provide exposure to braille letters (such as Alphabet Scramble, from APH)
introduce beginning letter sounds with letters (such as Dr. Suess’s ABC’s)
(books that depend too heavily upon pictures are less effective)
Photo: Alphabet Scramble storybook (APH) contains print braille text and introduces letters in braille, as well as large print.

79. Alphabet knowledge—what to do?
As you read-aloud occasionally point out familiar or key letters/sounds (print- or braille-referencing comments)
Photo: Adult guides child to examine key phrase in braille text of a print/braille storybook.

80. Considerations/questions
In pairs, share some of your thoughts and questions about--
the role of alphabet knowledge, particularly letter/sound knowledge
for preschoolers who will be braille readers.

81. Considerations/questions
Uncontracted braille may make more clear and explicit the relationship of how phonemes “map” on to letters (Ross, 2002).
Braille contractions that represent phonemes (ch, sh, th) may be more easily decoded than their print counterparts
Decoding words that include contractions of some common letter groups (ar ed en er in ing it ) may also be simpler

82. Considerations/questions
in print, there are also many occasions where there is not a single clear way a sound (phoneme) maps onto a print letter
26 print letters but more than 40 phonemes
those 40 phonemes are represented by some 250 different letters and combinations of letters

83. Effectiveness of interventions
The wide range of confidence intervals (with the exception of the tighter range for phonological awareness) indicates that within a single category of intervention some interventions were much more effective than others (Dunst, Trivette, & Hamby, 2007)

84. Effectiveness of interventions
Some of the most interesting analyses lie ahead as data is disentangled, to discover which characteristics of interventions were associated with greatest effectiveness . . .
Example: Reading aloud—interactive reading, print referencing techniques

85. TVI— Reading teacher Early childhood educator Braille transcriber
Tech guy
Scholar
Advisor/Coach
Cheerleader
Clip art: Different hats—scholar’s mortarboard, hard hat, party hat

86. References
Baker, L., & Scher, D. (2002). Beginning readers' motivation for reading in relation to parental beliefs and home reading experiences. Reading Psychology, 23,
Ball, E., & Blachman, B. (1991). Does phoneme awareness training make a difference in early word recognition and developmental spelling? Reading Research Quarterly, 26,
Duncan, L. G. & Seymour, P.H.K. (2000). Socio-economic differences in foundation level literacy. British Journal of Psychology, 91,
Dunst, C.J.. Trivette, C.M. & Hamby, D.W. (2007). Predictors of interventions associated with later literacy accomplishments. Center for Early Learning and Achievement CELLreviews, 1, 3.

87. Gillon, G.T. (2004). Phonological awareness: From research to practice. New York: The Guilford Press.
Gillon, G. T., & Young, A. A. (2002). The phonological-awareness skills of children who are blind. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 96,
Hart, B., & Risley, T. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experiences of young American children. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.
Justice, L.M. & Ezell, H.K. (2004). Print referencing: An emergent literacy enhancement strategy and it’s clinical applications. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 35,
Kuhl, P. (2002, June). Born to learn: Language, reading, and the brain of the child. Paper presented at the Early Learning Summit for the Northwest Region, Boise, ID.

88. McBride-Chang, C. (1999). The ABCs of the ABCs: The development of letter-name and letter-sound knowledge. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 45,
McGee, L. M., & Richgels, D. (2000). Literacy’s beginnings: Supporting young readers and writers (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Neuman, S. (2005, May). Developmentally appropriate early literacy instruction: Evidence-based solutions. Presentation at Institute #8 of the 50th Annual Convention of the International Reading Association, San Antonio, TX.
Whitehurst, G. J., & Lonigan, C. J. (2001). Emergent literacy: Development from prereaders to readers. In S. B. Neuman & D. K. Dickinson (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy research (pp ). New York: Guilford Press.

89. The Pursuit of Literacy: One Mom’s Story
Photo: Child at age five, with his father looking at a print/braille book.

90. What I Feared Learning to read would be difficult for my son
I wouldn’t have access to appropriate materials
I wouldn’t be able to learn braille to help him

91. What I Did Borrowed print/braille books from VIPS
Worked with a blind adult to understand the basics of braille

92. What I Learned My attitude was critical to my son’s literacy.
Concept development was a critical issue.

93. Talking to my son opened up the world to him.
I could learn the basics of braille (and beyond!).

94. Books always made great presents!
Photo: Child, at two, looking at a print/braille book that he got for his birthday, with his mother and two-year-old cousin.

95. I could learn the basics of writing braille.
We could have braille in our home through print braille books and braille labeling.

96. A brailled birthday card
Photo: Family birthday party -- child looks at a card envelope that has been brailled with his name.

97. Mother helps young child touch braille birthday card.

98. My son could learn to love books and reading every bit as much as a sighted child.
The public library could be a special place for my blind child, too.

99. My son loved having a private library of his own braille books.
Photo: Child in his “I WON!” t-shirt from the Braille Readers are Leaders Contest (3rd place winner in First Grade).

100. How VIPS Promotes Early Literacy for Families of Young Visually Impaired Children

101. 1). VIPS has a lending library of. print/braille books for VIPS
1) VIPS has a lending library of print/braille books for VIPS families.
2) VIPS has offered braille classes over the years for VIPS families.

102. 3). VIPS produced the “Power At. Your Fingertips: An Intro to
3) VIPS produced the “Power At Your Fingertips: An Intro to Braille” video and handbook for use by parents, regular ed teachers, and others to gain an overview of the braille alphabet, braille usage, contractions, and writing tools.

103. VIPS participates in the “Read
VIPS participates in the “Read Books” program through National Braille Press, signing up VIPS families to receive free book bags.
5) VIPS has undertaken two recent projects to support early literacy.

104. The VIPS “Getting In Touch with Reading Program”
Photo: The VIPS “In Touch with Reading Program” book bag

105. The goals of this program are to:
Promote early literacy;
Foster appreciation for braille;
Encourage use of the library.

106. Offers free bags of books and materials to VIPS families.
Photo: “In Touch with Reading” book bag contents

107. The bags include: Two “On the Way to Literacy” Storybooks
“On the Way to Literacy” Handbook for parents and teachers
Two “On the Way to Literacy” Storybooks
Two print/braille board books (“Good Night Moon” and” One,Two, Three,” by Sandra Boynton)

108. VIPS “Power at Your Fingertips” video and handbook, including slate and stylus
Folder full of information about the public library, National Library Service for Blind & Physically Handicapped and resources on where to obtain more print/Braille books

109. Over 90% of parents have reported that using the materials in the book bag has helped them:
Enjoy books more with their child
Appreciate the importance of reading to their child
Read aloud more often to their child
Create literacy-rich environments at home for everyday activities

110. Know sources for print/braille books
Feel more comfortable with braille
Appreciate the importance of parents learning about braille
Feel empowered to help their children with learning to read and with schoolwork when the time comes
However, there was no positive impact on library usage.

111. The program also has offered workshops on braille and early literacy:

112. The Intro to Braille workshop for VIPS parents:
100% of participants rated the class, teachers, and materials as “Excellent.”
Parent comments included these statements: “I’m not afraid of Braille now,” “Thanks for making a daunting task less so,” and “I loved this class!”

113. The “Touch of Early Literacy” Workshop
Attended by special educators, regular ed preschool teachers, child care staff, parents, and some APH staff
A day-long workshop held at APH
Bonnie presented results of NELP
Suzette talked about the implications of NELP results for early literacy for VI
Participants also toured APH and made 4 tactile books

114. 100% of participants rated the workshop and materials as “Excellent” and said the workshop gave them a better understanding of:
Research on early literacy
Emergent literacy/how to nurture it
Concepts that children need for conventional literacy skills
How concept development for a blind child differs from a sighted child
How VI children use tactile pictures.

115. VIPS@Home Parent University
Photo: Parent University Teacher Kit for the “Emergent Literacy” Course.

116. The goals of the program:
Provide parents of young visually impaired children with needed information
Provide parents with parent-to-parent support
Reach the 70-80% of parents who do not attend regularly scheduled VIPS events

117. Two of the four courses that have been developed so far are particularly relevant here:
“Emergent Literacy”
“Power at Your Fingertips: Into to Braille,” based on the VIPS video of the same name

118. “Emergent Literacy”
“Emergent Literacy” Teacher Kit contents, including tabletop flip chart, handbook, and file of handouts.

119. Props for the course
Photo: “Props” used for the “Emergent Literacy” Course (book with items attached, home-made book, story box).

120. “Power At Your Fingertips”
Photo: “Power At Your Fingertips” braille intro course Teacher Kit, including tote bag, tabletop flip chart, handbook, video, slate and stylus, and birthday card for brailling exercise.

121. Props for the course
Photo: “Props” for braille course, including print braille storybook, braille placemat and ruler, braille My Weekly Reader, and “Just Enough to Know Better.”

122. Each VIPS@Home Parent University course takes about two hours to complete.
Courses are taught in the students’ (parents’) home at times of their own choosing.
Courses are taught by trained veteran parents who can also serve as buddies on an ongoing basis to offer information and support.

123. Students receive a VIPS@Home Parent University Binder and a handbook for each course they take.
Photo: Parent University Binder

124. Course pre- and post-tests show that students are obtaining the information and skills for which courses were developed.
Parents who have taken the courses rate them very highly, saying that the courses, materials, and teachers are all excellent and that they would recommend them to others.