This national implementation study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Tier 2 structured literacy teaching set within a multi-tiered system of support. Case-controlled matching was used to determine the impact of the implementation for 1,265 5-year-old children. One comparison group included 1,265 children who were matched to the experimental…

Williams syndrome is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder caused by deletion of approximately 25 genes on chromosome 7q11.23. Children with the syndrome evidence large individual differences in both broad language and reading abilities. Nevertheless, as a group, children with this syndrome show a consistent pattern characterized by relative…

This article describes an integrated augmentative and alternative communication and literacy intervention program developed for five adults with autism in a supported employment facility. Three detailed case studies describe approaches used with project participants who had emerging, beginning, and more advanced levels of communication and…

Research on emergent literacy is applied to children with severe speech and physical impairments (SSPI). Factors shown to have the greatest influence on emerging literacy skills are identified, as are diverging experiences of young children with SSPI. Intervention strategies suggested for these children include increasing access to books and…

This review examines the research on literacy expectations and priorities for students using augmentative and alternative communication systems as well as for students without disabilities. It discusses implications of research findings for education and clinical practice, such as integrating literacy instruction with other activities, fostering…

This article discusses how the processing, form, and content requirements of written language pose challenges to professionals trying to design and implement regular or remedial educational programs. Differences between oral and written language; influences of culture, value systems, and world knowledge; and structure and content interactions are…

This article provides suggestions for strategies that can be used to promote literacy learning across five stages of word reading development. Examples of the experiences of people with autism who have become successful readers are included to illustrate the importance of promoting literacy development for all learners. (Contains references.)…

With the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act 2004, our nation has an explicit mandate to put reading first. Recognizing the fundamental connection between language and literacy, teachers and speech-language pathologists have become more…

This paper discusses the history of U.S. reading instruction; instructional approaches and learning processes; the whole language view of literacy acquisition; promoting literate behavior through reading to or writing with children, shared reading, and guiding children's reading/writing; and use of the whole language approach with…

This article proposes that meaning and form (the sound-letter correspondences) are both important in beginning reading, but that initially they should be taught separately. Support for this position is provided, and a two-stage model of preliteracy development is offered, with the first stage emphasizing meaning and the second stage emphasizing…

This paper describes development of the whole language movement and the writing-process movement. It outlines 10 principles shared by both movements, such as the role of prediction, function before form, and integrated use of cuing systems. Implications for language specialists working with language-disordered students are addressed. (JDD)

Learning to read is a complex process and a number of factors affect a child's success in beginning reading. This complexity increases when a child's home language differs from that of the school and when the child comes from a home with limited economic resources. This article discusses factors that have been shown to contribute to children's…

A program for language learning-disabled students is described that uses a whole language philosophy to structure contexts that develop students' pragmatic, semantic, syntactic, graphophonemic, and metacognitive abilities underlying speaking, listening, reading, and writing. This paper describes the program environment, children, thematic…

The Simple View of Reading (P. B. Gough & W. Tunmer, 1986; W. A. Hoover & P. B. Gough, 1990) provides a 2-component model of reading. Each of these 2 components, decoding and comprehension, is necessary for normal reading to occur. The Simple View of Reading provides a relatively transparent model that can be used by professionals not only to…

This article considers classroom instruction in reading and writing for children with severe speech and physical impairments (e.g., cerebral palsy). A model of classroom instruction (involving teacher characteristics, context, process, and product) is offered, effective instructional strategies are identified, and recommendations are made to…