The Early Childhood Interactive Technology Literacy Curriculum Project: A Final Report.

This final report describes the activities and outcomes of the Interactive Technology Literacy Curriculum (ITLC) project. This federally funded 5-year model demonstration project was designed to advance the availability, quality, use and effectiveness of computer technology in addressing the acquisition of emergent literacy among young children with mild to severe disabilities. ITLC promotes literacy knowledge and behaviors in young children with special needs by providing children with stimulating,. meaningful experiences generated by an engaging set of activities using computers, accompanying peripherals, and software that contain developmentally appropriate content and elements of interactivity. Underlying the model is the assumption that emergent literacy is an important process that gives children the ability to deal with abstractions later used in writing and reading, which have roots in the scribbles, images, and pretend play of the young child. ITLC established three demonstration sites and three replication sites in rural and urban locations in Illinois during the 5 years of the project. A total of 291 children, 289 families, and 18 early childhood team members participated. Of the 291 children, 32 demonstration-site children and 11 replication-site children participated in ITLC for 2 years, while 8 demonstration-site children participated for 3 years. Children's emergent literacy skills and understanding of literacy concepts, as defined in theory and by the ITLC, improved as a result of their participation in the project. Children demonstrated increased communication skills, social interaction, fine motor control, attending, planning, and problem solving skills. Teachers who participated in the model designed classroom environments that promoted emergent literacy and designed activities that supported emergent literacy development. They improved competencies related to literacy, computer operations and adaptations, computer applications for children, and family involvement. (Contains 61 referevees.) (Author/CR) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.

[1]  E. Sulzby.  A study of children's early reading development. , 1988 .

[2]  Sophia L. Kálmán,et al.  The Implications of Emergent Literacy Research for Children With Developmental Disabilities , 1991 .

[3]  Elfrieda H. Hiebert,et al.  The emergent literacy construct and kindergarten and readiness books of basal reading series. , 1990 .

[4]  William H. Teale,et al.  Assessing young children's literacy development , 1987 .

[5]  Joyce Johanson,et al.  Benefits of a Comprehensive Technology System in an Early Childhood Setting: Results of a Three-Year Study. Final Report. , 2000 .

[6]  Dorothy Butler,et al.  Cushla And Her Books , 1979 .

[7]  B. Weir.  A Research Base for Prekindergarten Literacy Programs. , 1989 .

[8]  Patsy L. Pierce,et al.  Emerging literacy and children with severe speech and physical impairments (SSPI): Issues and possible intervention strategies , 1993 .

[9]  Lev Vygotsky.  Mind in society , 1978 .

[10]  Elizabeth A. Lahm.  Software That Engages Young Children with Disabilities , 1996 .

[11]  P. Dale,et al.  Do Early Talkers Become Early Readers? Linguistic Precocity, Preschool Language, and Emergent Literacy , 1992 .

[12]  I. Mattick.  Adaptation of nursery school techniques to deprived children. Some notes on the experience of teaching children of multi-problem families in a therapeutically oriented nursery school. , 1965, Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry.

[13]  Elizabeth Sulzby,et al.  Emergent Literacy: Writing and Reading. Writing Research: Multidisciplinary Inquiries into the Nature of Writing Series. , 1986 .

[14]  Barbara S. Pettegrew,et al.  Finding a “Voice” , 1996 .

[15]  Marie M. Clay,et al.  The early detection of reading difficulties , 1981 .

[16]  David E. Yoder,et al.  Classroom literacy instruction for children with severe speech and physical impairments (SSPI): What is and what might be , 1993 .

[17]  J. M. Mason,et al.  Emerging Literacy in the Early Childhood Years: Applying a Vygotskian Model of Learning and Development. , 1992 .

[18]  Joyce Johanson,et al.  Assistive Technology Applications in Educational Programs of Children with Multiple Disabilities: A Case Study Report on the State of the Practice , 1996 .

[19]  David S. Katims,et al.  Emergent Literacy in Early Childhood Special Education , 1991 .

[20]  Wayne P. Hresko,et al.  A Developmental Study of the Relation between Oral Language and Early Reading in Learning Disabled and Normally Achieving Children , 1980 .

[21]  G. Whitehurst,et al.  Accelerating Language Development through Picture Book Reading. , 1988 .

[22]  Dorothy S. Strickland,et al.  Emerging Literacy: Young Children Learn to Read and Write , 1989 .

[23]  E. Lucinda Cassatt-James.  Technology in the Classroom. Applications and Strategies for the Education of Children with Severe Disabilities. , 1992 .

[24]  A. Dyson.  From Prop to Mediator: The Changing Role of Written Language in Children's Symbolic Repertoires. Occasional Paper No. 32. , 1992 .

[25]  H. Scarborough,et al.  Development of children with early language delay. , 1990, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[26]  Barbara Comber,et al.  Language stories and literacy lessons [Book Review] , 1985 .

[27]  Martine Smith,et al.  Literacy and Augmentative and Alternative Communication , 2004, Literacy and Augmentative and Alternative Communication.

[28]  Patricia B. Porter,et al.  Helping Persons with Disabilities to Become Literate Using Assistive Technology , 1996 .

[29]  Janet Fowle McLanahan.  Software for young children , 1984 .

[30]  Richard G. Lomax,et al.  On Combining Apples and Oranges: A Response to Stahl and Miller , 1990 .

[31]  Christine A. Marvin.  Home Literacy Experiences of Preschool Children with Single and Multiple Disabilities , 1994 .

[32]  David S. Katims,et al.  Emergence of Literacy in Preschool Children with Disabilities , 1994 .

[33]  David A. Koppenhaver,et al.  Developing a Literacy Program for Children with Severe Disabilities. , 1995 .

[34]  Patricia Tefft Cousin.  The Functional Uses of Language and Literacy by Students with Severe Language and Learning Problems. , 1993 .

[35]  Jana M. Mason,et al.  Chapter 1: A Review of Emergent Literacy with Implications for Research and Practice in Reading , 1986 .