Teaching the alphabet and alphabet sounds is something all teachers do, but we need to take a little closer look to consider how we are teaching these concepts to our students with special needs. This instructional activity includes alphabet knowledge, the ability to recognize letter names, sounds and shapes; and phonological awareness, the ability to understand and manipulate individual sounds and phonemes. Alphabetic knowledge is knowing that words are made of letters which stand for speech sounds. Phonological awareness means the student can match the sounds to the letters in words to "decode" what they are seeing into what they are saying (in other words, READING). These two concepts together represent the Alphabetic Principle.
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Instruction in alphabet and phonological awareness does NOT mean DRILL AND KILL naming of letters. We have decades of research that tells us the best way to teach these skills is through functional, meaningful, IN CONTEXT use of letters and sounds during typical daily, purposeful and MOTIVATING activities. So, how do we do it? Let's explore....
We need to explicitly instruct students in...
...AND the tricky part is that we need to introduce the USE of these skills right at the beginning of our instruction, rather than using rote drill. So rather than that "letter of the day," think organic instruction targeting the letters we encounter (and target) in other meaningful. So we aren't just playing with random letters and words, but using these skills when we are making books, writing lists, creating our Predictable Charts, learning the names of our friends, our favorite things, places and other people.
What letters do we start with, and how long do we teach a letter before moving to the next one? What's wrong with the "letter of the week?"
Research by Jones, Clarke and Reutzel suggests a different approach based on empirical evidence that targets "multiple distributed instructional cycles," meaning the letters are introduced more quickly, and then revisited more frequently. Here's the not-too-scary research article you can download. This downloadable article also gives you an easy to follow Lesson Template for explicit instruction of alphabet letters too!
***You can also read a lot more about this in Comprehensive Literacy for All, Chapter 3, pgs 33-48.
Here are some ideas for targeting Alphabet and Phonological Awareness in more typical activities:
"Emergent literacy begins at birth. It is not restricted by age or disability and develops as a result of opportunity and experience." American Speech and Hearing Association, Literacy in Individuals with Severe Disabilities
"The opportunity to learn to read and write should be afforded to all, regardless of spoken communication ability. The benefits of being able to read and write for individuals with severe disabilities are numerous. Perhaps most importantly, the ability to spell, even at very beginning levels, gives individuals with severe communication impairments the ability to communicate anything they want. In addition, the ability to read and write opens a critical path to the acquisition of, and access to, many forms of knowledge and experience within our contemporary society. From early school experiences through adult employment, literacy skills are needed to maximize participation. Education, self-determination, employment, quality of life, and enjoyment all may hinge on an individual's ability to read and/or to write." American Speech and Hearing Association, Literacy in Individuals with Severe Disabilities
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