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Reading Despite DisabilityWays to Make Books Come Alive for Special Needs Kids
Reading is important. With few exceptions (such as severe mental or physical impairment) reading skills are necessary for success as an adult.
A certain level of reading skill is needed for employment, home life skills, and hopefully for enjoyment. The task of parents, caregivers, and teacher of special needs students is to grow a reader despite a disability. Act Out BooksChildren love to act out things. By nature, they are adept at dramatic play. When reading books with young children, try acting out the book or parts of it. Kids will love the playfulness of the activity and will be likely to do it over and over. This repetition of the events of a story is an important early literacy skill. Do you feel silly acting out books? Take time to read Reading Magic by Mem Fox. Reading Magic can coax even the most reluctant parent-actor into the fun of acting out books. Draw Pictures of What You ReadShare the story by drawing pictures of what happened or the characters. Let you child do the same. It does not matter if you are not an artist! Sometimes it is almost better if the parent is not an artist as the child will be more confident in trying to draw. Often parent and child delight in the attempts at pictures more than they would in professional-type drawings. Be aware that young children often draw unrecognizable pictures and then tell adults what those pictures are. This, too, is okay and is a typical part of development. Put Pictures in OrderTry putting three simple pictures from the story in order. For the young reader (especially a child with memory challenges) it is important that the pictures are obviously from the beginning, middle, and end of the story. When doing this activity it is a great time to practice those very words. You may also practice the language of first, next, and last. Remember that this is another do again and again activity. Repetition is important! For severely disabled children or those who are just starting this kind of activity you may glue the three pictures in order on a long strip of construction paper. Then ask your child to match an identical set of pictures. The next article in this series will focus on skills for slightly older children with disabilities. More articles on reading and children with a disability:
The copyright of the article Reading Despite Disability in Special Needs Parenting is owned by Lynn Moore. Permission to republish Reading Despite Disability in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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