AAC Institute Continuing Education - 2010 Literacy in AAC

Conference Description and Speaker Bios:
The purpose of this advanced level workshop is to extend participants’ understanding and use of comprehensive literacy instruction in supporting the literacy learning needs of children with developmental disabilities, particularly those with complex communication needs. A basic assessment model will be reviewed and then additional assessment tools introduced to enable more specific analysis of the sources of literacy learning difficulties. All assessments will be tied to instructional implications, strategies, and technologies to benefit student learning.

Bio:
Karen Erickson, Ph.D. Dr. Erickson is the Director of the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She holds a Ph.D. in Special Education and Literacy Studies from UNC-CH. Karen is a former teacher of students with significant disabilities, including many who used augmentative and alternative communication. Knowledgeable in literacy, assistive and instructional technologies, augmentative communication, and the learning characteristics of students with significant disabilities, Karen presents nationally and internationally and is in great demand as a consultant, researcher, and program developer. Dr. Erickson’s work has been published numerous journal articles and book chapters

David Koppenhaver, Ph.D. Dr. Koppenhaver is a Professor in the Department of Language, Reading, and Exceptionalities at Appalachian State University. He holds a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). He is the former director of the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies and has worked for the past 20 years with preschool- and school-aged children who have a wide variety of literacy learning difficulties. He currently teaches undergraduate classes in reading methods, special education, and instructional technology. He has written and lectured widely on literacy instruction for children with significant disabilities and was the recipient of the 1998 International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication/Don Johnston, Inc. Distinguished Lecturer Award. He collaborated with Karen Erickson and David Yoder in organizing a collection of AAC/literacy case studies for the book Waves of Words: Augmentative Communicators Read and Write and co-edited an issue of Topics in Language Disorders with Jan Bedrosian (Western Michigan University) on literacy and AAC interventions for persons with autism.

Learning Outcomes:
As a result of this activity, participants will be able to:
1- Participants will be able to identify three critical processes in successful reading comprehension.

2- When presented with a complete assessment profile with relative scores in word identification, listening comprehension and silent reading comprehension, participants will be able to identify a student’s area of relative strength and relative weakness.

3- Participants will be able to identify appropriate Stage II assessment approaches to identify a student’s skills in each of the following areas:
a. word identification
b. language comprehension
c. print processing

4. Participants will apply a Hypothesis Testing Model to engage in assessment, problem-solving, and planning around literacy instruction for children who use AAC.