Early Literacy Skills Builder (ELSB)
An Evidence-Based Practice
Description
The Early Literacy Skills Builder was created out of the need for a specific literacy program for students with disabilities, who need additional and alternative instructional support.
The ELSB is a multicomponent approach to literacy for cognitively disabled children. It incorporates the principles of systematic and direct instruction to improve the literacy of moderately to severely disabled children. This is achieved by incorporating scripted lessons, least-prompt strategies, teachable objectives, built-in lesson repetition, and ongoing assessments. It can be used in tandem with Building with Stories, which is also adapted for disabled children, and employs ten well-known and commonly taught storybooks. This component teaches skills for interacting with books and listening comprehension for student participation in a read-aloud event as well as makes lessons more age-appropriate. Both components meet common core standards.
ELSB has eight distinct levels, each with five structured lessons, recommended for 90 minutes of instruction. Participating staff and parents are trained by an instructional DVD.
The ELSB is a multicomponent approach to literacy for cognitively disabled children. It incorporates the principles of systematic and direct instruction to improve the literacy of moderately to severely disabled children. This is achieved by incorporating scripted lessons, least-prompt strategies, teachable objectives, built-in lesson repetition, and ongoing assessments. It can be used in tandem with Building with Stories, which is also adapted for disabled children, and employs ten well-known and commonly taught storybooks. This component teaches skills for interacting with books and listening comprehension for student participation in a read-aloud event as well as makes lessons more age-appropriate. Both components meet common core standards.
ELSB has eight distinct levels, each with five structured lessons, recommended for 90 minutes of instruction. Participating staff and parents are trained by an instructional DVD.
Goal / Mission
The goal of ELSB is to help moderately to severely disabled children develop the skills and behaviors they need to succeed in a standard reading program.
Impact
ELSB demonstrates that reading skills curriculum adapted to alternative instructional needs of cognitively disabled children can more effectively improve literacy as compared to sight-word-only programs.
Results / Accomplishments
The effectiveness of ELSB was evaluated in a randomized controlled trial, where the approach was compared to a sight word approach.
93 students with severe developmental disabilities who were enrolled in Grades K through 4 were randomly assigned to either the multicomponent early literacy curriculum or a sight word comparison curriculum (the traditional curriculum used to teach reading for students with moderate and severe developmental disabilities). The study was implemented over the period of an academic school year and revealed that students in the multicomponent early literacy curriculum had 30-49% higher (p<0.05) mean literacy scores than the students in the sight word condition.
93 students with severe developmental disabilities who were enrolled in Grades K through 4 were randomly assigned to either the multicomponent early literacy curriculum or a sight word comparison curriculum (the traditional curriculum used to teach reading for students with moderate and severe developmental disabilities). The study was implemented over the period of an academic school year and revealed that students in the multicomponent early literacy curriculum had 30-49% higher (p<0.05) mean literacy scores than the students in the sight word condition.
About this Promising Practice
Organization(s)
Attainment Company
Primary Contact
Diane Browder
College of Education Building, Room 346, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA
(704) 687-8836
dbrowder@uncc.edu
http://spcd.uncc.edu/directory/diane-browder
College of Education Building, Room 346, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA
(704) 687-8836
dbrowder@uncc.edu
http://spcd.uncc.edu/directory/diane-browder
Topics
Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education
Education / Literacy
Health / Disabilities
Education / Literacy
Health / Disabilities
Organization(s)
Attainment Company
Date of publication
11/4/2010
Date of implementation
2007
Geographic Type
Rural
Location
USA
For more details
Target Audience
Children