The Thinking Reader Picture Books: A Technology-Based Instructional Approach to Support Beginning Reading in Children with Mental Retardation

For further information, contact Project Director Peggy Coyne at pcoyne@cast.org.

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For a person with mental retardation, the ability to read is closely connected to the ability to achieve independence, to productively participate in the worlds of school and work, and to have the choice to be included in typical learning, working, and living environments. Yet, many individuals with mental retardation have not had the opportunity to fully realize their potential because of low expectations for their literacy development. With conventional approaches to teaching reading, children with mental retardation often are not able to learn to read.

Traditionally, literacy instruction for these students has focused on drill and practice approaches to learning sight words and other basic literacy skills (Gurry & Larkin, 1999). Fortunately, there has been an important shift in the past few years toward a more expansive, and potentially liberating, view of literacy learning for students with mental retardation and other cognitive disabilities.

Recent research by Koppenhaver and Erickson and their colleagues at the Center for Literacy and Disabilities Studies suggests that students with mental retardation benefit from the same research-based instructional approaches that work for other students who are learning to read (National Reading Panel, 2000). That is, reading instruction that:

• Focuses on reading for meaning
• Provides direct instruction in reading skills such as decoding
• Offers appealing print and electronic texts.

For students with mental retardation to succeed and move toward independence, they must have the right supports early on in their education to enable them to make progress in all aspects of language and literacy development -- reading, writing, listening, and speaking. This has tremendous implications for their future quality of life, as individuals and contributing members of society.

The Project

In response to this need, CAST is creating an interactive digital learning environment to support the development of beginning reading skills and comprehension strategies for students with mental retardation. The Thinking Reader initiative extends work begun in the Engaging the Text project, a three-year directed research project to create a new technology-based approach to reading comprehension for students with learning disabilities. Using the Thinking Reader approach to early literacy development, students with mental retardation who have not yet mastered early reading skills will be supported for success using the same popular, interesting books enjoyed by classmates who are beginning to read.

To accomplish this important goal, CAST will develop five picture book examples - Universal Learning Editions - within the Thinking Reader approach to demonstrate how access and learning supports for students with mental retardation can be embedded directly in digital texts.

Through consultation with early literacy teachers, specialists, and parents of children with mental retardation, CAST has selected five picture books to transform into electronic stories that include built-in supports for young readers to access the material, to learn essential literacy skills, to understand the content, and to express what they are learning. The Thinking Reader will extend the capabilities of the teacher, the child, and the picture book - making it possible for children with mental retardation to read with the supports necessary for learning.

Project goals are as follows:

1. Develop the Thinking Reader instructional approach to teaching reading to children with mental retardation using technology.
2. Develop five Thinking Reader picture book examples for children with mental retardation.
3. Work with parents, teachers, and students on the design and implementation of the Thinking Reader.
4. Conduct a formative evaluation of the Thinking Reader in selected educational settings.
5. Widely disseminate all project findings and materials.

Activities

CAST completed the Phase I of the development of the Thinking Reader instructional approach in March 2002. The project created five CD-ROM-based interactive picture books that support the development of beginning reading skills and comprehension strategies in students with mental retardation. Instructional supports embedded in the Thinking Reader picture books include two or more of the following: support for decoding, vocabulary development, phonics, and word attack strategies; story structure awareness; and multiple opportunities for children to respond personally to the story, both within the computer program and in the classroom with peers and teachers. In addition, the Thinking Reader picture books include access supports for students with physical or sensory impairments. At the same time, CAST tested the instructional design of the Thinking Reader picture books with students with mental retardation in three elementary schools, and solicited feedback from teachers and parents as part of the formative evaluation process.

In Phase II of the project, CAST is:

• Adding additional learning supports to the three picture books already developed
• Developing two additional Thinking Reader picture books to ensure a sufficient amount of content at varied reading levels for students using the books, and
• Conducting a pilot study with 10-12 students with mental retardation to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach in improving their literacy development.

In addition, CAST has obtained federal funding for an in-depth research studyof the effectiveness of this approach and has disseminated Phase I results to a wide audience of educators and other professionals.

Funding

The Thinking Reader initiative has received generous support from the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation.

References

Gurry, S. & Larkin, A. (1999). Literacy learning abilities of children with developmental disabilities: What do we know? Currents in Literacy. Cambridge, MA: Hood Children's Literacy Project. Available: http://www.lesley.edu/academic_centers/hood/currents/v2n1/gurrylarkin.html

National Reading Panel (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

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