We believe that everyone can learn to read and write, but we also believe that for that to happen, everyone must be taught appropriately.  That is, your children have to be taught in ways that make sense to them, allow them to feel success, and build on what they know.  Emergent literacy describes all of the nonconventional understandings and behaviors children demonstrate before they become conventionally literate.  Adam, a 10-year-old with Williams syndrome we worked with several years ago, wrote (at left), when asked about his interests, "Yo Gabba Gabba is my favorite tv show.  I know all the songs." His writing is emergent.  It has a few recognizable letters, some letter-like shapes, but we need the author to read it to us because it lacks sufficient convention.

We've linked three excellent free resources on emergent literacy in the resources page.  They are modules created by the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies as part of the Dynamic Learning Maps Alternate Assessment project focused on children with intellectual disabilities.  The resources address emergent writing teaching principles and practices; shared reading as a way to build interaction, communication, and engagement; and predictable charts as a way to teach concepts about print and sight words through repetition with variety and focusing on children's interests. 

At the WSA Convention in Baltimore and at the Michigan camp this summer, many families asked about getting a reading assessment to help determine how best to teach their children to read.  Phone call and email follow-ups have been inquiring when the heck we're going to get started.  Here is clarification and update info:

• The assessment we're going to do is NOT the assessment we did at camp.  That was a standardized assessment that may help us understand reading difficulties your children are experiencing.  We cannot at present make direct instructional recommendations based on those results, so while that would give us additional research participants, you would get nothing in return.
• The assessment we are willing to do is an informal diagnostic assessment of reading that my colleagues from the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies and I developed and have been using for many years.  Sydney and I presented our findings in Baltimore on my use of that assessment.  That does allow us to make recommendations of materials, strategies, approaches, and technologies to help your child learn to read better.
• Our plan is to offer this assessment online via videoconferencing software.  That means, you and your child can sit in front of your home computer while Sydney and/or I sit in front of ours.  We can conduct the assessment online and then direct you toward useful resources based on the results.
• Our plan is to offer this service at no charge if: (1) you are willing to let us videotape the assessment and use it for educational purposes (i.e., to teach educators, related services personnel, and families) about the diagostic assessment process; and (2) you are willing to let us store the data (i.e., the video and your child's reading results)  in order to write up a research report when we have a large number of such results, in order to help people better understand literacy in individuals with WS.
• Because of that plan, my university requires me to submit paperwork to our Institutional Review Board.  I will begin that process next week, it will be several weeks before that is approved.  That will result in: (1) oversight that should assure you that Sydney and I will behave ethically and (2) assent and consent forms that children and families will have to sign off on in order to move forward with assessment and recommendations

That means we are probably 4-6 weeks away from being able to start scheduling and conducting reading assessments with you and your child online.  In the meantime, we will continue to expand the informational literacy resources you will find available at this website.