Teaching Literacy to Students with Significant Disabilities: Strategies for the K-12 Inclusive Classroom » (1st Edition)

June Downing is one of the leading experts in the area of moderate to severe disabilities, and consults extensively in California and nationally. She is author of the leading textbook in the area (Including Students With Severe and Multiple Disabilities in Typical Classrooms, 2^nd edition, 2002, Paul H. Brookes Publishing), and has a long list of professional accolades and awards, including:

• Outstanding Professor, California State University--Northridge, 2000
• Journal of the Association for the Severely Handicapped, Distinguished Reviewer of the Year 2001
• Practitioner Research Award, Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities division of CEC, 1999

• Executive Board Member, The Association for the Severely Handicapped

• President, California TASH

Break down literacy barriers to enrich the lives of students with significant disabilities!
All educators and family members would agree that depriving any student of the enhanced self-esteem, independence, social skills, and general quality of life afforded by literacy would be wrong. However, because of the particular challenges-perceived or otherwise-of providing literacy instruction to children and youth with significant disabilities, these students are often overlooked in receiving meaningful experiences and equal access to this aspect of the core curriculum.

Teaching Literacy to Students With Significant Disabilities offers tangible support for obliterating the obstacles to effective literacy instruction, including:

• Effective strategies for tailoring literacy materials to students with disabilities
• Tactics for adapting state standards and meeting No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requirements
• Straightforward chapter summaries, frequently asked questions, Web sites, and other resources that reinforce key points
• Easy-to-implement planning and assessment guidelines

Brimming with practical ideas, tips, and examples, this definitive guide offers K-12 educators the research findings and means for creating an inclusive environment that encourages students with significant disabilities to become actively engaged in literacy learning. It empowers teachers, family members, and all team members with creative, sensitive, and all-embracing ways to successfully set and meet realistic communication-development goals that yield lifelongbenefits.

	Foreword
1	Literacy and a free appropriate public education	1
2	Literacy and communication	17
3	Planning literacy activities	33
4	Teaching literacy skills	65
5	Evaluating progress : next steps	101
6	The future for literacy access and instruction	123