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Literacy

Literacy Bill of Rights. All persons, regardless of the extent or severity of their disabilities, have a basic right to use print. Beyond this general right, there are certain other literacy rights that should be assured for all persons. These Basic rights are: 1. The right to opportunity to learn to read and write. 2. The right to have accessible, clear, meaningful, culturally and linguistically appropriate texts. 3. The right to interact with others while reading, writing, or listening to a text. 4. The right to life choices made available through reading and writing competencies. 5. The right to lifelong educational opportunities incorporating literacy instruction and use. 6. The right to have teachers who are knowledgeable about literacy instruction methods and principles. 7. The right to live and learn in environments that provide varied models of print use. 8. The right to live and learn in environments that treat all individuals as literacy learners. (Adapted from Yoder, D.E., Erickson, K.A., and Koppenhaver, D.A. 1997. A literacy bill of rights. Chapel Hill, Center for Literacy and Disability Studies.Everyone understands Literacy as a person's ability to read and write. However for children and youth who are deafblind, we sometimes need to broaden conventional ideas about reading and writing to include a student's emergent literacy skills and use of different ways to access written materials, including braille, large print and assistive technologies. 

Emergent literacy skills are abilities that usually precede the ability to formally read and write. These include skills such as: 

Attending to objects or pictures
Beginning to understand that people and objejcts have names
Showing an interest in stories
Handling, mouthing or other types of non-traditional exploration of books

Please keep reading below for a list of resources on literacy and literacy skills.