Introduction to the Four Blocks

Approach to Literacy in Special

Needs Classrooms

“No student is too

anything to be

able to read and

write” David Yoder, DJI-AbleNet

Literacy Lecture, ISAAC

2000

Our National Literacy Plan

“Ensuring all students gain at least a minimum

acceptable standard in literacy and numeracy

is critical in overcoming educational

disadvantage. This means that gaining literacy

and numeracy skills is a central equity issue in

education today.” (DEST, 2005)

Accommodating Struggles

physical demands

cognitive demands

sensory demands

communication demands

experience demands

affect demands

So how do we teach literacy for all our

diverse students?

Emergent Literacy

Traditional view of Literacy

• Emphasises “readiness”;

• Literacy is learned in a predetermined

sequential manner that is linear, additive, and

unitary;

• Literacy learning is school-based;

• Literacy learning requires mastery of certain

prerequisite skills;

• Some children will never learn to read.

Traditional Model of Literacy Learning (Erickson, 1999)

Listening

Speaking

Rea

din

ess

Ski

lls

Current/Emergent View of Literacy

• Literacy development is constructive, interactive, recursive, and emergent;

• Literacy development is a process that begins at birth and perhaps before;

• Emergent literacy is “…the reading and writing behaviours that precede and develop into conventional literacy”;

• Emergent literacy is appropriate for all children.

Oral and Written Language

Development (Koppenhaver, Coleman, Kalman & Yoder, 1991. Adapted from Teale and Sulzby, 1989)

Literacy

AAC/Speaking

Writing

Listening

Reading

Emergent Literacy

• Emergent literacy behaviours are fleeting and

variable depending on text, task and

environment;

• The functions of print are as integral to literacy

as the forms.

Emergent Literacy

Kade and Georgia

Emergent Literacy Intervention

• Happens in the pre-school years for most

children;

• Incidental learning and teaching about letters,

words, literacy concepts;

• Children with phonological awareness at the

beginning of school may not have had good

emergent literacy input.

Emergent Literacy and Children with

Disabilities

• Light et al (1994), Frame (2000);

• Passive interaction pattern;

• Larger number of new books;

• Fewer repeated readings;

• Less time spent on literacy activities.

Emergent Literacy Intervention

• Some school aged children need emergent

literacy experiences before they can develop

conventional literacy;

• Lots of simple books being read to them;

• Chances to scribble with the alphabet;

• Good literacy environment and models;

• Need to make sure student gets exposed to

reading AND writing AND word intervention.

Emergent Literacy

• Give every student a “pencil”!

• Provide a literacy rich environment;

• Ensure links between environment and print are

constantly reinforced;

• Alphabet books;

• Phonological awareness activities, particularly

for students with Complex Communication

Needs (CCN).

Emergent Literacy

“Written language activities and

experiences should not be withheld

while speech, language, motor or

other skill(s) develop to arbitrary,

prerequisite levels.” Koppenhaver and Erickson (2000)

Conventional Literacy

Language

Comprehension

Word

Identification

Silent Reading Comprehension

Print Processing

Beyond Word Identification

(Slide from Erickson and Koppenhaver, 2010)

Beginning To Read

Phonological awareness, letter recognition facility,

familiarity with spelling patterns, spelling-sound

relations, and individual words must be

developed in concert with read reading and

real writing and with deliberate reflection on

the forms, functions, and meanings of texts. (Adams, 1990)

Literacy Instruction

Phonics

Whole Language

Balanced

Literacy Instruction

Balanced Literacy Instruction

• Uses all valid parts of literacy instruction – not

one approach;

• Works for students all along the literacy

continuum – from emergent to formal;

• Four Blocks is balanced literacy instruction.

Four Blocks

Four Blocks

• Created by Patricia Cunningham and Dorothy

Hall;

• www.fourblocks.com;

• Four Blocks in Special Ed wiki

https://fourblock.wikispaces.com/.

Four Blocks

• Centre for Literacy and Disability Studies,

North Carolina

http://www.med.unc.edu/ahs/clds;

• Big thank-you to them for teaching me about

Four Blocks, sharing their resources and being

awesome!

• Have a good look at their resources section.

If All Children Are To

Learn, All Teachers

Must Teach Everything (Koppenhaver, Erickson & Clendon, 2008)

Technology To Support the Four Blocks

But remember.....

ICT = It Can’t Teach

Guided Reading

Guided Reading

• Primary purposes are to assist students to:

– Understand that reading involves thinking and

meaning-making;

– Become more strategic in their own reading.

• Must use a wide variety of books and other

print materials.

• NOT listening comprehension.

Purposes for Reading

• Need to set a purpose every time you do

guided reading;

• If you don’t set a purpose students think they

have to remember everything – or become

passive;

• Purpose needs to be broad enough to motivate

processing of entire text.

Guided Reading

• 1 book per week;

• Different purpose each day;

• Build confidence;

• Some students will participate in the repeated

readings or in setting purposes as they become

more skilled;

• Help students become independent.

5 part Guided Reading

• Before reading:

1. Build or activate background knowledge

2. Purpose “Read so that you can”

• During reading:

3. Read/listen

• After reading:

4. Task directly related to the purpose

5. Feedback/Discussion (typically woven into follow-up)

• What makes you say that? How do you know? Why do you think so?

• Help students gain cognitive clarity so they can be successful again or next time

Cock-A-Moo-Moo

1. Read to learn which animal in the book is your

favourite (before reading, list the animals in

the book)

#1 - Read to learn which animal in the

book is your favourite

Participation for students with CCN

• If they have a comprehensive communication

system (egg PODD) then they can use that to

participate across the day;

• If they don’t then we need to provide ways for

them to participate;

• AND we need to work towards getting them a

comprehensive communication system.

Cock-A-Moo-Moo Purposes

1. Read to learn which animal in the book is your favourite (before reading, list the animals in the book)

2. Read to see what is the funniest sound the rooster makes (before reading, list the sounds the rooster makes)

3. Read to decide which feelings the rooster has (before reading, list some feelings you know)

4. Read to discuss why the fox was sneaking in (before reading discuss reasons he might sneak into a barn)

5. Read to see which farm animals aren’t in the book (before reading list the farm animals you know)

#2 - Read to see what is the funniest

sound the rooster makes

#3 - Read to decide which feelings the

rooster has

#4 - Read to discuss why the fox was

sneaking in

#5 - Read to see which farm animals

aren’t in the book

Repetition with Variety

To learn a skill and generalise it across contexts,

instruction must provide repetition of the skills in

a variety of ways

Variety

• Variety of purposes;

• Variety of approaches;

• Variety of texts;

Variety of texts

• Commercial books;

• Fiction and non-fiction;

• Language Experience/custom texts;

• Created texts about class/individual

experiences;

• Personal alphabet books;

• TarHeel Reader books.

What does Emma do? by Mr Clark

Guided Reading Books

• Those you already have (class and library);

• Information from the www;

• Created books on topics of interest in

PowerPoint, Clicker 5, Boardmaker Studio;

• TarHeel Reader;

• Start-to-Finish books.

• Guided Reading packs at

http://www.janefarrall.com/html/guided.html

Picture, Symbols and Text

• Symbols appear to improve access to

literacy..... But do they really?

Why no picture-supported text when

teaching reading?

• Pictographs can be distracting for developing readers who may pay more attention to the pictures than the text they are learning to read/decode

• After a review of literature Hatch (2009) found “the outcomes of several research studies that investigated the use of pictures to support the development of word identification in readers with and without disabilities indicated that children learned more words in fewer trials when words were presented alone than when paired with pictures (Pufpaff, Blischak & Lloyd, 2000; Samuels, 1967; Samuels et al, 1974)

Why are pictographs distracting?

• Symbols representing function words are typically opaque and unrelated to the meaning of the text.

• The lack of consistency of symbols and symbol-sets used to represent words across AAC user’s learning environments, and;

• The multiple symbolic representations and meanings for single written words e.g. play.

When should we use symbols?

• To support COMMUNICATION

– All day, every day

– During reading instruction

– During writing instruction

• To support behaviour and self-regulation

– Visual supports

– Visual schedules

Self-Selected Reading

Self-Selected Reading

• Primary purposes are to assist students to:

– Understand why they might want to learn;

– Become automatic in skill application;

– Choose to read after they learn how.

• It isn’t self-directed if you don’t choose it

yourself;

• You can’t get good at it if it is too difficult.

Self-Selected Reading

• How do we create in our classrooms the

conditions that lead students to a love of

reading?

• How do we provide our students with successful

practice that will make them fluent readers?

Self-Selected Reading

• Most receptive vocabulary growth occurs

through exposure to written language rather

than direct instruction

• Reading volume is the prime contributor to

vocabulary growth

– True for poor readers and good readers

Self-Selected Reading

• Help students to:

– Understand why they might want to learn to read

– Become automatic in skill application

– Choose to read after they learn how

• It isn’t self directed if you don’t chose it yourself

• You can’t get good at it if it is too difficult

Self-Selected Reading for Students with

Disabilities

• Need to make books accessible to ALL students

• Many children with disabilities have fewer

opportunities to practice than their peers and

when they do they are often passive

participants (Koppenhaver and Yoder, 1992)

Electronic Accessible Books

• Accessible books allow students to do

independent reading

• Talking books also give them the option for

support from the computer if needed

Encourage Repeated Reading

• Easy texts

• Read the same passage in guided reading for

several days for a different purpose each day

• Pair older readers up with young reading

buddies to validate reading of “baby books”

Self-Selected Reading Resources

• Commercial books

• Custom books

• TarHeel Reader books

• Other digital storybook website e.g. Starfall,

MeeGenius

• Digital storybook apps on iPads

Re-Creating Picture Books

• One of the most common Accessible Books are re-created standard picture books

• These let students of all abilities read these books independently

• Also lets us modify the books to suit individual students – make the text bigger for students with vision difficulties, simplify the presentation style for students who are visually distractible, etc

Picture book in Clicker 6

Creating Custom Books

• Books with familiar photos can be more

meaningful and motivating for many children

• You can make older content with simple text

• Students can get involved in book creation

Created Book in Clicker 6

Tar Heel Reader

• www.tarheelreader.org

• Lots of simple books on a wide variety of

topics suitable for older students (and students

of all ages)

Writing

Writing

• Students who write become better readers,

writers and thinkers

• Writing without standards

• Learn in classroom writing communities:

– Write for real reasons

– See others do so

– Interact with peers and teachers about written

content, use and form

Writing

• Writing consists of a large number of sub-skills

• These include:

– Ideas, language, spelling, sensory motor skills, word identification, word generation, etc

• Many of these skills, especially operational skills, need to be automatic before a writer becomes fluent

• Need to address both:

– The development of skills for writing

– Meeting current requirements for writing (record school work, demonstrate knowledge, write to friends, etc.)

From Erickson and Koppenhaver, 2000

Writing and Reading

• Without a pencil writing doesn’t improve

• Without writing, reading development will be

limited

• If a student doesn’t have a pencil, you need to

find one!

“Pencils”

• Without a pencil writing doesn’t improve

• Without writing, reading development will be

limited

• If a student doesn’t have a pencil, you need to

find one

Writing and Emergent Literacy

• The function of literacy is as important as the

form

• Students need to understand why writing is

important

Function Versus Form

Emergent Writing

Emergent Writing

Malakye’s name

Emergent Writing

Malakye’s picture

Developmental Spelling Stages

• Print has meaning (emergent writing) – scribble, numbers, letter-like strings, letters

• Visual Cue – read/spell in environmental context, tuned to distinctive visual features

• Phonetic Cue – sound it out, “glue to print” (initial sound, initial + final, initial, medial + final)

• Transitional – rule based e.g. putting past tense on every verb

• Conventional

Print Has Meaning Stage

Print Has Meaning Intervention

• Must learn that print has communicative function

– Point out environmental print

– Create language experience texts

– Use Big Books and point to text as you read

– Use predictable books and pattern books

• Provide daily opportunities to write for real

reasons

Visual Cue Stage

Visual Cue Intervention

• Must learning that letters and sounds are

systematically related

– Use patterned, rhymed text to foster phonological

awareness

– Encourage invented spelling

– Informal phonics instruction (there’s a B like in your

name Bob)

– Use voice output during writing activities

Phonetic Cue Stage

Phonetic Cue Stage

• Tyrone – typed his name perfectly

• Brum Tyrone Nan baefg – then typed this

• Tyrone told me that this says that Brum, Tyrone

and Nan are friends, using his page set on

Proloquo2Go.

Phonetic Cue Intervention

• Must learn automatic application of decoding

strategies and develop large sight vocabulary

– Read, write, listen across tasks and texts

– Use words on the wall

– Begin using word prediction as soon as student can

pick first letter or the word represented

Transitional Stage

Conventional

Conventional

Three rabbits went to Canberra

Personal Connection

The power of starting from the things children

love the most!

Writing Intervention

• Inherently multilevel and individualised

• Typically chaotic in classroom context

• Goals: creating skills, experiences and interest

to help children write well and use writing to

accomplish their own purposes

• Plan volume of writing versus quality of writing,

number of pieces versus length of pieces

Models

• Present the form to teach the form

Sentence Combining

• Direct instruction in producing more complex

syntactic structures

• Give students sets of two or more sentences to

combine into one

– E.g. The box is heavy

– The box is big

– The box is full

Scales

• Also called rubrics – providing example of

good writing on a specific area e.g. here’s a

piece of writing with good action verbs. Now

you write one.

Inquiry

• Pose a problem

• Compile data as a group

• Write about it as individuals

Free Writing

• Also called “Can’t stop writing”

• Writing without standards (ie not even

teaching)

• Big Paper Writing

Writing Intervention

• Focused mini-lessons on various aspects of the

writing process e.g. brainstorming

• These happen daily for the majority of the

writing time

Writing Mini-Lessons

• Examples are:

– Using a spell checker

– Capitalising the first word of every sentence

– Brainstorming

– Revision (thinking like your audience)

– Poetry forms

– Using mind mapping

Writing for Students with Disabilities

• ALL students must be provided with a pencil

before they can start writing

Writing With Alternative Pencils CD

Some Options for Production Difficulties

• Talking Word Processor

• Word Prediction

– On computer

– In communication software

iPad as a Writing Tool

• Difficult for many students

• However – easier for some

• Some Apps now with word prediction e.g. Typ-

O, AbiliPad

• Speech recognition e.g. Dragon Dictate, iPad 3

Writing

• Does every student you work with have an

appropriate pencil?

• What is it?

• If not – what can you try?

Lachie

Working with Words

Working with Words

• Primary purpose is to help students become strategic in reading words;

• Make words instruction: – Words based;

– Experience based;

– Age appropriate;

• Should results in students who read and write: – More;

– More successfully and independently;

– With greater enjoyment.

Early Reading Instruction

• Three primary views on what to emphasise in

early word level instruction:

– Predictability

– Decoding

– Sight words

• Treated as mutually exclusive, yet are not

• Question is not which is best, but how to make

the most of each

Inner Voice

• People who use AAC talk about an “inner” voice

• Typically developing children sound things “out loud” then move to inner voice “saying in their head”

• Essential that we teach people who use AAC to develop their inner voice early

• Helps them to encode and recode, spell, produce language, etc

Working with Words

• Needs to be done very regularly

• Skills taught are essential for reading and

writing development

Getting Started by Teaching the

Alphabet

Teaching Alphabet Knowledge

• Read alphabet books

• Point out letters and print in the environment

• Talk about letters and their sounds when you encounter them in every day activities

• Provide opportunities to play with letter shapes and sounds

• Explicitly reference letter names and sounds in shared reading and writing activities

• Use mnemonics and actions

• Use student NAMES!

Alphabet Books

• There are dozens and dozens of commercially

available A-Z books for readers of all ages

• Tar Heel Reader has more than 50 accessible

alphabet books

• You can make your own alphabet books

– Not all alphabet books include A-Z

– You can focus on a single letter or contrast two

letters that a student confuses often

The Letter D Book

dig

door

dog

doughnut

Word Wall

• Used to teach words that you don’t want

students to have to work to decode or spell

• Learning not exposure – about learning 5

words not being exposed to 20

• Need/want/use vs curriculum driven direct-

instruction

Word Wall

Onset and Rime Families

• E.g. ack, ail, ain, ake, ale, ame, an, ine

• Teach one word representing each of these

endings, then in other activities teach the

children what to do to transfer “back” to “sack,

hack”

Onset Rime

• Make your own

• Lots of free ideas on the web:

– Google for Onset Rime Activities

– Google for Word Family Activities

• Pre-made resources from Intellitools, AbleNet,

Crick and many other options

• For older students Applied Word Reading

Intervention

www.cddh.monash.org/access/accessability2/awri

Making Words

• Cunningham and Cunningham (1992);

• Scaffolded program to encourage students to

become confident about making individual

words;

• Teaches students to look for spelling patterns in

words and recognise the differences that result

when a single letter is changed.

Willans Hill Four Blocks

• Rural special school in NSW;

• In 2011 began Four Blocks in every classroom

for a minimum of 2 hours a day;

• 70 students – wide range of disabilities;

• 27 students assessed completely at beginning

of year.

Emergent vs. Conventional

Emergent Students

• Doubled their knowledge of concepts about print

• Increased letter identification

• Slight improvement in phonological awareness

• HUGE decrease in “no response” particularly in letter identification

• Every student able to contribute a writing sample at end of year as every student had a pencil

• Three emergent students became conventional readers and writers

Conventional Students

• At beginning of year averaged: – Word identification – Grade 2

– Listening comprehension – Pre-Primer

– Reading comprehension – Below pre-primer

• At end of year averaged: – Word identification – Grade 3

– Listening comprehension – Primer

– Reading comprehension – Primer

• On average across all areas, students improved one grade level

Other outcomes

• Decreased challening behaviour

• Increased attention span

• Increased language skills

“No student is too

anything to be

able to read and

write” David Yoder, DJI-AbleNet

Literacy Lecture, ISAAC

2000