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ONLINE LITERACY PROJECT TARGETS KIDS WITH HEARING DISABILITIES

January 18, 2002

Public broadcasting's National Center for Accessible Media has developed a new online program to help children with hearing disabilities learn to read. Cornerstones is based on Between the Lions, a PBS TV series that uses a comprehensive literacy curriculum to introduce kids from four to seven years old to the written word through stories, letters, signs, recipes, songs and other forms. Though it employs strategies and tools specifically useful for children who are deaf and hard of hearing, Cornerstones teaching units are designed for inclusive classrooms. The program can be adapted to each teacher's classroom needs, so that all children who "learn well visually and struggle with literacy" will benefit, NCAM says.

"The Fox and the Crow" Helps Kids Read

"The Fox and the Crow," the first Cornerstones teaching unit, went online in December, and two more are slated for release in June. Using lesson plans and supporting materials available online, including a short, downloadable video segment, teachers focus on the well-known fable to help students improve their reading, writing, vocabulary and comprehension skills. "Through the intensive study of a single story," NCAM says, students learn sets of words, story structure, grammar and other basic concepts over several days, with each point reinforced as new ones are introduced.

The video clip for "The Fox and the Crow" features an American Sign Language storyteller and is accompanied by a printable storybook and online annotations and illustrations to help teachers. In addition, a printable lesson guide lays out about 12 hours of classroom activities based on the story. The projects include word study, group and independent reading, writing and various classroom and online games.

All of these activities and support materials are available free on the Internet. In fact, that is one of the Cornerstones program's most promising points: In addition to taking an innovative approach to teaching children with hearing disabilities, NCAM relies on the web as a low-cost way to distribute coordinated, long-term lesson plans to teachers with limited resources. "The majority of children who are deaf and hard of hearing are educated in public schools, many in mainstream classrooms where they may be the only student with limited hearing," NCAM says. "Cornerstones recognizes that many schools are lacking materials that are well-suited to the learning needs of students who are deaf and hard of hearing."

Cornerstones is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs. Between The Lions is funded in part by a U.S. Department of Education Ready To Learn grant. NCAM is operated by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and public TV station WGBH-Boston.8