2024 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 17-19, 2024 • Denver, CO
3/19/2024 | 3:00 PM - 3:25 PM | A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words:Building Language Through Experiences | Capitol 3
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words:Building Language Through Experiences
Literacy is a crucial component of life in our society, and the journey to becoming fluent readers begins way before conventional classroom instruction. Learning to read is challenging, especially for deaf and hard of hearing students. Literacy rates of adults who are deaf and hard of hearing are consistently at the fourth-grade level. About one in three deaf students who graduate from high school have reading skills between the second and fourth grade level. Research also suggests that vocabulary plays a direct role in literacy by making a critical link between a child’s ability to decode words and to understand what they have read. Building vocabulary begins at birth by talking to our children when changing their diapers, getting dressed, visiting family members, preparing their meals and of course, sharing books with them. Brains are built and grow through touch, talk, sight and sound in early childhood experiences. This experiential learning starts long before a child steps foot into kindergarten and is strengthened through regular interaction and stimulation in the home and in quality early learning settings. This presentation will explore a variety of literacy and vocabulary building strategies such as: experience books, vocabulary books, experience stories, behavior books, and the use of a daily journal. We will provide opportunities for participants to brainstorm ways in which to incorporate these strategies in their homes or in their professional practice.
- Participants will recognize how factors such as environment, cognition, language skills, and hearing loss impact a child’s vocabulary development and literacy abilities.
- Participants will explore the use of experience books, experience stories, behavior books, vocabulary books, and the use of a daily journal to influence the development of children’s vocabulary and literacy proficiencies.
- Participants will examine a variety of materials and brainstorm how they could adapt these resources.
Presentation:
3478265_16322BarbaraMeyers.pdf
Handouts:
Handout is not Available
Transcripts:
3478265_16322BarbaraMeyers.docx
Presenters/Authors
Barbara Meyers
(Primary Presenter,Co-Author), St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf, bmeyers@sjid.org;
Barb Meyers is a listening and spoken language therapist for St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf. Barb sees families in their homes in the state of Missouri, as well as, coaches caregivers, professionals, paraprofessionals, and school age students via the iHear Internet Therapy program. Barb has licensures in Missouri, Indiana, Nebraska, and Kansas. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Special Education and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Deaf Education from Fontbonne University in St. Louis, Missouri. Barb has been teaching deaf and hard of hearing children for over 50 years. Her previous experience has been teaching 3–9-year-old students with St. Louis County Special School District and 3-4-year-old students in the preschool program at SJI. Barb has supervised undergraduate and graduate students from Fontbonne University and Washington University and has been a mentor to fellow staff members.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exists.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exists.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
Katey Ostendorf
(Co-Presenter,Co-Author), Parent, katey.ostendorf@gmail.com;
Katey Ostendorf is the mother of 3-year-old twin boys. One of her sons was born with profound hearing loss and wears bilateral cochlear implants. Katey actively participates in all of his therapy sessions and has seen the importance of early intervention strategies for young children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Katey is an elementary teacher with 9 years of experience. She has a passion for sharing her love of reading with children and helping them to become confident readers.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exists.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exists.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.