ACQ Vol 11 no 2 2009

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ACQ Volume 11, Number 2 2009 79
purposes using the Five-Step Comprehension Lesson
Framework.
The Five-Step Comprehension Lesson Framework is
based on the work of Tierney and Cunningham (1984).
It supports individuals to employ scientifically validated
comprehension strategies; before, during, and after reading.
The complete framework is described in Erickson (2003)
and Erickson and Koppenhaver (2007). Each lesson involves
setting a purpose for reading. While individuals eventually
need to learn how to set their own purposes when reading,
purposes should always be set for them during instruction.
If this is not done, then individuals are essentially expected
to either guess what the teacher thinks is important or
to remember everything, both of which can be extremely
challenging (Erickson & Clendon, 2005). The idea of setting
a purpose is to focus the reader’s attention, and to help the
individual understand what is important. Purposes can be
set whether the individual is listening to a story or reading the
story. Examples of purposes include:
Read this so that you can:
• sequence these events (written on sentence strips).
• identify five words that describe the story setting.
• tell two ways this story is just like the one we read last
week.
• tell which of these adjectives describe the main
character in the story.
Setting purposes enables repetition with lots of variety.
The same book can be used across a week for multiple
purposes promoting depth of understanding, while at the
same time maximising cognitive engagement.
Summary
Learning to read and write is a complicated process that is
particularly challenging for individuals with complex
communication needs who often have cognitive, language,
sensory, and motor limitations. This article describes some of
the key principles underlying effective literacy instruction for
individuals with complex communication needs. These
principles are:
• the need for a comprehensive approach to instruction
that addresses all of the constructs involved in literacy
learning;
• the need for direct intervention that focuses on an
individual’s area of greatest need;
• the need to target language and literacy goals
simultaneously; and
• the need to maintain high levels of cognitive engagement
while offering repetition with variety.
This list of principles is not exhaustive. There are other
important considerations such as having high expectations,
believing that all children are readers and writers, and
providing access to appropriate assistive technologies. A
key aim of this article is to spark interest and provoke further
discussion and study about what needs to be considered
when assisting individuals with complex communication
needs to develop conventional reading and writing skills.
References
Binger, C., & Light, J. (2008). The morphology and syntax of
individuals who use AAC: Research review and implications
for effective practice. Augmentative and Alternative
Communication, 24, 123–138.
and literacy instruction. One example of this is the
Personalized Key Words Strategy developed by researchers
in the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies (Erickson,
2005). This strategy helps individuals with complex
communication needs learn to decode words. It involves
teaching a set of key words and strategies to use those key
words to read and spell unfamiliar words. The strategy is
derived from the first Benchmark School approach (Gaskins,
Gaskins, & Gaskins, 1991, 1992), but the critical difference is
that the key words chosen are personalised, rather than
predetermined. The starting point for determining key words
involves examining Wiley and Durrell’s (1970) list of
phonograms. This list includes the 37 most common word
endings in written English (e.g., -at, -ain, -ake). From this list,
team members identify key words that they consider to be
highly meaningful, familiar, and motivating to the individual
(e.g., rat, train, cake). Once the individual can read and spell
the 37 key words, they use these words with analogy-based
strategies to read and spell more than 500 primary grade
words. A variety of strategies can be employed to teach the
key words, for example word wall and structured writing
activities (see Erickson & Koppenhaver [2007] for a full
description of these strategies). The Personalized Key Words
Strategy approach addresses language and literacy
simultaneously as the instruction focuses on teaching the
meaning of the key words and modeling how to locate the
words within an individual’s AAC system, as well as focusing
on reading and spelling the words, and using the words to
figure out unfamiliar words.
Hanser and Erickson (2007) recently examined the
effectiveness of an integrated word identification and
communication intervention for three children aged 7–13
years. The children completed the Literacy Through Unity:
Word Study program. This program was specifically
designed for the Unity language system that is incorporated
into the communication devices manufactured by the
Prentke Romich Company (e.g., Vanguard, Vantage, and
Pathfinder). The children completed 75 lessons across
a 4–6 week period. All three participants demonstrated
improvements in their word identification, developmental
spelling, icon sequencing, and expressive communication
abilities. There was also generalisation beyond the program,
with increases in icon use and spelling evident outside of the
lesson environment.
Promoting cognitive engagement –
repetition with variety
Another important consideration when designing literacy
instructional programs for individuals with complex
communication needs is the need for meaningful and
motivating learning activities that actively promote cognitive
engagement. Many individuals with complex communication
needs require a large amount of repetition in order to grasp
new concepts. The challenge for professionals who work
with these individuals is to find ways in which we can provide
that repetition, while at the same time maintaining high levels
of cognitive engagement, interest, and motivation. There are
a number of strategies that can be employed to deal with
this challenge. One strategy is to personalise the curriculum
as much as possible so that individual interests and
motivations are incorporated into the literacy program.
Another strategy is to provide repetition with variety. One
example of this is rereading the same book for multiple