This document provides information on supporting students with complex communication needs to develop early reading skills. It discusses assessment and teaching of emergent readers and conventional readers. For emergent readers, it focuses on teaching the alphabet and phonological awareness through activities like letter of the week, alphabet books/songs, word sorts, and incidental teaching. For conventional readers, it discusses assessing and teaching word identification and developmental spelling through activities like word walls, word sorts, and making words. The overall goal is to help students learn to crack the alphabetic code through a balanced literacy approach.

1. Balanced Word
Instruction –
Supporting Students
with CCN to crack
the alphabetic
code
Sally Clendon and Jane Farrall

2. Centre for Literacy and
Disability Studies
¡ We would like to acknowledge the Centre for
Literacy and Disability Studies at the University of
North Carolina for the generous sharing of their
expertise and knowledge.

3. A Model of Word Reading
(Adams, 1990)
Context
Processor
Meaning
Processor
Orthographic
Processor
Phonological
Processor
Print Speech

4. Orthographic Processor
¡ Input comes from individual letters, groups of
letters, and the associative links made between
them.
¡ Includes knowledge of letters and conventions of
print that govern their use.

5. Phonological Processor
¡ Input generally comes from speech,
- Inner speech and speech alternatives (e.g., cued speech) can
also provide the input.
¡ Includes knowledge of words in series, syllables, syllable
segmentation, rhyming, and phoneme segmentation.

6. Meaning Processor
¡ Input comes from a combination of the individual letters
(orthographic) and speech (phonological).
¡ Includes knowledge of vocabulary and receptive
language comprehension.

7. Context Processor
¡ Input comes from combination of
individual letters (orthographic), speech
(phonological), and meaning processor.
¡ Involves the ongoing interpretation of the
text (i.e., meaning-based).
¡ Includes knowledge of the world, syntax,
narrative development, text structure,
book conventions, and reasoning.

8. Emergent Readers
¡ Assessment for Emergent Readers
¡ Alphabet
¡ Phonological Awareness
¡ Teaching emergent readers
¡ Alphabet
¡ Phonological awareness

9. Assessment

10. Universally Accessible
Emergent Literacy Battery
¡ Assessment from the Centre for Literacy and
Disability Studies – still in draft form
¡ Four subtests:
¡ Concepts About Print
¡ Letter identification
¡ Phonological awareness
¡ Writing

11. Letter identification sub-test
¡ Show me the K
¡ Show me the F
¡ Show me the A
F KA

12. Letter identification sub-test
¡ Test all 26 upper case letters;
¡ If more than 8 correct then…;
¡ Test all 26 lower case letters;
¡ Can be administered via pointing, eye gaze or
partner assisted scanning;
¡ Tells us how many letters a student knows, how
instantly they recognise them, how confident they
are with the alphabet;
¡ A large number of “no responses” also tells us that
the student is very early in their alphabet
knowledge.

13. Phonological Awareness
sub-test
¡ Three further sub-tests
¡ Initial consonant recognition
¡ Rhyme recognition
¡ Phoneme blending

14. Initial Consonant
Recognition
¡ Listen to these words:
¡ Sun
¡ Pig
¡ Balloon
¡ Which one has the same beginning sound as Sam?

15. Rhyme Recognition
¡ Listen to these words:
¡ Slide
¡ Brush
¡ Drink
¡ Which one rhymes with ride?

16. Phoneme Blending
¡ What word do you get when you put these
sounds together?
¡ /c/ /ae/ /k/

17. Teaching

18. Teaching the Alphabet
¡ What children need to know about letters:
¡ Letter-shape recognition
¡ 52 symbols (upper and lower case)
¡ 42 distinct shapes
¡ Letter-name knowledge
¡ 26 letter names
¡ Letter-sound knowledge
¡ About 44 sounds represented by letters or letter
combinations
¡ Letter-writing/selecting abilities

19. Teaching the Alphabet
¡ Letter of the week supported by:
¡ Alphabet book
¡ Alphabet songs
¡ Fingerspelled alphabet/Braille (if appropriate)
¡ Making/painting/drawing the letter
¡ Name wall
¡ Incidental teaching
¡ Use student names!

20. Introducing the letter of the
week

21. Alphabet Books
¡ Commerically available books
¡ Custom books
¡ Large selection of accessible alphabet books on
Tar Heel Reader www.tarheelreader.org

22. Things
to
do
with
S.
Jane
Farrall

23. There
are
so
many
things
to
do
that
start
with
S.

24. In
the
morning
you
can
stretch,

25. then
take
a
shower.

26. A<er
that
you
can
sip
some
juice.

27. Then
you
can
skip,

28. and
sing,

29. and
smile.

30. And
when
you
are
?red
you
can
sleep,

31. un?l
you
snore!

32. Alphabet Songs
¡ From YouTube “Have Fun Teaching”

33. Fingerspelled Alphabet/Braille (if
appropriate)

34. Making/Painting/Drawing the
letter

35. Brainstorming

36. Name Wall

37. Incidental Teaching
¡ “Look – there’s an S on that stop sign. Just like
your name Stephanie.”
¡ “Oooh – this wombat is sleepy. That’s one of our S
words.”
¡ Lots of focus on their names, then moving onto
other letters.

38. Incidental Teaching

39. Incidental teaching

40. Phonological Awareness
¡ Refers to an individual’s awareness of sounds,
syllables and words in speech.
¡ For emergent readers we aim to improve their
overall phonological awareness
¡ Particular focus on hearing initial sounds in words

41. Phonological Awareness
¡ Many of the letter based activities
¡ Word Sorts
¡ Onset rime
¡ Incidental Teaching

42. Word Sorts

43. Onset Rime
¡ Onset Rime has been shown to be one of the
most effective ways of improving phonological
awareness (Adams, 1990).
¡ Rime word families in order of three levels of ease
of learning
¡ Easiest: it, ay, in, ap, ill, an, ack, ip, ing, at, ore, ug, ell
¡ More difficult: aw, ide, ake, ock, unk, ick, oke, ank,
ice, ash, ump, ink
¡ Most difficult: ine, ain, ate, ail, est, ale, ight, ot, uck,
eat, ap, ame
¡ (Koppenhaver and Ericksson, 2000; based on
information collected for Cunningham et al, 1999)

44. Onset Rime

45. Onset Rime

46. Conventional Readers
¡ Assessment for Conventional Readers
¡ Automatic Word Identification
¡ Mediated Word Identification
¡ Developmental Spelling
¡ Teaching Conventional Readers
¡ Word Wall
¡ Keyword Sorts
¡ Making Words
¡ Guess the Covered Word
¡ Ear Spelling

47. Word Identification
¡ Both automatic and mediated word identification are
required for successful silent reading comprehension.
¡ Strong mediated word identification skills coupled with
lots of practice in connected text is the best route to
automatic word identification.

48. Assessment

49. Assessing Word Identification
¡ Automatic Word Identification (Flash):
- Assessed using words from graded word lists printed on index
cards or presented in PowerPoint
- Words are flashed for less than 1/3 of a second.
- 1 point for each word read when flashed.
¡ Mediated Word Identification (Analysis):
- Assessed using words that were not read accurately in the flash
mode.
- Students can look at word for 3-5 seconds.
- 1/2 point for each word read with analysis.
¡ 18 point total to go on to next level.

50. Graded Word Lists
keep
need
not
what
children
thing
was
animal
they
were
saw
want
every
went
like
from
said
live
comes
help
commissioned
arduous
tumultuous
navigated
straits
initiated
skirmish
laboriously
reluctant
settlement
crucial
encyclopedia
remembered
rebellion
ammonium
opportunity
emulate
meticulous
mantle
nebula
Primer Words Upper Middle School Words

52. mother

54. need

56. Assessment Modifications
¡ Use Words
¡ Provide 4 words that are visually similar to target
word.
¡ Say, but donʼ’t show, the target word.
¡ Ask, “Show me the word I just said.”
¡ Problem: you provide speech, and student links
it to print rather than the reverse which children
without disabilities are doing.
¡ Better than nothing!

57. birdblocks
bear bed

58. Developmental Spelling
Assessment
back
lake
stick
sink
peeked
side
Ferroli & Shanahan (1987)
mail
light
feet
dress
dragon
test

59. Stages
¡ Print has meaning, e.g., N for feet
¡ “graphic elements can represent ideas”
¡ scribble, numbers, letter-like strings, letters...
¡ Visual Cue, e.g., WVPOK for feet
¡ read/spell broadly and contextually
¡ letter choices based on visual features
¡ Phonetic Cue, e.g., F, FT, FET for feet
¡ learning letter/sound correspondences
¡ phonetic spellings
¡ Transitional, e.g., DRAGIN for dragon
¡ rule-based, though not always conventional
¡ Conventional

60. Thomas’ Spelling
back
lake
stick
sink
peeked
side
mail
light
feet
dress
dragon
test
bik
l
sk
sak
pr
sr
m
lht
fet
ds
dgd
tt

61. Teaching

62. Teaching Words...
¡ Needs to be comprehensive
¡ Needs to minimise metalinguistic demands
¡ Needs to be systematic and explicit
¡ Needs to be words-based (not picture-based)

63. Three Key Purposes
1. Help children learn high-frequency words
needed for fluent, successful reading with
comprehension.
2. Teach children the skills required to decode
and spell words they will use for reading and
writing.
3. Help children understand how words work.

64. Word Wall
¡ Used to teach words that you don’t want students to have to
work to decode or spell.
¡ Used to teach words that you expect students to read with
automaticity and spell with accuracy by the end of the year.
¡ Not a mastery approach.

65. Word Wall Content Basics
¡ Unimportant words need not apply…
¡ High frequency words
¡ Generative patterns (“keywords”)
¡ at, can, like, old
¡ High utility
¡ School name, TV favourites, writing topics
¡ Spelling demons
¡ Words kids regularly misspell in writing

66. 37 Common Rimes
(Wylie & Durrell, 1970)
ack ap est ing ot
ail ash ice ink uck
ain at ick ip ug
ake ate ide it ump
ale aw ight ock unk
ame ay ill oke ank
an eat in op ell
ine ore

67. rain said the
they
Quidditch
teacher
us
people
play
because can did
down
eat friend good
nicemake
made
like
little
kickjumpinhave
out
after
and
all

69. The Process
¡ Typically 5 new words are added each week
¡ Some teachers in self-contained classrooms may find that they can only
add 3 each week given the complexity of their students’ needs
¡ For beginning readers, the words include the 37 key words, sight words
that can’t be decoded (e.g., was), and other words that are personally
meaningful to the class (e.g., school mascot)
¡ Words are placed alphabetically by first letter and remain in the
same place throughout the year
¡ Teach the meaning of the words and then spell the words by
clapping, chanting and then writing
¡ Complete daily activities to teach the words and how they can
be used to read and spell other words
¡ Refer to the wall throughout the day to encourage its use

70. Some Word Wall Activities
1. Dictate sentences using only Word Wall Words.
2. Spell word wall words that share a spelling pattern with the
rhyming words.
¡ “I’m thinking of a word that starts with l and rhymes with
hike.”
3. Add endings to words.
¡ Add the ending “s” to make rains, then “ed” to make
rained, then “ing” to make raining.
4. Play I Spy
¡ “I am thinking of a word on the wall. It has 4 letters. It is on a
yellow card. It rhymes with the word pain. The word is …”

71. Portable Word Walls
http://www.teachingmaddeness.com/2012/06/monster-ously-new-
mini-offices.html

72. Word Sorts – Learning to Use
Words You Know
¡ Visual
¡ Auditory
¡ Spelling

73. Visual Word Sorts
¡ Step 1: Select two key words the student knows
that have a common spelling pattern ( at - pick).
¡ Step 2: Make sure student can read the two key
words.
¡ Step 3: Show student a word that has the same
spelling pattern as one of the key words.
¡ Step 4: Ask the student to indicate which key
word has the same spelling pattern as the new
word. Compare/Contrast the two words.
at pick
fat
bat
sat
lick
sick

74. Auditory Word Sorts
Word sorts begin to engage the phonological processor when
students begin to sort words based on the way they sound prior to
checking the visual pattern.
¡ Step 1: Select two key words the student knows that have a
common spelling pattern ( at - pick)
¡ Step 2: Make sure student can read the two key words.
¡ Step 3: Tell the student a word that has the same spelling pattern
as one of the key words.
¡ Step 4: Ask the student to indicate which key word has the same
spelling pattern as the new word.
¡ Step 5: Show the student the new word and compare/contrast it
with the selected key word to check.

75. Spelling Word Sorts
Guiding students to use the selected key word to try to spell the
words prior to checking the response visually engages the
phonological processor even more deeply.
¡ Step 1: Select two key words the student knows that have a
common spelling pattern ( at - pick)
¡ Step 2: Make sure student can read the two key words.
¡ Step 3: Tell the student a word that has the same spelling pattern
as one of the key words.
¡ Step 4: Ask the student to indicate which key word has the same
spelling pattern as the new word.
¡ Step 5: Ask the student to try to use the key word to spell the new
word.
¡ Step 6: Show the student the new word and compare/contrast it
with the student’s spelling attempt correcting as necessary.

76. Jake - Word Sorts

77. Making Words
¡ Teaches children to look for spelling patterns in words and
recognize the differences that result when a single letter is
changed.

78. E, I, L, N, S, T
¡ I
¡ in, is, it
¡ sit, tin, ten
¡ tens, sent, lent, lint, line
¡ lines
¡ ?
Take two letters
and make in
Add a letter to make
the three-letter word
tin. Some cans are
made of tin.
Letʼ’s all say tin.

79. Instructional Feedback is Key!
Add a letter to make
the three-letter word
tin. Some cans are
made of tin.
Letʼ’s all say tin.
l ni
This word says lin. We
are trying to make
the word tin.
Let me show you how
I write tin.
Take a look at your word
and see what you need
to do to make your word
look like mine.

80. Week One

81. Sorting and Transfer
¡ Sorting
¡ Refocuses students on the words they’ve made.
¡ Find all the words you made that: (1) have the same beginning
sound (2) have # letters (3) share a spelling pattern
¡ Transfer
¡ Gets students to use what they’ve learned to do something they
haven’t been taught directly.
¡ Use the words you made to help you spell a new word that: (1)
starts with the same sound (2) ends with the same sound (3)
shares the spelling pattern

84. A Month Later

85. Guess the Covered Word
(Cross-checking)
¡ Write a sentence on the board covering one word with two
sticky notes.
¡ Read the sentence and students suggest words that could
fill in the blank. Record each of the words suggested.
¡ Uncover the initial consonant and modify list accordingly.
Add other possibilities.
¡ Take off the 2nd sticky note to see which is the correct word.

86. I ate all the raisins.
Guess the Covered Word
I ate all the r aisins.
I ate all the raisins.

87. Ear Spelling
¡ Teach children to write the sounds they hear
in the order they hear them.
¡ Encourage ear spelling in any preliminary draft writing
¡ independence, efficiency, maintain meaning focus...
¡ AAC users should be encouraged to use first-letter cueing and
invented spelling in their face-to-face communication long
before they are able to read or spell conventionally.

88. Integrated Instruction

96. Rhyming Riddles

101. Sound Sorts

102. Word Sorts