Knowing what to teach provides a roadmap for early literacy intervention

Abstract

Promoting literacy development was not a priority for early childhood special educators 25 years ago. The turn of the century gave rise to a scientific basis of reading that outlined what skills need to be taught to facilitate literacy achievement. Steady progress has been made in moving early childhood education to teaching the skills that are needed to prevent reading disabilities, with particular attention to at-risk populations. The big challenge in the next 25 years will be to develop effective procedures for teaching those skills to children with intellectual and other developmental disabilities. Meeting this challenge will have far reaching implications for preparing all students to participate in our highly literate world