The emergence of literacy in young children with learning disabilities: A case study approach.

Abstract

This study of writing development in young children with learning disabilites is grounded in theoretical perspectives from cognitive psychology, sociohistorical theory, and developmental (emergent literacy) theory. Case studies of five children are embedded within a larger case study of literacy instruction in a self-contained special education classroom. Data were gathered through interviews with the teacher, informal literacy assessments conducted with the children, a review of school documents pertinent to special education placement, photocopies of students' writing, and participant observation in planning and implementing writing activities over the course of one school year. Literacy instruction in this classroom is analyzed with regard to the influence of institutional factors, the history of pedagogy in the field of learning disabilities, and the individual learning characteristics of the children. Case studies of the children are constructed from transcripts of writing sessions with the children individually and as a group. The childrens' writing is analyzed qualitatively for developmental patterns including: phoneme awareness, metalinguistic concepts such as word boundaries and metalexical vocabulary, spelling patterns, and story development. Their writing is compared to patterns documented in the literature for children not identified as learning disabled. The transcripts are also analyzed, from the socio-historical perspective, to document the role of social interactions in mediating literacy development. While writing development for these children appears constrained by instructional and institutional factors as well as by their individual idiosyncracies, the developmental trajectories observed in their writing suggest normal patterns of development with mild to significant delays. The study concludes with recommendations for instruction and a call for further research with children who do not respond readily to literacy instruction.