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VIDBE-Q Volume 64 Issue 3
students at emergent communication and literacy skill levels by defining
literacy as "the ability, confidence and willingness to engage with language
to acquire, construct and communicate meaning in all aspects of daily living"
(Alberta, Canada, Office of Education, n.d., para. 2).
It is important to realize that at its base, literacy is a form of
communication and it serves as a means to share ideas, information,
opinions, and feelings. We also need to realize and accept that language
takes many forms beyond spoken language in order to adopt an expanded
notion of literacy that is meaningful to students with sensory losses and
emerging communication skills. Emergent literacy, which focuses on the
social, psychological and linguistic benefits of literacy instruction, can help
families and educators connect various literacy-based activities to the unique,
and likely, multiple modes of communication of a child. Helping students to
understand that objects, images, and sounds convey meaning and can be
used to gather or share information is extremely powerful and certainly fits
into an expanded definition of literacy. This wider umbrella of literacy allows
one to better understand why literacy goals and activities should be included
in every child's daily home routine and school program.
"Emergent literacy" is grounded in communication and socialization
between two or more people, for it is through these reciprocal interactions
