2) How Do You Do Your Work?

• Literacy part of your job
• Respectful of everyone
• Use plain language
• Ask to help people with forms
• Don't ask do you understand but what will you do
• Staff sensitive to recognize people with low literacy skills and how to help them
• Staff knowledgeable about literacy programs
• Privacy
• Followup - alternatives to written material
• Give verbal instructions, not spoken too quickly, with repetition
• Provide alternative means for responding in programs - tape recorders, buddy system, group scribes
• Accomodate people who may need a friend or family member to attend meetings
• Ask for client feedback about service

People with literacy challenges sometimes may:

• Avoid reading and writing tasks by

• ~ writing illegibly
• ~ not volunteering for activities that require reading and writing
• ~ offer excuses as to why forms are not filled out
• ~ get angry
• ~ say they forgot their glasses
• ~ take form home to have someone else fill it out
• ~ say they don't have time
• ~ don't come back to program
  
  

• Depend on others to interpret or read material
• Use symbols
• Seem less capable when having to rely on written material:

• ~ have difficulty doing tasks based on written instructions
• ~ asked to have information repeated
• ~ watch others to determine what to do
• ~ ask many questions
• ~ procrastinate
• ~ can speak about topic but unable to write it down