Identifying Specific Literacy Problems and Strategies to Promote Learning

The participants were asked to identify their specific problems with reading and writing and to share strategies which they found useful in promoting learning. The participants spoke of the difficulties caused by physical problems resulting from their disability, such as, poor coordination, difficulty holding / manipulating a pen or a book, spasticity, and inability to read small print.

· Writing Problems and Strategies

It was clear from the participant’s comments that problems with writing were impacted more by the disability consequences and were associated with more expressions of frustration. It can be speculated that this may arise from the fact that writing is a more public activity, and depending on the demands placed on the individual, can be open to more scrutiny (and therefore, more negative attitudes and comments) than reading which tends to be a more private activity.

Twenty-three participants (88%) specifically identified problems with writing. These ranged from knowing how “to lay out and word things” [structure of language], “ creating a sentence that someone else can understand,” “write more than just simple words,” “spell simple common words like chocolate” [difficult to access dictionary or Internet for information], and “use grammar correctly.” As one participant said: “learning to write has been very important to me” (BC10). Many participants were only able to print large and they found writing to be tediously slow. As one participant explained: “I physically can’t keep up with what my head is thinking, so I miss words and sections in my writing” (BC2). The writing problems they described were in sharp contrast to the verbal skills that many of them felt they had. Several participants described themselves as “articulate,” “good communicators,” “good verbally” and as “having a good vocabulary.”

Few of the participants provided specific examples of strategies that assisted them in improving their writing. Most strategies involved “practicing,” “taking it step-bystep” and using the computer and spell / grammar checks.

· Reading Problems and Strategies

Twenty-four participants (92%) identified a diversity of complex problems, involving both the mechanics of reading and comprehension, which they experienced when trying to read. Many participants could read the newspaper headlines but not the content; children’s or teenager’s books but nothing more complicated; content accompanied by pictures like flyers or comic books but not dense paragraphs like those found in the Bible or complex forms, or content structured in columns or tables or technical and legal language. Participants spoke of how they remembered with apprehension being made to read in front of others and as one person said; “I have to read alone, I don’t want anyone around me, it’s too embarrassing” (ON3). A number of the participants commented that they “had difficulty understanding words,” “got them mixed up” or “forgot the earlier part of what they had read.” As one participant said: “I might be able to write and read difficult words, look them up in the dictionary but I’d still draw a blank as to what they meant an hour or so later” (SK2).