Early Years 2014 Shaping Childhood: Factors that Matter

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1 The intersection of multimodality and early literacy: A case study of two young children with disabilities in their homes and child care settings Tess Prendergast, Doctoral Student, Department of Language and Literacy Education, UBC Introduction In a case study that study that examined the communicative meaning-making evident in the lives of two preschool-age children with disabilities, I sought to answer the following questions: In what ways do young preschool aged children who are labelled with significant disabilities communicate/make meaning through and across different modes / multimodalities? In what ways do parents and caregivers support these children in their efforts to communicate and make meaning through and across different modes / multimodalities? I examined the meaning-making evident as the children, Henry and Laura, participated in some of the activities that made up their daily lives in both their homes and child care settings. I found that both children relied on other modes of communicative meaning-making, such as gaze, gesture, and sign. In this program, we explore three themes. 1. Embodied action 2. Social interpreters 3. Technology This case study provides a thorough exploration of these children s activities and multimodal approaches to learning and aims to help practitioners connect the dots between early literacy for children with disabilities and overall inclusion aims in early childhood education. By considering multimodality theory, I advocate for an expanded understanding of what constitutes early literacy learning and believe that by adopting such an expanded view, we are better able to assume that nonverbal / speech-language delayed children with significant disabilities are competent meaning makers who are using tools and modes to make meaning, alongside their verbal peers. Learning Objectives By examining two case studies, and by hearing about examples from academic research, participants will expand their understanding of what constitutes early literacy. Participants will be introduced to multimodality theory as it applies to early literacy and be able to begin applying this theory to their own work with young children. Participants will increase their knowledge of how to support children with disabilities as they participate alongside their typical age peers in diverse early childhood settings.

2 Introducing the Case Study Children When I first met him, Henry was a three and a half year old boy who seemed to have a very happy demeanor. He smiled up at me right away and began to show me his hand sign for muffin which he was enjoying at that moment. I noticed right away that he responded nonverbally to the spoken language and movement of others by turning his head towards speaker, stopping his play to listen to speaker and following another person with his gaze. Henry s mother Arlene told me that he likes to play with his set of fridge magnet letters while she is in the kitchen. He knows each letter and can point to them when she calls them out. Although we did not venture towards the fridge magnets, I noticed that Henry spoke the word Da-Da when Arlene drew a D on his small etch-a-sketch toy. I thought that perhaps he was indeed approaching the understanding that letters are always letters, no matter where he encounters them. Although his mother reported that spoken words are emerging (in addition to Da-da, Bye-bye and Cat were heard during this visit) Henry presently relies mainly on sign language to communicate with his parents and other caregivers. During our first visit he enjoyed building a tower with nesting cups and then laughed as he tossed them, one by one, underneath the couch. Henry was also seen to frequently seek hugs from his parents and caregivers. While at daycare, I observed Henry as he played in the kitchen centre, the climbing area, the book corner, the gardening table. Laura, who was four at the time this study took place, lives with her mom Janet and two older sisters. Janet takes care of her for the most part, but Laura also now attends a child development preschool two full days per week. Laura has a global disability that includes her physical, sensory and language domains. She responds to the voices of the people around her by moving her head and eye gaze towards them, or moving her arms and legs in response to touches, strokes and cuddles. Laura has a special affinity for music and consistently shows her enjoyment of musical by smiling, gesturing with her arms and giggling. She sits with support, either in someone s lap, or with supportive cushions, and at the time of the study was just beginning to learn how to use a walking frame. Laura has a specialized wheelchair that her caregivers and friends push to get her from place to place. While no recognizable words have yet emerged, many of Laura s frequent vocalizations get the attention of those around her. Her mother told me that Laura s extensive support team was in the process of coming up with a plan for an augmentative assistive communication system. Socially, Laura was seen to display a great deal of pleasure in the company of her peers. On the day I observed her at preschool, one of her classmates, Sylvie, immediately requested permission to push Laura into one of the play areas and three other girls approached her to say hello upon her arrival. She smiled in response to her classmates greetings. Laura is also learning to control her fine motor movements with support from either a caregiver or peer. I observed as Laura spent time with age peers at the colouring table, the sand table, the finger paint table and the kitchen centre. Each time, with the support of her caregiver Lucy, Laura was able to explore all the learning materials alongside her age peers at each station. Findings Multimodality theory as it is applied to early childhood literacy calls for expanded notions of what constitutes early literacy. Traditional early literacy is often presented as a set of discrete skills such as learning the names of letters, learning the sounds that letters make, being

3 able to retell a story orally, and so on (Ghoting & Martin-Díaz, 2013). An expanded definition of early literacy, one that draws on aspects of multimodality theory, refers to the broad range of experiences that young children have within their cultural contexts with language, social communication, symbol systems and artifacts to make meaning(hamer, 2005; Lawson, Layton, Goldbart, Lacey, & Miller, 2012; Wolfe & Flewitt, 2010). Embodied Action As research in multimodality suggests, embodied action as performed by all children can be interpreted as meaning-making, whether or not speech accompanies such actions (Flewitt, Nind, & Payler, 2009; Kliewer, 2008). For children who have not (yet) developed speech, it is important that their embodied action, including gaze, signs, movements, vocalizations and other gestures, be closely attended to by those in their settings (i.e., parents, caregivers, peers). Embodied actions that stand for specific things and send particular messages can then be conveyed across the child s social networks. The embodied actions performed by Laura in the kitchen centre and Henry at the garden table were observed and received as communicative meaning-making by those around them. Their caregivers noticed what they were doing and interpreted their meanings via their embodied action modality. Although both case participants in these vignettes seemed to be successful in transmitting their intended messages, their absence of spoken language has the potential to leave their intended messages unread or misinterpreted by those around them. Considering the affordances of embodied action, including gaze, gesture, movements and both bona fide and adapted sign language signs, therefore allows for more opportunities for socially meaningful communication to take place as others take notice of what the nonverbal child might be saying via their varied embodied actions. The notion that embodied action carries meaning is fundamental to understanding that nonverbal children have a lot to say (Kliewer, 2008). Social Interpreters Nonverbal young children need other supports in their settings and contexts so that their messages and meaning-making activities are intercepted, interpreted and responded to. This additional support often and necessarily takes the form of a knowing, familiar adult caregiver who is both fluent in the focal child s nuanced non-speech communication (unique vocalizations, signs or other gestures etc.) who can respond to the child and relay the messages to others who are not yet able to understand the code. The absence of an interpreter would hinder the ability of nonverbal children to have their meanings understood as well as limit the ability of their peers and caregivers to respond to their intended messages. As much of the literature about inclusive early childhood education emphasizes the importance of parent-teacher communication (Hunt, Soto, Maier, Liboiron, & Bae, 2004), further study about the role of adult interpreters (like parents and early childhood educators) and the interactions between the various players may help build our current understanding of how to best support nonverbal children s communication, language and literacy development as well as social development across settings.

4 Technology The affordances of digital technology are often enfolded within multimodality frameworks that consider the ways in which diverse children can show their knowledge using a range of digital tools and toys (Dobler, 2011; Lankshear & Knobel, 2003; Wohlwend, 2010). Also developments in assistive technology, including augmentative and assistive communication (AAC) and mainstream technology in early childhood can support children with disabilities to further both their communication and early literacy development in new ways(burne, Knafelc, Melonis, & Heyn, 2011). We also know that technology has taken hold in mainstream early childhood, and while debates about screen-time persist(guernsey, 2012), the notion that children both with and without disabilities are acquiring knowledge via digital modes has been reported in recent research(dooley, Flint, Holbrook, May, & Albers, 2011; Jowett, Moore, & Anderson, 2012; Levy, 2008; Winters & Vratulis, 2012). My discovery that both Laura and Henry are engaged in various digital learning opportunities therefore seems consistent with the current realities of many Western young children who have a wide range of developmental diversity. Digital technology, particularly technology that can give nonverbal children actual voices and abilities to make meaning by using their hands to manipulate devices in multitudes of ways may represent a viable means for peer-to-peer communications to develop. For instances, I can easily envision a child just like Henry playing on a LeapPad with an age peer and being successful at selecting icons and collaboratively creating pictures or other artifacts without having to rely on spoken language. Similarly, I can easily envision a child just like Laura learning to use her ipad to speak for her thereby responding to her peers requests for her to join them at various activities. Children who are able to both play with and communicate with their friends via assistive technology can perhaps eventually rely less on adult interpreters within their microsystems and develop stronger peer- to- peer communication skills as they mature. For these reasons, the role of mainstream devices and their range of uses in early childhood require a great deal more study if we are to better understand the affordances of technology within children s homes and early childhood settings. Conclusion Multimodality offers a framework for examining different features in the meaningmaking activities of children who have disabilities. This collective case study provides an examination of their activities and approaches to learning and helps to connect the dots between early literacy for children with disabilities and inclusion aims in early childhood education. By considering the role of multimodality theory and thereby expanding our understanding of what constitutes literacy learning we are able to better assume that nonverbal children are competent meaning makers who are using tools and modes to make meaning, alongside their verbal peers. When we assume that all embodied actions i.e., gestures, movements, gazes, signs, facial expressions, and using digital resources are meaningful messages, children who do not yet speak are positioned as meaning-makers with something important to say. Multimodality, as it applies to early literacy learning across contexts, therefore supports overall inclusion aims as it allows for expanded notions of what constitutes literacy learning in early childhood. For children who are unable to access learning via verbal modes, multimodality offers a way in to literacy learning alongside age peers in inclusive early childhood settings.

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