[Title slide appears with the following text: “For Families with Deaf & Hard of Hearing Children Strategies to Build Language and Literacy During Reading Time (State of Minnesota logo) Minnesota Department of Health, Minnesota Commission of the Deaf, DeafBlind & Hard of Hearing”]
[Leala Holcomb appears and begins to sign.]
>> Leala: Hello! I would like to emphasize that literacy starts at the child’s birth. Remember, we can expose the child to language and literacy simultaneously through activities all day along. There is one time during the day when this is the most critical - during reading time when you read books with your child. There is a wealth of language and literacy happening during this time of the day. First, watch the video. Then we both will watch it together again and discuss the different strategies being used.
[Leala is replaced by a video clip showing a parent and a child sitting together on the couch. The mother holds a picture book open on her lap while the child looks on. The book is upside down, and the image shows a boy and a llama on a grass field with text underneath the picture. The child then corrects the book by turning it right side up.]
>> Parent: That’s right. We had the book upside-down!
>> Child; (clapping hands) Yay!
>> Parent: The title of the book - every book has a title. What’s the title of this book?
[Parent points at the title printed on the book, word by word and finger spells out the words.]
>> Parent: I T-O-O-K M-Y L-L-A-M-A F-O-R A W-A-L-K. I took my llama for a walk.
[The child turns the page.]
>> Parent: (pointing at the page) What’s that? (pointing at the llama and the child shrugs). This has curly hair and a fluffy tail. It also has four legs. Two legs by two legs, walking. What do we call it? L-L-A-M-A.
>> Parent and Child (together): L-L-A-M-A.
>> Parent: Llama!
>> Child (copying sign): Llama.
>> Parent (pointing at page): Here’s the boy, and here’s the llama. What are they doing?
>> Child: Doing?
[Parent points at the page].
>> Child: Walking.
>> Parent: Yes. The boy and the llama are outside, walking. They’re walking side by side.
>> Child: They both walking.
[Video clip ends, and Leala reappears on-screen. Text block appears at Leala’s side. Text:
“Language & Literacy Strategies:
>> Leala (continued): Did you see how the mother encouraged language and literacy? Which strategies did you see her use? The mother used four of the strategies listed. We’ll discuss them now.
[Photo insert appears next to Leala. Photo of the same mother and child looking at a book page. Text underneath photo: “Concepts of print”.]
>> Leala: One of the strategies the mother used was the concept of print- teaching her child the concept of print. In this case, they learned how to use a book correctly. How to read it, from left to right. How books have titles, and where they show up. Who the author is, and where the illustrations are. Where to start reading. When to turn the pages. That’s the concept of print. The mother did hold the book upside-down on purpose to see if the child would catch the error. Doing this helps the child increase their understanding of books and how they function. Then the mother helped the child understand what a title is, and where to find it. How the letters on the page connect to fingerspelled letters, and in turn, into word signs.
[Leala is replaced by a video clip replay of the parent and child holding the book upside down and correcting it.]
>> Parent: That’s right. We had the book upside-down!
>> Child: (clapping hands) Yay!
>> Parent: The title of the book - every book has a title. What’s the title of this book?
[Parent points at the title printed on the book, word by word and finger spells out the words.]
>> Parent: I T-O-O-K M-Y L-L-A-M-A F-O-R A W-A-L-K. I took my llama for a walk.
[Video clip ends, Leala reappears on-screen with a photo of the parent and child next to her. Text underneath photo: “Ask open-ended questions”.]
>> Leala (continued): The next strategy that the mother used was to ask open-ended questions. She asked the child about the picture in the book.
[Leala is replaced by a video clip of the same parent and child, now discussing the picture in the book.]
[The child turns the page.]
>> Parent: (pointing at the page) What’s that? (pointing at the llama and the child shrugs).
[Video clip ends, Leala reappears on-screen. Photo on the right has new text underneath the photo: “Expand on language”. Leala continues to sign.]
>> Leala: Then the next strategy she used was to expand on the child’s language. The mother asked the child questions about the picture in the book. Not getting a response from the child, the mother expands upon the picture by describing what a llama looks like, flooding the child with new vocabulary and concepts. The mother pointed out the hair, the tail, and expanded on the word.
[Leala is replaced by video clip replay of the parent and child, now discussing the llama in the picture of the book.]
>> Parent: (pointing at the page) What’s that? (pointing at the llama and the child shrugs). This has curly hair and a fluffy tail. It also has four legs. Two legs by two legs, walking.
[Video clip ends, Leala reappears on-screen. Photo on side has new text underneath: “Chaining”.]
>> Leala: Now we see the mother using the chaining strategy. Now the child has understood the concept of the word ‘llama’ through additional language usage - what it looks like, the word ‘llama’ in print on the page, and learning the sign for ‘llama’, followed by fingerspelling the word.
[Leala is replaced by a video clip of the parent and child, now expanding on the word ‘llama’ through sign, fingerspelling and print.]
What do we call it? L-L-A-M-A.
>> Parent and Child (together): L-L-A-M-A.
>> Parent: Llama!
>> Child (copying sign): Llama.
[Video clip ends, Leala returns on-screen. Photo on the side has new text underneath: “Ask open-ended questions”.]
>> Leala: You will see the mother using open-ended questions again. You can use open-ended questions, again and again, to engage the child with the book.
[Leala is replaced by video clip replay of the parent and child. They are now discussing the boy and llama on the book page.]
>> Parent (pointing at page): Here’s the boy, and here’s the llama. What are they doing?
>> Child: Doing?
[Parent points at the page].
>> Child: Walking.
>> Parent: Yes. The boy and the llama are outside, walking. They’re walking side by side.
>> Child: They both walking.
[Video clip ends, and Leala reappears on-screen. Text block appears at Leala’s side. Text:
“Language & Literacy Strategies:
>> Leala (continued): There is no limit to how often you can utilize those strategies into activities all day long. Get and maintain the child’s attention. Use a combination of sign, fingerspelling, pointing to the printed word with the child.
[Photo insert appears at Leala’s side. Several children look at an adult sharing a picture book with them. Text underneath picture: “Peter’s Picture”.]
>> Leala: There are many signed stories resources out there. You and your child can watch them together, and further enhance the experience by discussing them with your child.
[Leala is replaced by a video clip. Several children sit on the floor watching the teacher share a picture book. It is the same book about the boy and llama.]
>> Teacher: (reading) The llama went for a walk with the boy leading it on a leash. On their walk they met many friends they knew.
[Teacher turns page while children react to the story.]
>> Teacher: They walk on. Then, they saw a rooster named R-O-B-B-I-E…
[Video clip ends, and Leala reappears on-screen. Text block shows on the side. Text: “View more educational sign language videos at: app.peterspicture.com “.]
>> Leala: That was neat, right? Want to see more stories? Check out the website for more!
[End credits:
“Created by
Debbie Golos, PhD
Associate Professor & Coordinator of the Deaf Education Teacher Preparation Program
University of Minnesota
Leala Holcomb, PhD
Early Childhood Education Specialist
Brynn Roemen, MEd
Instructor in the Department of Educational Psychology
University of Minnesota
Damon Timm
Video Production
Featuring
Leala Holcomb
Narrator
Haruna Matsumoto
Parent
Oceana Matsumoto
Child
Special thanks to Peter’s Pictures and Hands Land for permission to incorporate their material into this series and to Stanley Matsumoto and Aaron Waheed for additional filming.”]
[End credits:
(State of Minnesota logo)
“This webinar series was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $360,725 with zero percentage financed with non-governmental sources. The content are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.
“Produced by the Minnesota Department of Health, and the Minnesota Commission of the Deaf, DeafBlind & Hard of Hearing.”]
