Literacy, Assistive Technology, and Students with Significant Disabilities

Literacy is a national educational priority. During the last decade, unprecedented funds have been committed to ensuring that school children, particularly those at risk for literacy-learning difficulties, have access to research-based instruction that is most likely to support their development as readers and writers. Yet, for the thousands of students across the country with significant intellectual disabilities, literacy instruction is a distant goal, and information regarding research-based instruction is extremely limited. Adding to the challenge is the absence of information regarding the use of assistive technology to support access to the curriculum and learning for students with significant intellectual disabilities. In this article, we review the research and apply understandings and strategies used in literacy instruction for students without disabilities to students with significant intellectual disabilities.