Teacher-Reported Reading Instructional Practices for Students With Complex Communication Needs

Literacy has the potential to improve quality of life for students with complex communication needs (CCN), but it is unclear if and how teachers target reading instruction for these students. We surveyed 131 K–12 special education teachers about how they teach reading to 217 students with CCN. We found that most reading instruction took place in self-contained classrooms, and that teachers rarely use curricula supported by research for this population. Reading goals often focus on fragments of reading (e.g., letter identification) instead of a comprehensive approach, and some students did not have reading goals at all. Elementary-aged students were more likely than older students to have goals related to phonics. A clear gap remains between research and practice for teaching reading to students with CCN.