Speaker: Dr. Karen Erickson

On October 29, 2002 The Bridge School presented its first lecture of the 2002-2003 school year. We had the great pleasure of hosting Dr. Karen Erickson of The Center for Literacy and Disability Studies, UNC-Chapel Hill. The workshop provided participants with a framework for understanding the range of difficulties students with disabilities experience in learning to read and write. Understanding the difficulties experienced by any individual student is critical to the careful construction of an effective instructional program. Participants were introduced to specific instructional strategies to address a variety of literacy learning needs. With respect to reading the strategies addressed: phonemic awareness, sight word reading, phonics/decoding, comprehension, and fluency. With respect to writing, the strategies addressed: idea generation, spelling, grammar/mechanics, planning, organizing, and composing.

In addition to her lecture, Dr. Erickson spent two days in the Bridge School's classrooms offering her wisdom and expertise to our staff and families. The Bridge School would like to extend its thanks to those dedicated parents and professionals that attended the workshop and most importantly to Dr. Karen Erickson for her support to The Bridge School.

Dr. Erickson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Erickson is the current director of the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies, where she has played a leading role in developing this course and the Symposium on Literacy and Disabilities. She holds a Ph.D. in Special Education and Literacy Studies from UNC and is a former teacher of children with significant disabilities. Knowledgeable in literacy, assistive and instructional technologies, augmentative communication, and the learning characteristics of children with significant disabilities, she is in great demand as a presenter, consultant, and program developer. She is the 2001 co-recipient with Dr. Koppenhaver of the Don Johnston Literacy Lectureship, presented at the Symposium on Literacy and Disabilities. Her assessment and intervention strategies are described in numerous journal articles and book chapters. Dr. Erickson currently heads a research and development team developing web-based literacy supports for young adolescents with severe disabilities and their teachers. For further information about Dr. Erickson's web-based literacy program, ALL-Link, please go to www.med.unc.edu/ahs/clds

Speaker: Pati King-DeBaun, M.S., CCC-SLP

The Bridge School's second lecture in our series featured Pati King-DeBaun, M.S., CCC-SLP. Pati describes herself as a "speech-language pathologist by training, an O.T. at heart and a special education teacher by necessity". Pati has specialized in communication for children and young adults (0-21 years) with severe physical and cognitive disabilities for the past 15 years. She has written numerous articles, books (e.g. Storytime Series) and software for students who have severe language and learning difficulties. She speaks and consults throughout the world on topics of interaction, augmentative communication, emergent literacy, and creativity for children with disabilities.

Pati spent two days lecturing on emergent literacy. Her first lecture on January 29, was titled: The Language Literacy Connection in Early Childhood. This lecture focused on a modified 4-Block Literacy approach for children 0-8 years of age. Pati discussed a layering approach for integrating books, phonemic awareness, concepts about print, and language skills into classrooms, homes or therapy programs.

The second workshop, held January 30, was titled: Emergent Literacy Success for Older Children. The focus of this lecture was students in middle or high school special education classrooms, included in regular education classes and students in group homes or vocational settings. Based on a modified 4-Block Literacy model, Pati discussed using a projects-based approach with an emphasis on building beginning communication and emergent literacy skills.

Following the workshops, Pati spent a day with the students and teachers at The Bridge School modeling and sharing ideas to integrate into our classrooms. Parents of our students were given an opportunity to meet with Pati and discuss ideas for helping to build literacy with their children at home. Thank you to all of those dedicated professionals and parents, who tirelessly search for the strategies and approaches that will unlock the potential of students struggling with literacy. Most importantly, The Bridge School would like to extend its thanks to Pati King-DeBaun for her support to The Bridge School.

You can check out Pati's websites at:
www.creative-comm.com
www.eduworkshops.com
www.adaptedstories.com