Colby’s Growth to Language and Literacy: The Achievements of a Child who is Congenitally Deafblind

Submitted by Charlotte Cushman on Jan 20, 2022
A boy with a braille book from APH on his lap.

Colby’s Growth to Language and Literacy: The Achievements of a Child who is Congenitally Deafblind
Susan Bruce, Amy Randall, Barbara Birge

Teaching Exceptional Children Plus: Volume 5, Issue 2, November 2008
This article tells the story of how Colby, a young boy who is congenitally deafblind, developed language and literacy. Narrative is coupled with video to illustrate how the following four instructional approaches and interventions supported his development: (1) daily schedule, (2) home-school journal, (3) experiential based literacy, and (4) child-guided instruction. Both Colby’s mother and his teachers developed individualized literacy lessons that were delivered with daily consistency. Repetition of highly interesting activities paired with consistent exposure to representations about those activities (expressed in objects, verbalizations, sign language, and braille) supported Colby to literacy. 

See also The Path to Symbolism. Practice Perspectives - Highlighting Information on Deaf-Blindness. National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness. (Number 3 August 2008).

*** Note that the videos that accompany the article are currently unavailable.

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