Learning media assessment

Interpreting Form 4: Early literacy acquisition sensory skills checklist

Young children bring their own experiences and background knowledge to the task of learning to read and write. It can be very helpful for a child's educational team to understand the experiences that the child has had prior to the time that an initial decision is being made about learning media.

Form 4: Early Literacy Acquisition Sensory Skills Checklist is designed to support educational teams as they discuss the child's previous use of sensory information in a literacy context.

Because of the importance of examining how a child's experiences have supported development of all senses, Form 4 is divided into sections on visual skills, tactile skills and auditory skills. Each section contains specific behaviours that a child may demonstrate if sufficient opportunities have been available to support the child's devlopment of the necessary skills.

The responses for this form are "Yes", "No", "No opportunity" and N/A meaning that they child does not have access to the sense in question.

Factors to consider

The following issues are important to consider when working through this form:

• This list of behaviours is meant to be a snapshot of important skills leading to literacy. There are many other skills that have not been listed on this form. Use this checklist as a starting point for discussions with the learner's educational team.
• The response "no opportunity" requires special attention. If a child has not had an opportunity to develop a skill because of lack of exposure, the team will likely want to provide rich and varied experiences using multiple senses in order to encourage the child to use vision, touch and hearing where possible.
• The educational team should not wait until the child receives "yes" responses on these behaviours before beginning a formal literacy program. This is not meant to be an indication of readiness, but more an indication of the need for focus on all senses when exploring literacy activities.

Guidance

You may also wish to refer to the guidance to completing Form 4.