Beliefs and practices concerning emergent literacy in young children with disabilities: A qualitative study of diverse families in Hawai'i

This study explored the beliefs and practices of diverse families surrounding the emergence of literacy development in young children with disabilities. Interviews were conducted with families of young children with disabilities to identify the beliefs about literacy and disability that influence the literacy experiences they provide for their children. An exploration of recommended literacy practices is included, followed by a discussion of the ways that sociocultural contexts influence practice.;A case study approach was used to gather information through a series of semi-structured interviews with seven families in a rural area in Hawai'i. All participants were parents of one or more children aged three through five with an identified mild to moderate developmental disability, including speech/language delay. Parents were interviewed concerning their literacy practices and the beliefs behind their practices. These two aspects of the data were analyzed, within and across cases, and discrepancies and commonalities among participants were identified and discussed. In addition, the effect of individual sociocultural context on their practices was explored. Parents wanted to help their children develop literacy and depended on bedtime stories for most of the instruction they gave their children. They were challenged by time constraints and children's lack of attention. In addition, they depended on teachers to tell them what they needed to do, but teachers made very few suggestions to increase the quality or quantity of home literacy interactions. Another issue that emerged was the lack of bidirectional conversation between parents and children. Future research should address the long term results on literacy of a variety of conversational patterns.