Abstract
Quality early home literacy experiences, specifically young children’s shared storybook reading experiences, have been identified as critical for establishing the foundations of reading and writing skills. Despite this, literature reports that children with complex communication needs (CCN) have limited exposure to literacy material. There is, however, a paucity of research regarding the home literacy experiences of children with disabilities specifically those with CCN and in developing countries contexts. This study aims to analyse the behaviours of both primary caregivers and their children with CCN during shared storybook reading using a descriptive, observational design. Twelve primary caregivers and their children participated in the study. The 12 participating dyads were video recorded during shared storybook reading activity. Their interactions were analysed using a communicative behaviour checklist coding communicative behaviour of both dyad participants during the shared storybook reading. Results were similar to previous studies conducted on children with CCN from developed countries. The caregivers showed higher rates of interaction as compared to their children, whilst they focused on labelling the pictures rather than reading the story verbatim. Although patterns of interaction varied across the caregivers, they seldom asked complex questions or related the story to the child’s utterances. The children, on the other hand, seldom asked questions or commented on the stories. Their interaction patterns could have been improved, should the children have had access to communication devices and caregivers guided on using strategies to facilitate learning during these shared literacy activities. Keywords: augmentative and alternative communication; caregiver-child interaction; communicative behaviours patterns; complex communication needs; literacy development
Highlights
It is estimated that South Africa has approximately 2.1 million children with disabilities (Statistics South Africa, 2014)
One group of children who are vulnerable to being excluded from school, are those with complex communication needs (CCN), in other words those children who cannot rely on spoken language to make their needs known (Dada, Kathard, Tönsing & Harty, 2017)
Shared storybook reading has been recommended as a valuable tool for enhancing cognitive skills (Vally, 2012) increasing vocabulary (Cooper at al., 2014), stimulating preliteracy skills (Justice & Ezell, 2002), and improving caregiver-child interaction behaviours (Murray et al, 2016)
Summary
It is estimated that South Africa has approximately 2.1 million children with disabilities (Statistics South Africa, 2014). The Department of Education (DoE) reported that approximately 600,000 of these children with disabilities aged 5–18 years were not attending any educational institutions in 2012 (Department of Social Development [DSD], Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities [DWCPD] & United Nations Children’s Fund [UNICEF], 2012; Statistics South Africa, 2014). This means at least 30% of children with disabilities who are of school going age are not in school. Other reasons for limited exposure to literacy skills have been found to be due to, caregiver expectations with regard to their child’s development (Gannotti, Oshio & Handwerker, 2013), the severity of physical disability (Peeters, Verhoeven, De Moor, Van Balkom & Van Leeuwe, 2009; Sandberg, 1998) as well as the child’s restricted cognitive and perceptual skills (Larson & Miller-Bishoff, 2014)
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