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Functional, Community-Based Reading with Photos
Jean Resor
West Delaware School, Manchester, Iowa
Subject: Special Education
Grade: Ages 6-21
"Being able to take pictures gives the students acceptable,
age-appropriate, functional skills that they and their families
can be proud of."
Purpose and Description of Project
Jean Resor used photographs of words as they actually appear in
the community to help her 11 mentally handicapped students (below
55 IQ) improve their reading skills to function more independently
in community and school environments.
Resor had found that although her students could read common words
in the classroom they were often unable to read the same words
in real-life settings. However, once she and the school's audiovisual
technician researched the community and photographed the students'
study words in a variety of actual situations, primarily on signs,
she found that the students' percentage of transferable reading
increased markedly.
Once students mastered words, they were allowed to photograph
their own community examples of these words and take home the
photos for their personal use. Resor says that "the immediate
feedback of seeing their pictures makes this activity highly motivating
and reinforcing," that it has increased student interaction
with parents, and that it has provided the students with a leisure
skill that will last a lifetime.
Activities
The word photos were used in numerous ways. These include: as
supplements to daily individual readings; as attachments to the
language master cards; on bulletin boards designed to help students
match up words; on an electronic matching board that lights up
when photo words are matched correctly; and in several games.
The games included "concentration," in which pairs of
photos are matched; "bingo," which uses photos of 10
consecutive words from the students' reading program; "photo
caution," in which photos of "danger" words are
used as a deck of cards for a game similar to Old Maid; and "where
is it?" which is a guessing game in which students try to
identify where word photos were taken.
Materials, Resources, and Expenses
Human resources included the AV technician, volunteers, and personnel
at community training sites. The teacher and technician used
35 mm cameras
(the school's) and ISO 400
film
for instructional photos.
Outcomes and Adaptability
Resor declares that "this has been one of the most exciting
and rewarding projects that the students, families, volunteers,
community members, and school staff have been involved in."
She says that the use of photos "definitely increased the
students' percentage of transferable reading" and that community
members have commented positively on the improvement in the students'
ability to function in actual situations. "The level of independence
and ability to function appropriately within our community has
developed in each," she expands. "They hold up their
heads, read what they see to the best of their ability, and, if
appropriate, perform the correct function. The social impact and
the development of each student's self-image is fantastic. "
Resor believes that such projects will be increasingly valuable
as more school districts adopt programs to help their special
education students get along in everyday situations. She adds
that word photos can be used with successive groups of students
and that "one of the strong points of the program is that
it can be used by anyone-parents, teachers, aides, etc.-and presented
in unlimited ways."