For kids who use no or minimal spoken language, how can a child learn to “sound out” words when he or she has difficulty making sounds? Fortunately there are many ways to teach reading that don’t depend on a child using spoken language.

Teaching phonics to students with limited verbal ability or who are non-speaking can feel challenging, but with the right strategies they can begin to develop reading skills.

Emergent literacy skills are the building blocks of learning to read and write. These early skills are essential for all children to learn. For young autistic children, it's important to consider their individual strengths and interests when deciding how best to support their emergent literacy skills.

Free Deaf Children’s Literacy Project membership and parenting kit provides a guided program to support families with children who are deaf, hard of hearing, and/or have various processing disorders and who may benefit from Cued Speech to develop language and literacy.

Watch this delightful video (below) of a grandmother read and sign a story with her grandson. You’ll see lots useful tips for simple things you can do to enrich literacy skills and increase bonding with your deaf or hard of hearing child.

​​​​​Sharing books with children who are deaf or hard of hearing is very important for language development. There can be some unique challenges at first. This resource address some of these challenges.

Tips and guidelines for parents of children who are blind, visually impaired or deafblind who are just getting started and wondering how to introduce braille and literacy to babies, infants, toddlers.

Whether they want to become adaptive ice climbers, artists, or programmers, kids with low or no vision need to be able to read words and images, and know that their communication matters. Here are some read, talk, sing, play, write, and more resources to get you started.

Explore a range of resources for fostering reading skills in visually impaired children.

Direct and intentional learning opportunities for children with Cerebral/Cortical Visual Impairment developed by preschool teachers in the Deafblind program at Perkins School for the Blind.

Introducing books and reading to a child who is blind may seem daunting, but it really isn’t. There are eight tips for introducing books and reading to your young child, even if they can’t see the word or pictures.

Resource for free braille storybook kits to blind and visually impaired children.

Resources for free print/braille books for children who are blind or low vision.

Resources for individuals interested in beginning or enhancing literacy instruction for children with combined vision and hearing loss, hosted by the National Center on Deafblindness.

All students benefit from developing strength, coordination, and dexterity in their hands. For students who are blind or visually impaired, strong, skilled hands are especially important, as they serve as the primary tools for gathering information and interacting with the world.