What should educators understand about students who have trouble accessing standard print?
Page 1: Reading and Print Disabilities
Reading is arguably one of the most important academic skills for students to master. It exposes them to new information, develops their knowledge by building a strong vocabulary, and deepens their understanding of the world around them. In other words, reading is an important way for students to gain knowledge across all subjects and contexts.
Often teachers expect students to gain content knowledge by reading printed materials, such as novels, textbooks, and passages. However, many of these materials can present learning barriers, or any aspect related to the design of a learning experience that hinders a student’s ability to access and demonstrate learning. This is especially true for students who have print disabilities—disabilities that make it difficult or impossible to access standard text. Print disabilities include those that make it difficult to:
- See text (e.g., blindness, visual impairment)
- Turn pages, hold a book, or otherwise physically interact with text-based materials (e.g., cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy)
- Process or decode written text (e.g., dyslexia, learning disability)
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decode
The ability to figure out printed words using knowledge of letter-sound relationships.
Did You Know?
The term print disability does not refer to any of the categories identified in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Rather, it is a broader term used to identify people who qualify for access to alternate text formats under copyright law, approximately 10%–20% of the student population.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
Name given in 1990 to the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA) and used for all reauthorizations of the law, which guarantees students with disabilities the right to a free appropriate public education in the least-restrictive environment.
Although the nature of the print disability may vary, the common thread for students with print disabilities is that text-based materials frequently pose barriers to their learning. Let’s meet a few students with print disabilities.
Gema is a ninth grader with a visual impairment. Although she can see printed text with the assistance of an electronic magnifier, this takes a great deal of effort and often causes headaches. Therefore, Gema often prefers to read content in braille when available.
braille
A system of reading and writing developed for people who are blind in which text characters are represented by raised dots that are read by the fingertips. Named for Louis Braille, who promoted the concept of tactile reading in 1824 and whose method is a precursor to the one used today.
Thomas is a fifth grader who has cerebral palsy and uses a power wheelchair with a joystick. Thomas has difficulty interacting with physical books on his own, so he relies on someone to hold his book open and turn the pages. Alternatively, Thomas can access and control a computer or tablet using assistive technology.
assistive technology (AT)
Any item, service, equipment, or product system—whether acquired commercially, specially designed, or created via changes to an existing product—that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities in the daily life of an individual with a disability; does not include any surgically implanted medical devices or their replacements.
Liza is a third grader who has difficulty decoding printed words. After reading a passage independently, Liza typically struggles to answer basic comprehension questions. However, after listening to a story read aloud, she can accurately retell the events with many details.
The skill of reading is not limited to identifying written words printed on physical paper; rather, it refers to the complex process of gaining information from text. While most people rely on their sense of sight to read, students with print disabilities might read with their eyes, ears, fingers, or any combination of them. For example, sometimes:
- Gema prefers to read by using her fingers to interpret the raised dots of braille.
- Thomas chooses to read by listening to an audiobook.
- Liza opts to read by using text-to-speech software to listen to and see the words at the same time.
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text-to-speech
A technology feature that reads digital text aloud.
For Your Information
Students’ ability to read can positively impact their social-emotional well-being. In contrast, students who struggle with reading might display low self-esteem, low self-confidence, or anxiety. In this interview, Andrew Kahn discusses the emotional impact of reading barriers on students and some visible signs of this in the classroom.
Andrew R. Khan, PsyD
Associate Director, Expertise and Strategic Design
Understood
Transcript: Andrew R. Khan, PsyD
So when we think about the emotional side, the things that you will see with young people with dyslexia, we see emotional responses. So oftentimes what I would see is at the start of an activity like a reading task, kids would go to their book box, they’d grab a book, and they would start to agitate. The books actually became a trigger for their emotional responses. And we’d see things like angry acting out. We’d see them misbehave or showing a lot of frustration. And those behaviors were just their own reaction to how they felt about what was challenging for them. The harder things are for a child, the less confidence they’re going to have and the less willing they’re going to be to engage in the classroom tasks. You may see them withdraw, pull away, stop raising their hand, or stop talking during those parts of the classroom.
When we think about the things that you may see and the emotional reactions that may be visible to you, again, negative comparisons are a big factor. If a student is sitting there with a book and they’re looking around the room and seeing their peers having more success or moving through the books much more quickly, they’re very likely to start comparing and saying “What does that mean about me?” and “Why can’t I do this?” “I think I’m smart enough. I think I’m capable.” But for those youngsters, it can be extremely challenging. And we start to see them develop some mindsets and thinking about themselves, being critical, refusing tasks, or engaging in things other than what’s required of them. And those are forms of self-protection—the ideas about escape and avoidance. You want to avoid things that are unpleasant for you. So it’s really important to think about that because a lot of what we may see initially is emotion with our young students and helping them learn about different ways to become more successful academically and providing them with supports.
“Yeah, I’m bad at math. I’m not great with numbers.” Culturally, it’s very common for Americans to say that. I think that we’ve desensitized ourselves to the idea that somehow math’s supposed to be hard and it’s okay if we struggle. But how often do you hear “I’m bad at reading” or “I don’t know how to read?” It’s something that is much more associated with shame. People do not have the comfort to say that out loud. So it’s something really to think about in terms of our culture and when you look at our kids. There’s a lot more shame that comes along with struggling with reading.
Students who have not developed strong literacy skills by the time they enter the fourth grade are at the greatest risk of not graduating from high school. However, when educators ensure all students can access information in a digestible and user-friendly way, they allow their students who have difficulty accessing standard text-based materials to develop the same knowledge and skills as their peers. Bookshare is a tool that provides accessible educational materials for students with print disabilities. 
Throughout this module, you will learn more about who can use Bookshare, what it offers, and how educators can use it to support students with print disabilities in their classrooms. But first, let’s learn more about accessible educational materials.
