Program Information

Developer and contact

Developed by Angela Notari-Syverson, Rollanda E. O’Connor, and Patricia F. Vadasy, Ladders to Literacy is distributed by Brookes Publishing Company. Address: P.O. Box 10624, Baltimore, MD 21285-0624. Email: custserv@brookespublishing.com. Web: http://www.brookespublishing.com. Telephone: (800) 638-3775. For professional development training, see http://www.brookespublishing.com/onlocation.

Scope of use

According to the developers, Ladders to Literacy has been field-tested in a variety of preschool settings with children from a range of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. These include sites that serve young children with disabilities in inclusive and special education settings.

Teaching

Ladders to Literacy is a supplemental early childhood curriculum that is published in the book Ladders to Literacy: A Preschool Activity Book, Second Edition, which focuses on developing early language and literacy skills. Ladders to Literacy addresses three components of literacy development: print/book awareness, metalinguistic awareness, and oral language skills. The print/book awareness section includes activities such as drawing pictures, pretending to write, and creating graphic representations. Metalinguistic awareness activities focus on the identification of sounds, phonemes, and rhymes through lessons such as Clap the Syllables and First Sound Song. The oral language component includes activities designed to enhance children’s vocabulary development and to engage children in conversations in which they respond to open-ended questions and reconstruct past experiences. There are approximately 20 activities in each of the three sections. For each lesson, the authors describe the activity; list the necessary materials; and explain the rationale for the activity, the lesson’s overall goal, and the targeted skills. The book provides guidance on how to individualize the activity for children with varying skill levels and how to adapt the lesson for children with special needs. The book also provides an overview of the theoretical framework underlying the curriculum. An appendix provides a variety of activities that parents and children can do together at home to reinforce skills being taught in the classroom. The curriculum also includes a literacy checklist to help teachers monitor children’s progress.

Cost

The Ladders to Literacy: A Preschool Activity Book, Second Edition, costs $49.95. Professional development for Ladders to Literacy is available for an extra cost and consists of a one- or two-day onsite seminar on how to use the curriculum.