Literacy, Laughter and Learning (LLL) is a workshop that is provided to the parents our ECE (Early Childhood Education) students three times a year. Our most recent one was on October 26, with Halloween as our theme. The purpose of the workshop is to help parents understand the importance of early literacy learning for their young child. Stages of literacy development are discussed along with ideas on how the parents can encourage literacy development at home.

Parents are told that literacy learning is especially important for a young deaf child since the child may miss out on opportunities to hear spoken language and relate the sounds of spoken language to letters and words (sounding them out). Encouraging a child to take a special interest in printed words is critical and necessary for the child to become a successful reader and writer. Since literacy opportunities are all around us, the workshops help parents recognize those opportunities and use them to help their child acquire literacy.

The LLL workshops teach parents how literacy unfolds in their child’s mind. Children first begin to understand that meanings can be represented by print, such as the signs for popular restaurants or theme parks. They then begin to understand that there are reasons and purposes for print when, for example, parents write their name, share information via email or pager, or reading road signs to tell direction. Finally they begin to see that the letters are organized into words with individual meaning.

At LLL workshops all parents are welcome, regardless of their signing skills. Instructors discuss strategies that every parent can incorporate in the home such as special projects to encourage their child to act out a story through ASL and designing activity centers in the home that focus on the main theme of a story. By bringing the parents and children together for one workshop “literacy” becomes a fun learning experience for the whole family.

Janelle Green
PIP Coordinator