Oelwein's Methodology
In 1995, Leslie Todd Broun read, Teaching Reading to Children with Down Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Teachers, by Patricia Oelwin. Broun began using Oelwein's framework as a method for her lessons and had great results with the new program. With the program's success with students with Down Syndrone, Broun decided to adapt the framework to hopefully better instruct her students with autism, which thrive on visual teaching styles. Broun found success again and began to use this new framework as a way to help the increasing number of students with autism in the classroom succeed.
Broun (2004) believes the method is effective since it incorporates all styles of learning: visual, kinesthetic, auditory and digital or spoken expressed communication. Within her findings, Broun has discovered that children who have limited abilities in auditory processing (both students with Down Syndrome and Autism) learn reading better from a whole word approach. They do not even need to understand the whole alphabet to be able to succeed; they can start to read without that prior knowledge. That same principle goes for background knowledge of letter-sound relationships. These aspects are not eliminated from a reading program like this but typically start with 25-50 sight words first (Brown, 2004). With that approach in mind, teachers, from Brown's knowledge, work backward- from whole words to letter-sound relationships.
Broun (2004) believes the method is effective since it incorporates all styles of learning: visual, kinesthetic, auditory and digital or spoken expressed communication. Within her findings, Broun has discovered that children who have limited abilities in auditory processing (both students with Down Syndrome and Autism) learn reading better from a whole word approach. They do not even need to understand the whole alphabet to be able to succeed; they can start to read without that prior knowledge. That same principle goes for background knowledge of letter-sound relationships. These aspects are not eliminated from a reading program like this but typically start with 25-50 sight words first (Brown, 2004). With that approach in mind, teachers, from Brown's knowledge, work backward- from whole words to letter-sound relationships.
The Oelwein Method: The Stages of Learning
1. Acquisition- recognizing words
2. Fluency- recognizing the word with some consistency
3. Transfer- recognizes printed word in various locations, context and fonts
4. Generalization- recognizes word in an context
Acquisition: This stage is comprised of three levels using word flashcards to work on overall word recognition.
Level 1: Matching (pairs cards with same word)
Level 2: Selecting (selects correct word upon request)
Level 3: Naming (Says/signs the word after seeing the written word)
Fluency: As with any child, fluency of words leads to the building of sentences, however; students with autism (Janzen, 1996) "do not automatically learn how to put words together to for their own sentences. This group of children typically will need to work up to this stage through combining visual examples of words and print (Broun, 2004). She suggests that for children with special needs such as autism, look for a consistent 70% success rate with word recognition.
Transfer and Generalization: Oelwein suggests using establish a solid confidence with words before moving to print based reading. She recommends starting with a very simple text, such as an All about Me book to solidify students' conscience reading abilities.
2. Fluency- recognizing the word with some consistency
3. Transfer- recognizes printed word in various locations, context and fonts
4. Generalization- recognizes word in an context
Acquisition: This stage is comprised of three levels using word flashcards to work on overall word recognition.
Level 1: Matching (pairs cards with same word)
Level 2: Selecting (selects correct word upon request)
Level 3: Naming (Says/signs the word after seeing the written word)
Fluency: As with any child, fluency of words leads to the building of sentences, however; students with autism (Janzen, 1996) "do not automatically learn how to put words together to for their own sentences. This group of children typically will need to work up to this stage through combining visual examples of words and print (Broun, 2004). She suggests that for children with special needs such as autism, look for a consistent 70% success rate with word recognition.
Transfer and Generalization: Oelwein suggests using establish a solid confidence with words before moving to print based reading. She recommends starting with a very simple text, such as an All about Me book to solidify students' conscience reading abilities.