Technology and Literacy: The Ultimate Chicken and Egg Conundrum
Does your child continue to struggle in class specialized instruction and additional support? Are you overwhelmed with the choices of assistive technology? Have you ever had a bright student with unexpectedly poor reading, spelling and writing skills? Even though you thought your instruction was carefully planned, you somehow couldn’t reach that student.
For the past dozen years, educational technology has been the rage of schools across North America and abroad. It held great promise for students with reading and writing challenges, including dyslexia. However, too often this technology is nothing more than word-processing assignments, spell check, email and web searches — all of which require competent literacy skills to access.
Dr. Cheesman is an associate professor at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut and credentials as a Certified Academic Language Therapist and Qualified Instructor at Teachers College, Columbia University, under the direction of Judith Birsh. Her primary research, teaching and service interests are teacher-preparation in scientifically based reading instruction and the use of technology in literacy education.