How can the flaws within the global education system be addressed to ensure all language learners are accommodated?

Guided by lived experience, Holistic Language Instruction challenges the idea that there is only one way to learn a language. As 40% of learners struggle with language development, author Jaime Hoerricks questions whether these students are disabled or if the system disables them by neglecting their unique language processing methods. Given that language processing differences have no connection with intellect, Hoerricks proposes that learners should be accommodated within the general population to enable their progress alongside peers, instead of being placed in a special education program or assigned to a speech and language professional.

Offering guidance for educators on how to foster literacy growth in all students, this book is ideal reading for students of Education Studies, Disability Studies and related courses, Speech and Language development, as well as teachers, education policy makers, and parents.

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Abstract
• Contents
• 1 Introduction
  • Learning objective
  • Rationale
  • Meet the author
  • My educational background
  • What does it mean to be illiterate?
  • Taking a step back – traditional language instruction in elementary schools in the US
  • Early echolalia
  • Middle school years
  • High school years
  • Adult, and illiterate in college
  • Seeing the light
  • Order from chaos
  • Lessons learned
  • Human language acquisition
  • Natural language acquisition and development
  • Outline
  • Why study the path to literacy in this way?
  • Preparing to study
  • During our studies
  • Check for understanding
  • Some things that might trip you up
  • Summary
• 2 Deconstructing the Science of Reading
  • Learning objective
  • Rationale
  • Introduction
  • The legal landscape
  • The Science of Reading
  • Scarborough’s Reading Rope
    • Language Comprehension strands
    • Word Recognition
  • When it all goes wrong
  • Where’s the science in the Science of Reading?
  • What is deconstruction?
  • How the Science of Reading can fail the gestalt processor
  • Scarborough’s Reading Rope – Language Comprehension
  • Intermission
  • Continuing
  • Scarborough’s Reading Rope – Word Recognition
  • Check for understanding
  • Hold on a minute!
  • Some things that might trip you up
  • Summary
• 3 Early childhood literacy
  • Learning objective
  • Rationale
  • Introduction
  • Literacy and communication
  • When cultures mix
  • Exploring translanguaging
  • Benefits of translanguaging
  • Literacy beyond the school’s walls
  • Who is in the classroom?
  • Unpacking gestalts
  • Stages of literacy development
  • The literacy stages of ALP learners
  • The literacy stages of GLP learners
  • The What Works Clearinghouse
  • Check for understanding
  • Some things that might trip you up
  • Exercises and activities for analytic language processors
  • Exercises and activities for gestalt language processors
  • Putting it all together
  • Summary
• 4 Young adult literacy
  • Learning objective
  • Rationale
  • Introduction
  • Becoming an autistic public school teacher
  • Multi-Tiered System of Supports
  • Response to Intervention
  • MTSS around the world
  • A path forward
  • Challenging behaviors in the classroom
  • Diving into the research
  • Self-Regulation Strategy Development
  • A summary of “the problem” in our classes
  • The solution
  • Pre-intervention data analysis
  • The intervention
  • Summary of “the solution”
  • Educational implications
  • What this all means
  • Check for understanding
  • Some things that might trip you up
  • Supporting yourself through it all
  • Summary
• 5 Adult literacy
  • Learning objective
  • Rationale
  • Introduction
  • Why are so many adults struggling with literacy?
  • A path forward
  • Readers’ theater
  • Before time was time
  • Literacy in professional spaces
  • What about writing?
  • Modeling and “mentor texts”
  • Product-based and process-based approaches to teaching writing
  • Check for understanding
  • Some things that might trip you up
  • How might we fix it?
  • Don’t panic
  • Summary
• 6 Cross-curricular literacy
  • Learning objective
  • Rationale
  • Introduction
  • Identifying knowledge gaps
  • Why not feature literacy in all classes?
  • Teacher preparation programs
  • What to do about the problem in the meantime?
  • How I’ve done it
  • Check for understanding
  • Some things that might trip you up
  • How might we fix it?
  • Summary
• 7 Summary
  • Review
  • A cohesive view
  • Your charge
  • Final thoughts
• References
• Index

Dr Jim Hoerricks PhD (they/them) is a non-verbal autistic advocate, researcher, educator, and author. They are based in California, US, and currently work as a special education teacher.

Author blog post: The Autistic Way of Proceeding by Jaime Hoerricks PhD