Technology-Supported Shared Storybook Reading in a Rural Classroom Serving Students With Severe Intellectual Disabilities and Complex Communication Needs

Shared storybook reading offers a potentially rich context for supporting language and communication development in students with severe intellectual disabilities and complex communication needs. Following the framework of community-engaged scholarship, the research team responded to a request for assistance from a special education teacher who sought to accelerate her students’ communication growth. Employing a case study design, researchers investigated the use of online professional development and eCoaching to support the implementation of interactive storybook reading strategies by a special education teacher and three of her students, ages 6 to 9 years. Results, although promising, suggest that the teacher’s use of interactive reading behaviors positively impacted the communication interactions of students with severe intellectual disabilities who have complex communication needs. Furthermore, her students increased their interactive communication, attention to text, and use of shared reading strategies across all study phases. Implications of the findings are discussed.