Rainbow Fish: An adapted storytime, with choice board and flashlight pointer.
Building with Stories
Adapted books for early literacy
An early literacy curriculum for students ages 5–10 with moderate to severe developmental disabilities, including autism, that complements the ELSB curriculum.
The Building with Stories curriculum is based on the Early Literacy Skills Builder (ELSB) research from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC). It contains ten award winning storybooks commonly read in elementary classrooms, a kit to adapt them for easy student access, and story related manipulatives to encourage student participation.
The Teacher’s Manual is centered on the ten-step framework developed by the UNCC research team. The Teacher Manual is organized by storybook title and includes a list of materials, AT suggestions, adaptation instructions, and scripted lessons. The Student Materials book has illustrated response pages with corresponding teacher scripts. It fosters vocabulary understanding, print awareness, listening comprehension, communication independence, and word knowledge.
Everything you need is included!
- 10 Storybooks
- 10 Story related manipulatives
- An Adapting Kit
- Repeating storyline stickers
- Student Materials book
- Teacher's Manual
- CD with printable PDFs
- Storage box
Incorporating Building with Stories in your classroom has multiple benefits: it aligns with state standards, provides students access to the general education curriculum, and gives you more time for teaching—less time needed for planning and adapting. The curriculum can be used with individual students, with small groups, or in inclusive classroom settings. Use in conjunction with the Early Literacy Skills Builder or as a stand-alone curriculum.
- Amazing Grace
- Anansi Does the Impossible
- The Boy of the Three-Year Nap
- Martha Speaks
- Officer Buckle and Gloria
- The Rainbow Fish
- Where the Wild Things Are
By Tracie Zakas, MS, and Linda Schreiber, MS, CCC-SLP. Student Materials: spiralbound full-color book, 300 pages; Teacher’s Manual: spiralbound book, 80 pages, includes PDF on Win/Mac CD with a Classroom License for printouts, 2010.