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The MEville to WEville™ with Literacy Starters Program originated based on the belief that students with significant disabilities can and deserve the opportunity to develop generalizable literacy skills that can be applied in novel contexts, on assessments and in every day life. The curriculum provides the type of scaffolding necessary for students to achieve this goal.

MEville to WEville with Literacy Starters Program is a research proven multi-year literacy curriculum for beginning readers with significant disabilities in grades k-5. This curriculum helps teachers accelerate student outcomes by building generalizable literacy skills.

The MEville to WEville with Literacy Starters Program was conceived by Dr. Karen Erickson, AbleNet Inc., and Don Johnston, Inc. The partnership brings together the power of MEville to WEville, AbleNet's scientifically-supported early literacy and communication curriculum, extended MEville to WEville lessons that leverage the strength of Don Johnston's research-based Start-to-Finish® Literacy Starters content. All combined with the research expertise of Dr. Karen Erickson.

The concept of blending MEville to WEville's additional lessons with Start-to-Finish Literacy Starters began as a cooperative research initiative supported by a U.S. Department of Education Steppingstones of Technology Innovation grant. This study was one of the largest literacy studies ever conducted with students with significant disabilities. The project was managed under the direction of Dr. Karen Erickson, from the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The outcomes are truly remarkable.

More than 100 students between the ages 8 to 21, all with moderate to severe/profound intellectual impairments, participated in the research of MEville to WEville with Literacy Starters Program study, including 22 students with autism and 15 students with multiple disabilities. Dr. Erickson's research showed that integrating MEville to Weville, with the extended lessons and Start-to-Finish Literacy Starters had a significant positive impact of the literacy outcomes of the students. And most importantly, the test results showed that students were able to generalize their skills!

Complete results of the MEville to WEville with Literacy Starters Program study

The research phase of MEville to WEville with Literacy Starters Program occurred during the spring of 2007 and employed a researcher-designed pretest/posttest (r = .83-.87) administered individually to each participant by members of the research team. In addition, classroom observations and teacher interviews occurred before, during, and after the intervention. The study included 109 students ages 8-21 years from 20 classrooms in two self-contained special education schools. All student participants had moderate to profound intellectual impairments, including 22 participants with the label of autism and 15 students with multiple disabilities. Teachers were assigned to one of three intervention groups and given a sequence of 40 lessons to implement with accompanying materials. The three groups were:

Group 1- MEville to WEville (n=21)
Group 2- Extending Lessons with Start-to-Finish Literacy Starters (n=68)
Group 3- Combination of MEville to Weville, the Extending Lessons, and Start-to-Finish Literacy Starters (n=16).

Analysis of the pre- and post-tests administered to the students revealed that each of the three groups made significant gains following the intervention. Cohen's d was calculated to determine effect sizes for each of the three interventions with the following results: (a) Group 1, d=.23; (b) Group 2, d=.22; and (c) Group 3, d=.44.

Below is a chart that outlines how MEVille to WEville Literacy Curriculum and how that works with the enhanced skill development offered in Extending MEville to WEville with Start-to-Finish Literacy Starters.

Literacy Curriculum/Technology	Grade Levels	Skills Addressed
MEville to WEville Curriculum: Unit 1: All About ME Unit 2: My Family Unit 3: My School	K-5	Word identification Phonemic awareness Comprehension Fluency Building Background Knowledge Writing Receptive/Expressive Language
Extending MEville to WEville Unit 1	4-5	Increased engagement in reading, writing and communicating
Extending MEville to WEville Unit 2	4-5	Increased engagement in reading, writing and communicating
Extending MEville to WEville Unit 3	4-5	Increased engagement in reading and writing

MEville to WEville

MEville to WEville was specifically developed for students with disabilities who have difficulties learning to read and write through traditional instructional methods. Designed to build a classroom community that promotes a sense of belonging, each unit offers students a new and different perspective on themselves, their families and their school.

Extending MEville to WEville Lessons with Start-to-Finish Literacy Starters

Like AbleNet's original MEville to WEville Curriculum, Extending MEville to WEville with Start-to-Finish Literacy Starters systematically integrates reading, writing, speaking, augmentative communicating and listening into lessons and activities designed to build a classroom community that promotes a sense of belonging.

What makes the MEville to WEville with Literacy Starters Program different is that it offers extended lessons and age-appropriate content for older students, including three sets of Start-to-Finish Literary Starters books and switch accessible computer books, written specifically for MEville to MEville curriculum — all in one convenient package.

The MEville to WEville with Literacy Starters Program includes three sets of books written specifically for the MEville to WEville curriculum.

• The Enrichment texts emphasize language learning and the development of concepts about print.
• The Transitional texts emphasize print referencing and print processing with minimal demands on language and word reading.
• The Conventional texts emphasize word reading in connected text.

MEville to WEville

Grades k-2 - Three Units: Me, My Family, My School

Each of the units includes:

- 300-page spiral bound manual in full color
- 75 lessons and 60 extension activities that focus on

• reading activities
• vocabulary and word wall activities
• writing activities
• creating books
• art projects
• games
• brainstorming
• relationship building

- Action Dictionary
- Assistive Technology Guide
- One literature book that supports the theme and content of the lesson
- Activity reproducibles created with BoardMaker Symbols
- Data collection tools for collecting and sharing student progress

MEville to WEville Extended with Literacy Starters Program

Grades 3-5

The additional 3 units provide 135 lessons including:

- One set of Start-to-Finish Literacy Starters

• 3 Paperback books
• 3 Computer books on CD
• 3 Vocabulary cards

- 45 Lessons mapped to the included Start-to-Finish content

To view more details about MEville to WEville curriculum, please click here.

For one package price, you will receive one of the richest curriculum packages on the market today for special education students:

1. Complete MEville to WEville curriculum
2. Extending MEville to WEville lessons with Start to Finish Literacy Starters books

Package Pricing:
$875 each set
(Quantity pricing as low as $595 per set - call for details)

Note: If you already own MEville to WEville and/or the three Start-to-Finish Literacy Starters sets (Yearbook - Friends & Feelings, Families - Rights & Responsibilities, Jobs - Work to Live & Learn), you can purchase components a la carte. Call AbleNet at 1-800-322-0956 for pricing.