University of Cologne

FBZ-UK - AAC Research and Consultation Center

Dr. Stefanie K. Sachse
Akademische Rätin
0221 - 467 804 15
Sally Kröger
ehemalige Mitarbeiterin

LINK - an implementation project

Including all children

LINK is an abbreviation of Literacy, Inclusion and Communication (german: Kommunikation).

The main goal of the LINK project is to support the implementation of literacy practices for children with different interests and skills. A professional development course and a weekly calender with literacy and communication tipps and ideas were developed, implemented and evaluated.

Target group

Early Childhood interventionists in inclusive settings

Funded by

Project duration

01.02.2018 – 31.01.2021 (extended to 30.04.2021)

Head of project

Prof. Dr. Jens Boenisch

*The project is granted by Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung as part of „Qualifizierung des pädagogischen Fachpersonals für inklusive Bildung“ (MQInkBi) 

 

Project goal

The goals of the LINK project are

  1.  to support the implementation of early literacy activities (e.g. experiences with books and pencils, with letters and one's own name) in inclusive daycare settings.
  2.  to improve the communication skills and the emergent literacy skills of all children
  3.  to advance inclusion: Each child should perceive himself or herself as a valued part of the group.

 

 

Project Phases

  • development of a trial version of the calendar and the further training program        
  • test of the first version of the LINK calander and the professional development program in several inclusive daycare groups            
  • further development of the calendar and program based on the feedback of the participants                   

Goal: to provide materials and content that really support the implementation

  • perform the LINK-intervention and evaluate changes in the intervention and control groups 
  • to collect data on changes re. inclusion we used the translation of the Inclusive Classroom Profile (ICP) by Elena Soukakou (2012; Brookes allowed and approved the translation into German)

The LINK calender

The LINK calender provides specific ideas of how to implement inclusive practices in elementary education with a strong focus on literacy and communication. The staff wanted to gain specific, concrete, and practical ideas that relate to their practice. Therefore, the ideas and examples in the calender and the supplementary materials provide specific guidance of how to arrage, adapt and implement literacy practices for children with different interests and skills. The course rund parallel to the implementation of the ideas and strategies from the calendar. This way, question, adaptations and experiences can be discussed to guide the way to the implementation of literacy activities for all children.

 

 

 

Results

The result is an evaluated course and the LINK calendar to support the implementation of literacy activities in inclusive groups. The calendar and supplementary materials (adaptations, book-recommentations) are provided as a free download. The course will be available at request.

 

 

Our team

Prof. Dr. Jens Boenisch, Sally Kröger, Dr. Melanie Willke, Dr. Stefanie K. Sachse