Literacy experts at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in partnership with Benetech, have developed tools and content for a new Internet-based educational service that provides reading and writing instruction to beginning, adolescent and adult readers with significant learning disabilities.

A New Approach: Route 66 Literacy Emphasizes High-Interest Content

There is an obvious and significant need for a comprehensive, beginning reading instructional tool for adolescent and adult learners, particularly those with significant developmental disabilities. Literacy experts at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill — in partnership with Benetech — have developed a new approach. Called Route 66 Literacy, this distinctive strategy relies on a scientifically-proven instructional technique developed by these literacy experts.

Unlike existing products, Route 66 Literacy includes all of the essential elements of literacy instruction — reading comprehension, word study, fluency and writing — while emphasizing high-interest content that is targeted at older students and adults. The central premise is this: Adolescent and adult beginning literacy instruction is much more effective when timely content is tailored to the appropriate group or interest demographic. The content for the service, for example, is composed of stories about celebrities, athletes and other popular figures. Even better: Because the Route 66 Literacy service is delivered online, these materials can be updated as frequently as necessary.

Another essential and unique component of the Route 66 Literacy system is its integrated “Teacher Tutor” feature. The Teacher Tutor helps ensure that the instructors — often parents and volunteers — working with developmentally disabled individuals have all the support they need to be as effective as possible.

Route 66 Literacy Is Truly Different

Several for-profit players exist with well-established brands and long histories of providing reading tools for disabled students, but none compare strategically with Route 66 Literacy. Here are the facts:

• Although each competitor offers products with individually useful features, none offer the comprehensive set of instructional tools provided through Route 66 Literacy.
• Few, if any, offer Internet delivery and none provide the type of high-interest content that is available through Route 66 Literacy.
• The few available on-line learning tools either require the user to already know how to read and write or use a variety of multimedia tools to bypass the individual’s limited skills.
• In many cases, competing products — through the use of symbols, voice recognition and other mechanisms — simply supply tools that enable disabled students to perform basic tasks, such as letter-writing.

While helping students participate more actively in society, these tools unfortunately do not improve literacy. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, existing solutions fail to provide adequate support to instructors of developmentally disabled students. Route 66 Literacy’s Teacher Tutor is a revolutionary and much needed concept in this area, providing proven instruction to the learner while simultaneously supporting teachers, tutors, parents and other volunteers.

An Emphasis on Accessibility and Usability

A critical benefit of the core technology applied by Route 66 Literacy is its web-based delivery, offering truly universally accessibility. Route 66 Literacy goes beyond current delivery standards, interfacing with existing screen reading tools, Braille translators and alternative input devices. With built-in access features for persons with the most significant physical impairments, no external hardware or software is required. These individuals will use their own micro-switches to select any hotspot on the screen, move up or down, and navigate throughout the site.

For more information, visit the Route 66 Home Page.