Literacy instruction success stories from across BC

By Myra-Jade Lui (she/her), PhD, Board Certified Behaviour Analyst, POPARD Consultant

When I started in the role of Literacy Consultant at the Provincial Outreach Program for Autism Related Disorders (POPARD) in the fall of 2024, I promptly came down with a serious case of impostor syndrome. I knew on paper I had the skills and experience needed; most of my career has focused on teaching early skills (including literacy) to students with autism, but I didn’t have a roadmap or guide for this role. After a day of mild panic attacks and wondering what I had signed up for, I did what I usually do when I’m not sure of something: I asked. 

Luckily, Heather Trotter and Kathleen Cherry had just published an article on literacy in this same magazine. I emailed them and received a reply the same day to schedule a Zoom: this Zoom introduced me to Melanie Raymond, the connector of all things BC literacy, and became the starting point of my roadmap.

I sent out a survey asking BC educators about literacy and autism broadly: what was working, what were the barriers, and, most importantly, how could POPARD help? Many of the 200 respondents asked for information from fellow educators about “what works.” Armed with numerous contacts from Melanie, the Success Stories series came to life. t

This series would tell the stories of the teachers, administrators, and district leaders who are improving student literacy outcomes across our province.

Before I tell you about the educators I met through this series, let me start by saying that POPARD consultants don’t typically get called in to witness success. While literacy may be an area of concern for many students with autism, there are usually bigger fish to fry when a consult is requested (for example, chair throwing, elopement, spitting, kicking, swearing, refusal to come to school, to name just a few). In these situations, the hard-working teams look to their POPARD consultant for guidance and problem-solving. 

...the strategies that help all students learn to read also help students with autism learn to read. 

So you can imagine how unfamiliar it felt when I arrived in Prince George for the first Success Story with my colleague Peter Jordan (who would document these stories with the care they deserved). I was struck by the distinctly odd feeling of not being needed. The classrooms we saw were running smoothly, the students were learning, and they were living examples of the current consensus in autism and literacy research: the strategies that help all students learn to read also help students with autism learn to read. 

The educators shared how they had changed their teaching and curricula to support literacy instruction. How explicit instruction and having honest conversations with students about why it was important to do these hard things mattered. Students shared their experiences with literacy and how proud they were watching their personal graphs climb every week. These Prince George teachers took charge of improving literacy across the district, working independently, yet in unison, to produce classrooms of confident readers.

I felt the same sense of uselessness during our other visits: in the Coast Mountain school district we learned about a student with autism, celebrated because of unprecedented gains made in just a few short months, and a grateful mother recalling the frustration they had all experienced before his literacy skills were unlocked. They saw remarkable results district-wide by overhauling a system that was not working to one that offered consistent, structured materials and lessons that gave the learners what they needed to learn and the teachers what they needed to teach. 

In Cowichan Valley, teachers’ feed-back was used to redesign the framework and assessments that are the basis of the district’s literacy strategy, exemplifying collaboration in action. We saw schools giving each student what they really needed in literacy instruction by dismantling age-based groups in favour of skills-based groups, and administrators willing to make these difficult decisions to achieve the literacy outcomes they knew students deserved.

In Sooke we saw an action-research model of literacy intervention, starting from the ground up, with an emphasis on professional development that is embedded into their days. We saw how teachers are given time and space to observe one another and try new ideas without fear of judgment. The relationship with Sooke that started with a success story eventually developed into a deeper dive of a Kindergarten classroom, to demystify screening, data analysis, and strategy selection for other teachers.

Some individual schools also appeared on our radar. Bear Valley, a multigrade, remote school in Stewart has been making impressive literacy gains while maintaining the integrity of students’ cultural roots. Using the nature around them to inspire language concepts and journaling, the teachers ensure each student is given rigorous instruction on the core skills they need to transfer from reading to writing about the things they know.

Langley Fine Arts, a long-time collaborator with POPARD, shared its story of rethinking literacy instruction when they weren’t seeing the outcomes they wanted for K–12 students. By changing their screening and assessments, they were able to identify the specific underlying skill each student needed to move forward in literacy. The school principal, Adam Moore, captured why these stories matter for students with and without autism, with his simple reminder, “All of our students are all of our students.”

While making the Success Stories series, I was still tasked with my actual job of consulting. And if I felt privileged to have been invited as a spectator to these accomplishments, I felt even more so to be asked to support teams who wanted to create their own success stories. 

One of the first requests came from Prince Rupert and has now reached the end of its second year. I had no idea that an email from an enthusiastic resource teacher would turn into a years-long partnership that we were so kindly granted permission to document. Here, the library is at the heart of it all, where students come to continue their work on foundational reading and writing skills, and teachers can rely on easily finding quality materials for each student. As we worked through screeners, analyzed data, and developed strategies, I watched a classroom teacher transform from apprehensive and overwhelmed, to confident and ready to tackle the huge range of literacy needs in her classroom. 

As consultation is typically confidential, I can’t share many details about the other ones I completed. But I will say that each team — from the large ones who scheduled their resource teachers to fill my days with military precision to the smaller ones who broke down barriers for individual students — has made a mark on me. They let me into their schools and classrooms asking for a fresh set of eyes on problems that felt insurmountable. And I got to partner with them, sharing and paying forward the things I had learned and adapting these strategies for their specific students when needed. I wondered when this would start to feel like work. It never did.

I can’t wait to see what they will all do next.

What is POPARD?

The Provincial Outreach Program for Autism Related Disorders (POPARD) is a program funded by the Ministry of Education and Child Care that provides consultation and training to increase the capacity of school staff in their support of students with autism spectrum disorder  in schools across BC. You can find information on how to access POPARD services at autismoutreach.ca.

The Success Stories videos are available under the Reading Reels section of the Literacy Lab tab at autismoutreach.ca.