Yoga for Emergent Literacy 139disorder (ASD) show a deep interest in letters and decode words
well; however, their reading comprehension skills are usually
poor (Kim et al. 2014; Paul and Norbury 2012). In addition,
they have challenges understanding the motivations and feelings
of characters in narratives. Children with ASD can benefit in
particular from assuming different roles during yoga-literacy
activities, such as those in the character-rich fables in Solis’ (2006)
Storytime Yoga™: Teaching Yoga to Children Through Story, in order
to better comprehend other people’s perspectives. Rates of reading
disorders are extremely high in children with attention deficit/
hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) (Willcutt and Pennington
2000). Due to their difficulties controlling attention and behavior,
children with AD/HD can present with learning problems in all
academic areas, including literacy. As mentioned in Chapter 6,
multisensory cueing reduces the cognitive load and actually
allows more information to be processed (Bagui 1998). During
yoga-literacy activities, multiple sensory processing channels (e.g.
auditory, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic modalities) can be engaged
by the use of music, gestures, pictures, tapping body parts, moving
in poses, and breathing exercises. These supports assist children
with various neurodevelopmental disabilities to build emergent
literacy skills.
Summary
Emergent literacy refers to the reading and writing knowledge
and skills that precede and lay the foundation for conventional
literacy (Teale and Sulzby 1986). Two domains, namely literacy
socialization and metalinguistic awareness, characterize the
emergent literacy period. Literacy socialization describes the
cultural and social aspects of reading that children learn by being
a member of a literate society, whereas metalinguistic awareness
includes knowledge of the linguistic code that children must