FROM INCLUSIVE READING TO INCLUSIVE MEANING-MAKING: BODILY INCLUSION THROUGH MULTIMODAL, TACTILE, AND INTERACTIVE PICTURE BOOKS FOR LEARNERS WITH DIVERSE NEEDS

Autori

  • Ioanna Kaliakatsou PhD in Children’s Literature, Teacher Independent Researcher/Teacher, Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports, Greece

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v13i8.6927

Parole chiave:

multisensory picture books, inclusive literacy, autistic learners, diverse communication profiles, embodied literacy

Abstract

Contemporary perspectives on early literacy increasingly view reading as a multimodal process of meaning-making that extends beyond print recognition and decoding. This paper examines multisensory and interactive picture books as inclusive literacy environments that support participation by autistic children, children with diverse communication profiles, and typically developing peers. Drawing on emergent literacy, New Literacy Studies, multimodality, material literacy, embodied cognition, and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), it explores how tactile, interactive, auditory, and visual features contribute to children’s engagement with narrative. Rather than treating sensory elements as supplementary adaptations, the paper argues that they function as integral components of storytelling, enabling multiple pathways for meaning-making through touch, movement, gesture, gaze, sound, and spoken language. Using examples of contemporary picture books, it identifies educational principles that promote inclusive storytelling, including meaningful integration of sensory features, opportunities for child-directed exploration, emotional engagement, and flexible modes of participation. It concludes that multisensory picture books create shared literacy experiences that accommodate diverse ways of learning, communicating, and constructing meaning.

Biografia autore

  • Ioanna Kaliakatsou, PhD in Children’s Literature, Teacher Independent Researcher/Teacher, Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports, Greece

    Dr. Kaliakatsou Ioanna is an educator and researcher with extensive experience in primary education, early childhood literacy, and inclusive pedagogy. She holds a PhD and a Master's degree in Education and has been actively involved in research and professional development in the fields of literacy, multimodal learning, and children's literature. Her academic interests focus on picture books as multimodal texts, critical visual literacy, inclusive literacy practices, and the role of materiality and sensory engagement in early childhood education. Her work explores how contemporary picture books can create accessible and meaningful learning experiences for diverse groups of children, including autistic learners and children with different communication profiles. Her research also examines the intersections of multimodality, embodied cognition, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and social inclusion, with particular emphasis on developing pedagogical approaches that promote participation, agency, and equity in early literacy classrooms. She has presented her work at national and international conferences and has contributed to academic publications on children's literature, literacy education, and educational innovation. Alongside her academic work, Dr. Kaliakatsou Ioanna has extensive experience in teacher education and curriculum development and is actively engaged in initiatives that promote inclusive education and community participation. Her current research continues to investigate multisensory picture books, visual meaning-making, and the educational potential of multimodal storytelling in fostering literacy, communication, and social inclusion for all children.

Riferimenti bibliografici

Ainscow, M. (2020). Promoting inclusion and equity in education: Lessons from international experiences. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 6(1), 7–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/20020317.2020.1729587

Allan, J. (2012). The inclusion challenge. In H. Daniels (Ed.), The Routledge companion to education (pp. 355–364). Routledge. Retrieved from https://storre.stir.ac.uk/handle/1893/9104

Armstrong, A. C., Armstrong, D., & Spandagou, I. (2011). Inclusion: By choice or by chance? International Journal of Inclusive Education, 15(1), 29–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2010.496192

Arrhenius, I. P. (2015). Where’s Mr Lion? Nosy Crow.

Booth, T. (2011). Keeping the future alive: Putting inclusive values into action. FORUM, 53(1), 59–74. https://doi.org/10.2304/forum.2005.47.2.4

Booth, T., & Ainscow, M. (2011). Index for inclusion: Developing learning and participation in schools (3rd ed.). Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/44834198_Index_for_Inclusion_Developing_Learning_and_Participation_in_Schools

CAST. (2018). Universal Design for Learning guidelines version 2.2. CAST. Retrieved from https://lincs.ed.gov/professional-development/resource-collections/profile-1050

Carle, E. (1986). The very busy spider. Philomel Books.

Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2000). Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures. Routledge. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Multiliteracies.html?id=a6eBiUQLJu4C&redir_esc=y

Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2015). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Learning by design. Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from https://books.google.ca/books?id=N6GkCgAAQBAJ

Cocoretto. (2020). Getting ready. Cocoretto.

Florian, L. (2015). Conceptualising inclusive pedagogy: The inclusive pedagogical approach in action. In J. Deppeler, T. Loreman, R. Smith, & L. Florian (Eds.), Inclusive pedagogy across the curriculum (pp. 11–24). Emerald. Retrieved from https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publications/inclusive-pedagogy-across-the-curriculum/

Gee, J. P. (2015). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourses (5th ed.). Routledge. Retrieved from https://www.routledge.com/Social-Linguistics-and-Literacies-Ideology-in-Discourses/Gee/p/book/9781138853867

Greening, R. (2019). Never touch a monster. Make Believe Ideas.

Hill, E. (1980). Where’s Spot? G. P. Putnam’s Sons. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Where_s_Spot.html?id=5nYrAQAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y

Kapp, S. K. (2020). Autistic community and the neurodiversity movement: Stories from the frontline. Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-13-8437-0

Kress, G. (2010). Multimodality: A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. Routledge. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Multimodality.html?id=ihTm_cI58JQC&redir_esc=y

Kümmerling-Meibauer, B. (2018). The Routledge companion to picture books. Routledge. Retrieved from https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to-Picturebooks/Kummerling-Meibauer/p/book/9781032178837

Lossa, F., & Taplin, S. (2018). Night sounds. Usborne.

Malafouris, L. (2013). How things shape the mind: A theory of material engagement. MIT Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/How_Things_Shape_the_Mind.html?id=Wb0XAAAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y

Mangen, A., & van der Weel, A. (2016). The evolution of reading in the age of digitisation. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 17, 686–690. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2016.113

Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962). Phenomenology of perception (C. Smith, Trans.). Routledge & Kegan Paul. (Original work published 1945). Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Phenomenology_of_Perception.html?id=qUL7zuu-q-AC&redir_esc=y

Milton, D. E. M. (2012). On the ontological status of autism: The ‘double empathy problem’. Disability & Society, 27(6), 883–887. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2012.710008

Neuman, S. B., & Dickinson, D. K. (Eds.). (2001). Handbook of early literacy research. Guilford Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Handbook_of_Early_Literacy_Research.html?id=afiqtIdRQGwC&redir_esc=y

New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60–92. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.66.1.17370n67v22j160u

Nikolajeva, M. (2014). Reading for learning: Cognitive approaches to children’s literature. John Benjamins. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312593753_Maria_Nikolajeva_Reading_for_Learning_Cognitive_approaches_to_children's_literature

Pahl, K., & Rowsell, J. (2010). Artifactual literacies: Every object tells a story. Teachers College Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Artifactual_Literacies.html?id=AkC4DwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y

Serafini, F. (2014). Reading the visual: An introduction to teaching multimodal literacy. Teachers College Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Reading_the_Visual.html?id=kdjMAQAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y

Street, B. (1984). Literacy in theory and practice. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Literacy_in_Theory_and_Practice.html?hl=ro&id=R0UdWQ5thf8C&redir_esc=y

Street, B. (2003). What’s “new” in New Literacy Studies? Current Issues in Comparative Education, 5(2), 77–91. https://doi.org/10.52214/cice.v5i2.11369

Teale, W. H., & Sulzby, E. (Eds.). (1986). Emergent literacy: Writing and reading. Ablex. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Emergent_Literacy.html?id=uccO8fgfIncC&redir_esc=y

Tomchek, S. D., & Dunn, W. (2007). Sensory processing in children with and without autism. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 61(2), 190–200. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.61.2.190

Tullet, H. (2010). Press here. Chronicle Books. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Press_Here_board_Book_Edition.html?id=PE5gwwEACAAJ&redir_esc=y

Unsworth, L. (2009). Multimodal semiotics: Functional analysis in contexts of education. Continuum. Retrieved from https://books.google.ro/books/about/Multimodal_Semiotics.html?id=-TnmtsF_iH0C&redir_esc=y

Varela, F. J., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (1993). The embodied mind: Cognitive science and human experience. MIT Press. Retrieved from https://direct.mit.edu/books/monograph/3956/The-Embodied-MindCognitive-Science-and-Human

Watt, F., & Wells, R. (2017). That’s not my flamingo. Usborne.

Whitehurst, G. J., Falco, F. L., Lonigan, C. J., et al. (1988). Accelerating language development through picture book reading. Developmental Psychology, 24(4), 552–559. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.24.4.552

Whitehurst, G. J., & Lonigan, C. J. (1998). Child development and emergent literacy. Child Development, 69(3), 848–872. https://doi.org/10.2307/1132208

Dowloads

Pubblicato

2026-08-08

Fascicolo

V. 13 N. 8 (2026)

Sezione

Articles

Licenza

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).