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

Ioanna Kaliakatsou

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.

Keywords


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

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v13i8.6927

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