Numerous studies have found that electronic books can support children’s development of reading skills (De Jong & Bus, 2004; Korat, 2009; Nail, 2010). Electronic books have the potential of providing individualized assistance to developing readers, more opportunities for young readers to experience books, and accommodations for busy teachers and busy families who may not have all the time they would like to read with young children (Nail, 2010). High quality electronic books allow young children to experience reading with or without assistance from adults. Furthermore, electronic books can be just as effective as an adult reading to the child (Nail, 2010). The tutorial included on this site has the added benefit of incorporating universal design (Bernacchio & Mullen, 2007; Darragh, 2007). in the creation of the electronic books. The tutorial includes directions for creating electronic books which provide for flexibility of use and accessibility to support a diverse range of skills and learning needs. Incorporating universal design, the tutorial provides directions for creating electronic books which allow the more skilled reader to independently read the electronic version of the book in a way similar to reading a paper version of the book. The tutorial also provides directions for including the option for less skilled readers to click on a button on each page to hear each page read in a way similar to an adult reading to the child. To support developing readers who can read much of the text independently, but need reassurance on some words or assistance reading particular words, the tutorial provides directions for digitalizing each individual word. This feature allows the young reader to select to get assistance just on words s/he finds challenging, much like the adult might support the young reader by providing prompting on difficult words. This site features multiple ways to access the tutorial. A Word document that can be downloaded and saved for future reference is included. The Word document includes step-by-step directions and illustrations for each step. A similar downloadable file is provided in a pdf format. Finally, a web page tutorial is included with textual content for ease/speed of using for the more advanced user. The web page tutorial is supported with hyperlinks to illustrations for users to select only the illustrations needed by the individual.
