31 for 21 - Question from a reader about reading & math

A while ago, a reader asked some questions about teaching reading & math to her son. I thought I'd post my replies in case it helps someone else.  I only have my response, not the original questions but it should still make sense.

I found it very tough to really know what K was learning until she was around 2 years of age.  I tried very hard not to test her knowledge so really didn't know until she started becoming verbal enough to read out loud. 

I wonder if going back to paper flashcards would help your son.  We only switched to Little Reader on the computer when K was over 3.5 years & already reading simple commercial print stories. It seemed like she didn't learn nearly as well from the computer as she did with a laminated flashcard.

Even now, if K does not want to be tested she will either refuse to read or be silly & say completely wrong words so it is possible that he resents testing.

My other thought is that if you are repeating things too much & boring him, he may be losing interest. 

If he is losing interest it may be helpful to show the cards more quickly like this:

Fast Flashing

.  Do you use a flashcard with a picture?  That may help keep his interest. Also using a few less cards along with showing them as quickly as possible may help.  Always try to quit before he loses interest.  This may mean doing shorter but more frequent sessions.

As for math, I'm not really sure what is best.  We sporadically did a math program but probably because I didn't see as much positive feedback, I wasn't as consistent. We did do math dots but I'm not sure how well she learned them.  K did teach herself basic numerals before age 2 though & is just finishing a traditional kindergarten math curriculum one year ahead of schedule. 

The other important thing to remember about Doman dots & quantity is that the ability to see & identify large quantities is a not a skill that stays with babies except in rare cases.  This is why babies often start out with this ability & then lose it before age 3. The whole point is to give them a solid basis for later math skills.  Even thought they may no longer be able to instantly recognize quantities, other math skills should come more easily. I do think that most kids retain this skill until age 2 or 3 though so this may not be the case with your son. There is a great thread on BrillKids about this with replies from IAHP themselves.

To be honest, I can only think of one typical child that seemed to have great success with the Doman math program. I'm sure that there are others but I don't think that it is that common.

K is still doing pretty well with math so it is possible that her early math dot program helped some but it is hard to say for sure.

Reading Questions - Frequency & Understanding

Here are some more questions from a reader:

 

As you have been using the brillkids software too, and have a child with additional needs, I just thought you would be the perfect one to ask!!

I guess my main questions are: 

-Do I need to repeat things more often than with another child? (A 'normal' child would likely have learned a lot of words from all we have shown, but I don't think that's the case. I actually did go half way into the curriculum on LR, and then started again from scratch because I was worried she just hadn't gained anything from it :S, and I'm sure we are doing it often enough in a day either!)

 

I'm not going to be much help on this question because I'm really not sure if you need to repeat things more often or not.  In the beginning I did because I had the same concerns but as my daughter started to show me that she understood the words, I was able to figure out how quickly she learned & I followed a pretty typical schedule with her. From reading that I have done mainly on the BrillKids Forums, it seems like K has learned to read in a very similar manner compared to typical toddlers. We rarely do flashcards now except on little reader & even that is almost always longer sentences but at the end K was able to learn over 65 words every 3 days.  I got to the point that I had trouble finding word lists as well as time to make that many flashcards especially because I was changing each set twice a week. My biggest caution is not to bore your daughter.  If she starts to seem less interested, try cards more quickly & changing them more often. You are better to show them a little too quickly & have her miss a few of the words than to bore her & have her refuse to learn new words. 

 

We often do Little Reader 2 or 3 times a day, five times a week. Although now that K has figured out how to use the computer by herself she often watches it even more.

-How did you develop your child's understanding? Her understanding of the world, what she was reading, etc?  

 

I think the most important thing that we did to help with understanding was to always show a picture with each word & to explain when necessary. Another thing that probably helped was to try to relate things we were reading to everyday life.  For example, if we went swimming, I would read a story about swimming.  We made books for K to read about real life situations such as family holidays, a book on our farm animals, a book about preschool, etc.

Did you do games with her to emphasize the meaning of the words, or to see if she understood them/could read them (before she was verbal)?

Not really.  We mainly just made sure she received lots of input & never asked her for output or did any sort of testing until she was reading well.  At times it was hard to patiently wait for K to show us that she was learning, but in the end I am glad we didn't push her or test in any way.  She truly loves reading now. It was a huge leap of faith in the beginning but it paid off in the end.

-What did you find was the most practical/successful way of teaching your daughter? You mention that you printed all the flashcards from LR. Did you do a few categories a day, pulling out an old card and putting in a new one, every day? Did you still use the computer in the same time? 

 

I think that the most important thing is to find a method that is easy for you to implement & be consistent with.  I found it too hard to keep track of all the words to add & retire so I just used a new set of words for 5 days at a time, took a couple of days off & then started a fresh set of cards for the next week. As K showed me she could learn very quickly, I shortened up the time until she was learning a new set about every 3 days. At this time I used the computer more sporadically & mainly just for fun.  K didn't seem to learn as well from the computer in the beginning so it is only since she turned 4.5 or so that we finally switched to Little Reader only.

Just remember to start slow & add new things gradually so it is not overwhelming. 

 

 Sorry if these are too many questions! I'm desperately looking for the info, and you seemed like the ideal experienced mother/teacher to ask! 

I know you must be very busy too, so please don't feel like you need to answer all of these. I would be grateful for whatever piece of advice you would have :) 

Have you ever looked into neurodevelopmental programs?  I think one of the reasons that my daughter was able to learn so well is because of her program. It has helped organize her brain so that she learns more easily.

If you want to learn more, I have a neurodevelopment  (ND)category on the right hand side of my blog.  There are a number of blogs posts where I talk about ND.

You can also check out Down syndrome:  a day to day guide which is another blog that has a post entitled How to Find a Neurodevelopmentalist. This blog has tons of other great info too.  Some is specific to Down syndrome but lots of it is more general & you may find it very helpful.

You may also find this forum helpful too. If you use the search bar that is 1/2 way down on the right side of the page you will find lots of posts on early reading & lots of other subjects.

I hope this is helpful.  Please feel free to ask any questions you like & good luck teaching your little girl :)

Shhhhhhhhh,............Don't Tell My Husband!!!!

..........................but I hit the jackpot!

Last weekend, a friend & I took our 8 & 9 year old daughters to a rummage sale in a community about an hour away.  It is a massive rummage sale & because it supports a wide variety of community organizations & activities, the support & therefore the donations, are amazing! 

It has always been tough to keep ahead of K when it comes to her reading.  When she was younger, it was tough to keep enough high quality, laminated flashcards prepared & on hand for her voracious reading appetite.  It is actually easier now that she is reading books, but there is no way that I can afford to pay for that many new books, so I often check out the children's book section at rummage sales or local 2nd hand or thrift stores.  I usually pay between 25 cents & $1.00.

Naturally, I planned on checking out the book section & was pleased to find that kids book were only 5 cents each! There were thousands to choose from!

.

It's time for the confession part of this post..............I bought over 100 books - probably closer to 120.  My 9 year old picked out about a dozen & I found about 8 for my older kids, but they tend to be much fussier in what they choose, so approximately 100 are for K.

These are part of a a set of 10 phonics books.  I bought a couple of sets like this.

Most of the books are leveled readers like those pictured above. K usually reads a couple of these stories before bed most nights, so these will keep us going for a while.

This is a picture of the rest of the books.  There are a number that K will read herself, but lots of stories for our family to read to her at bedtime.

Now to justify my purchase in case my husband happens to read this..............love you honey!

1.  On average, K reads 3 or 4 book out loud to me each day.   This is on top of the books she reads to herself.  Her neurodevelopmental program has a goal of 4 new books per day, so we need a constant supple of books all the time.  The library is just far enough away that we don't get there regularly so it ends up costing us more in late fees than it does to buy inexpensive books.

2. I have gotten rid of about 3 boxes of books lately, which is more than I bought, so if you happen to be reading this honey, please keep that in mind.........you should be so proud that I was able to part with so many books!

Buying Books & Literacy Rates

The start of this is something I wrote in answer to a question, but I thought it might be good to share here too.

We live in the middle of a few different towns & we don't seem to get to any one of them on a regular basis, so getting books from the library doesn't work too well for us - in other words, the late fees were costing me way too much :( !

New books cost so much, especially when you have a voracious reader like K who will often read 1/2 dozen books each day & needs new material to keep challenging her.  Her current neurodevelopmental program goal is for her to read 100 books between her evaluation in early January & the next one in early May.  K is well past her goal - 110 books, which is great, because January to early April is the busiest time of year for us, & often I struggled to get much program done at all. Because she reads so many books,  I needed to find a cheap way to keep up with her appetite for books. I usually buy 2nd hand which means that I don't usually get a whole series of any books for my kids when they are little, besides the occasional favorite that is worth a bigger investment. I do find though, that K has specific types of books she likes such as ones with real photos of other kids, funny books with lots of action & lately, her favorite author, Robert Munsch, whom she asks for by name. I can often find those at 2nd hand stores, so my Robert Munsch library is growing at a decent rate

I do suggest trying to find a local rummage sale, 2nd hand or thrift store. We often get books for .10 or .25 cents.  I buy lots & the odd one isn't used too much, but I can afford to make some mistakes when I'm not paying a lot.  The last time we went, they were overstocked on books & they had a "stuff as many books as you can in a bag for $2.00 deal - WooHoo!   Shhhh.......don't tell my husband about that either! lol

The other thing to keep in mind, which I wish I had given more thought to a few years ago, is how these books can be used in the future. There are a lot of books that are great to read to a child, but have tiny words, or way too many words on each page.  If you are selective, you can find books which can be read to your kids when they are not reading yet, but are also great for our early reading kids.

I buy a lot of the levelled books - some level one, but mostly level two that K is reading right now, & level 3 & 4's if I find them real cheap because K is reading the odd one now, & I know I will be scrounging for them soon enough. It is different for every kid, but K prefers books which have larger print & not too many sentences per page, & I find that the leveled books are pretty good for this..

In the beginning, we chose books with one large word, then a short phrase, & now, although she finds 2nd grade level books the most enjoyable to read, she still prefers books at that level that don't have a lot of sentences on each page.

 I was reading an article tonight about a US study which talked about the number of books in a home & how that was related to literacy rates. I didn't read the actual study, just the article, but it stated that families who were considered low income had an average of 1 book per 300 kids compared to an average of 13 books per child in a middle income family. In libraries, the were an average of 2 books available per child in low income neighborhoods & 4 in middle income neighborhoods.  There was found to be a close relationship between the number of books & the average literacy rate.

I find the 1 book per 300 kids in low income areas to be quite unbelievable & even 13 books per child in a middle income family seems low.  I suppose if the family frequents the library, perhaps they don't need to buy a lot, but even so, 13 books per kid????  I bought 4 books on Saturday & about 12 the Friday before, plus a 10 stories in one book series - That's just in a matter of a few days, & I buy at least a few books each week - sometimes more!

I really think it is important to have a good supply of quality books on a wide variety of subjects - thanks goodness there are enough inexpensive places to buy books that we can have an endless supply!

Questions About Early Reading, Math & Speech

Here are some more questions from a reader .  My replies are in purple.

Hi,

I stumbled on your blog a few days ago, which is immensely helpful, and am hoping you can answer some questions for me.

My child is 24 months old and is speaking about 15-20 words, so working on speech is a priority for us.

I am wondering a couple of things:

- when did your DD begin to speak single words?

She was about 7 months when she spoke her first word, & if I remember right, she had about 8 or 10 by one year - I wrote it down, but I forgot where - oops.  

 .

- was she reading before she was speaking? if so, how did you know that she could read - did u test for actions or something?

I'm sure she was, but I feel very strongly that testing should be done very rarely, if at all.  I did test briefly, on one occasion when K was about 15 months & was certain then that she was reading some words.  We really didn't test again until she was about 2 & started voluntarily saying words out loud. It was really only in about January that we started consistently getting her to read books for us each day. Until that time, we waited until she was in the right mood to read to us.  I think it is much more important to make sure it is a good experience & that the child does not feel pressured than to have to know how they are doing.  It can be a very frustrating leap of faith, but a lifelong love of learning & reading is much more important. If I was going to try to test, I'd be sneaky & teach action words & model the action, hoping for a response.

-- what things did you think were most helpful for getting her to speak more words?

Probably the most important thing  wasn't anything I did! K is the youngest of 4 daughters & she hears a lot of talking from all of the family.  My next oldest daughter KJ, is a "gifted talker", & K has been known to say "KJ, please stop talking." lol!

Some things that we did that I think helped were:

 - talking to her a lot & explain things to her - we talked about just about everything even as a very tiny infant.  We talked about sounds we heard, we described what we were doing when changing or dressing her, we talked about colours, body parts, familiar objects, foods, you name it - even very uncommon subjects.  For example, last summer just after she turned 4, we  had a conversation about some irrigation equipment we saw on the side of the road.  

- to give her lots of time to respond to us verbally.  Even when she was too young to speak, we would listen very patiently for her to make some sort of noise & have a conversation.

Google Dr. James McDonald's site - his Communicating Partners method is wonderful. He also has an active Yahoo group you can join.

Longvida curcumin & fish oil are two supplements to research that can be helpful for speech.

- i have been doing Glenn Doman's sight words program with physical word cards (only the words - no pictures) for a few months now, and just saw the post on Little Reader. I am curious about why you stuck with the physical cards only for a while, and at what point you transitioned to the Little Reader program itself?

We actually stayed with physical word cards for a very long time.  Until K was about 3.5 years, she would not even look at a flashcard that did not have a picture on the other side!  From age 3.5 to 4, we started to do more word only cards, & only in the last 6 months have we transitioned right over to Little Reader.  We will still rarely do cards, but not often.  We still do home made, laminated books occasionally, but more often to help teach or prepare K for things like her recent trip to the dentist, which, thanks to all the  preparation with her personalized "My Visit to the Dentist" book, went very well.  The biggest reason we switched is that she was getting to the point that she was sounding words out & had so many sight words that her vocabulary was tested at age 4.5 at a 4th grade level.  I felt that it was better to just stick with longer sentences on Little Reader or getting her to read us stories. Even on Little Reader, besides finishing up a series of phonics files, most of what I pick to show her is more geography, science & French words because we are starting to focus more on learning a 2nd language.
 

 

This is a picture of many of our flashcards - those are bundles 

of cards, not just individual cards - we have thousands!

- on Little Reader, do u do all the methods each day - flash cards, multisensory and picture flash cards?

- when did you start Little Math?

 When we got the Little Reader program, it was just in it's initial beta testing stage.  The didn't have the semesters yet, so we just made our own play lists.  By the time the semesters were finished, K was too far along in her reading, so I just used some of their files & still created my own play lists &  more & more I find that I need to create my own files to keep her challenged  & entertained

We have puttered with Little Math off & on, but didn't officially get the full program until last summer.  It just seemed like I had too many things going on & didn't really focus on Math.  We also did the Doman red dot cards when K was little, but again, I wasn't real consistent.  Doman dots & Little Math are meant to be done with very little kids - under age 2 for typical kids.  We have & do still use Little Math, but have now gone to a program called Math N' More which was recommended by K's neurodevelopmentalist.  We have been consistently doing 1 or 2 pages a day since about October of last year along with some other math activities & it is going very well.

I recognize you are probably superbusy but would be most grateful for any light you can shed to help me out.

THank you,

The other thing I would like to add is that it is really important to use pictures to help teach comprehension.  I think it is easier to teach to word meaning & develop comprehension at the same time rather than have a child that can parrot back words but doesn't understand what they are reading. Because K insisted on having the pictures too, we accidentally helped her to have really good comprehension of what she reads. She reads directions all the time - it is her job to read directions in her math book & follow through & she does a great job of it.

Good Luck & I'd love to hear an update down the road!

Questions about starting a reading program with a 5 year old.

I love checking in on your blog.  I have a just-turned-five-year-old (yesterday), Erin, with Down syndrome.  I also have 6 older children and 1 younger son.  I would like to begin a reading program for Erin.  She knows all her letters and a few words.  I signed up for the Brill Kids free trial.  I like it, but have a few questions for you, if you don’t mind me asking.  No hurry....I know you are a buys mom, like me .

1)  I prefer flashcards I can hold in my hand to flashing on a computer screen.  Do you find a benefit to the computer screen method, or would hand-held cards work just as well, in your opinion?

I preferred flashcards as well & as a matter of fact, K didn't like TV or computer programs as well & didn't seem to learn as quickly from them.  We used laminated card stock flashcards until she was about 3.5 years old when we finally made the transition to using Little Reader as a computer program only.  In fact, until K was 3 years old, we included a picture on the back of almost every flashcard because she did not like word only flashcards.  The odd one we didn't do this with, but usually that was because it was difficult to describe with a picture.  After age 3, this was harder as we started doing the Dolch words like and, it, the, which can't be portrayed with a picture.  Laminated flashcards with pictures took lots of time as well as used a lot of ink & time & money for lamination, but I really think that it was the most beneficial way to teach my daughter.  It will not be the same for all kids, but for K it was because:

 1. printed, laminated cards with pictures kept her interest better which is the most important part of teaching a child

2. by including a picture with each word, K developed an understanding of the meaning of each word & I feel that she has excellent comprehension for her age.

We ended up with lots of cards, but don't be intimidated by this picture. This is about 3 years worth of work.

2)  Where to begin?  If you were just starting out, where would you begin?  Cost is a factor, but not the main factor.  Learning to read in the most efficient way is the main factor (keep in mind that my typical 2 year old will be right along side my daughter with Ds, so I have two kids that will use the program)

When just beginning, I recommend starting with familiar & fun words.  Thing like family member & pet names, lots of nouns & fun action words. If you like Little Reader after the free trial, make sure you check out this link to learn about their discount for kids with DS, etc. If you choose to print & laminate cards there will be a cost involved in that, but at least the initial program with it's thousands of files & pictures will be free which will save you tons of time.

If you do choose to use printed flashcards rather than the computer program, I highly recommend laminating them.  I have written about several different ways to laminate in this post.

Make sure you fast flash them like in this post.

I would teach both kids at the same time.  These methods are meant for really little kids, even under age 2, so I'm sure you will have great success with both kids.


3)  Is the Doman book recommended even IF you are using a reading program, such as Brill Kids, or does it basically just teach you what the packaged programs is already implementing?  Or vice versa! 

You can use one of the reading programs to do basically the same thing, but personally, I would still read How To Teach Your Baby to Read, or even the reading section in the How to Multiply Your Baby's Intelligence book.  It really helped me to have an understanding of why the method worked & when I understand things better, I can implement the idea better.

4)  I am a busy homeschooling mom, teaching 7 kids, so I need a program that can be EASILY implemented.  With that in mind, what would you recommend? 

The simplest thing would be to use a video program like Your Baby Can Read or get the BrillKids Little Reader & use their semesters one & two on the computer.  The next best & still pretty simple is to still follow the Little Reader semesters, print them out & show them by hand. If you use the fast flashing method that I talked about above, it will require only several minutes a day to show the cards to both kids.

Thank you so much for sharing what you have learned with the Ds community!

Kris

You are very welcome!

A Quick Miscellaneous Update

We are 3/4 of the way through the skis race season & only have one week left in Jr. High basketball for the next set of playoff games & we seem to be still surviving!  It is a very fun time of year, but I do occasionally long for the summer months because while we still keep busy that time of year, we have no regular practices or obligations.

Anyways, here is a quick update on some miscellaneous things that Miss K has been up to lately.

She has conquered a new kitchen appliance.  K has been using the toaster for a long time,  & the hand mixer for a couple of years now.  I still don't let her plug them in though & I have to admit that this is not because I think she is not capable, but because I didn't let any of my kids do this until they were older because I am nervous about electrical things -  kind of silly, but better safe than sorry!

Anyways, it never really occurred to me to teach her to run any other appliances, until the other day when she "desperately needed" to have popcorn at snack time.  She even used her cutest new technique when she thought that I may say no. "Please can I have popcorn, honey?"  Who can say no to someone who uses the word honey to soften you up & uses please in the same sentence?

I decided that popcorn would be a fine idea for a snack, but as I went to get out the popcorn maker, I realized that there was no reason that she couldn't do it herself & besides me plugging it in & reaching the popcorn kernels in a tall cupboard, she did!  Making popcorn really isn't too difficult, but she did have to remember how all 3 pieces go together & make sure the bowl was lined up properly & be cautious about the hot air as it could burn her.  It was a simple task, but a good one to boost her confidence.

I have noticed some interesting changes in K's reading lately.  Since January she has been reading 3 or 4 books to me each day, as well as several to herself & the improvement is evident.  She is really understanding punctuation & is reading so much more expressively. If she makes a mistake on a word, she will go back & try again.  Sometimes this happens a couple of words later after she has read more of the sentence & she realizes that the word she said does not work in the context of the sentence. This is really proving to me how much of her reading she understands.

The thing that I am most excited about though is that she has grown 3/4 of an inch in exactly one month!  She is constantly asking for snacks, so I suspected she must be growing. Her thyroid was a little on the high side on her last blood test & I have been looking into ways to support it with the help of K's naturopathic doctor, some research & the advice of a friend.  All that I have done so far is to increase her iodine intake & I'm thinking that it is already making a difference.  Here is a link to some information on Andi's blog about stimulating growth in kids with DS.  

That's all for now!

More Questions About Reading & Speech

Here are another series of questions.  My responses are in black to make it easier to understand.

I have a few questions. I have been reading your blog for only a short time. You introduced me to so many wonderful resources and responded to my questions on BrillKids forum. If any of my questions are too personal or you don't want to answer, that is okay. I just wanted to ask.

1. What have you done so far that you are so glad you did? Something that made a difference in K. development and progress. 

I think the most beneficial thing that we have done is to have very high expectations. A healthy diet avoiding artificial flavours, colours, processed foods  and other junk is very important as is K's neurodevelopmental program using Glenn Doman's books & later, a program with ICAN.

2. Is there anything that was just a waste of time?

I'm sure their were  some things that were a waste of time, but off the top of my head I can't think of anything too important. Not anything that has made a lasting difference anyways.  Any time spent with your child is teaching them something, so even if we weren't getting the intended benefit, time spent with your child is never wasted.

3. Are you using a program based on something like NACD or other neurodevelopment program? If so, what made you decide to do it and is it worth the time?

Yes, we have been doing a program with ICAN for the last year or so.

4. How long were you working on flashcards before you noticed increased speech and reading skills?

This is a hard question to answer, because K was too young to be verbal when we started.  We did words from about age 6 months on. I have never experienced life with K being able to read but not talk because she learned to read first. As she became verbal, it became more obvious as to how much she was reading.

What I can say, is that the words that she learned through reading were spoken much more clearly than those she learned through hearing us speak.  Even now, she often reads more clearly than she speaks. 

5. You mentioned that K. is reading words at a 4th grade level, do you have an idea of her level of understanding/comprehension?

We have not tested her comprehension, but at risk of underestimating her, I think she is probably at a first grade level.  She is certainly able to follow written instructions well, and can tell me about a story she is reading. Sometimes I wonder if she is even at a 2nd grade level mainly because she enjoys reading that level of story best and seems to follow the story, but it is hard for me to tell. 

I'm sure she is not comprehending at a 4th grade level, but on the other hand, I would not have expected any 4 year old to comprehend at that level.

6. How is she with conversation and interactions with others?

She talks a lot.  The other day on the way home from town, I listened to a 20 minute monologue which in my family was likely only surpassed by K's 9 year old sister who truly taught me how much a little girl can talk:) I give this same big sister lots of credit for teaching K to talk too! K can tell me who she played with at preschool, whether or not she played on the playground, how she got hurt when playing in the gym, etc.  We always make her order for herself in a restaurant & discuss what sides & drink she want etc. It is rare that we have to interpret now.  She asks lots of questions and appreciates thorough answers too. She is always asking about the rest of the family. Where they are, what they are doing.  Of course, she is very good at getting her needs met. She is starting to joke around more, and think its funny to say that her sisters are crazy. Just a quick random example of her speech - Just now she was trying to open a cupboard door and something got caught.  She said.  "Mom, I can't get it.  I need some help please." She likes to talk on the phone and always has something to say!  She seemed to be a little harder to understand on the phone, however, lately I have noticed that she is being understood much more and able to keep the conversation flowing.

As for interactions with others, she has not always been the most social kid as she was pretty shy.  She does like playing with other kids and adults that she knows, but it takes her a while to warm up to strangers. In the last 6 or 8 months however, we have seen huge changes.  Her preschool teachers were just amazed at the difference in her over the summer.  She never wanted me to leave, and now she is so comfortable staying at preschool by herself.  I'm told that she even lets the others know when they are breaking the rules now!  She enjoys the other kids, and always talks about them, but she is also quite happy to play independently at times also.

The reason for some of my questions is that a speech pathologist told us that teaching our daughter to read would not help her be social and have conversations with others, which will be more important for her in the future. But her words seem to be coming more since we started with flashcards and Little Reader type programs and videos. There are so many opinions and resources, but only so much time. I want to maximize our time and use approaches that will help her. Thank you for opening up and allowing our questions.
Tina

 I am always amazed at the reasons some professionals have for not teaching reading. How can learning and understanding new words prevent speech?  The more words she understands means more words at her disposal to use during conversations.  I can't imagine how that is detrimental! I would love for your speech therapist to come have a conversation with my daughter. K has had very little speech therapy - 3 sessions in the last 2 years - Yay for government programs! (insert sarcastic smiley here) and to be honest, in the dozen or so sessions she has had in her life, less than 1/2 of them have been productive.  We were fortunate though, to get 3 sessions last spring with a wonderful SLP.  She included reading in many of K's speech activities which was wonderful.

One thing that I think has really helped is that we often try to use common phrases for reading practice.  If you wanted to focus on conversation, then do just that.  Teach her to read things like " Hello, how are you?" or whatever phrases you want to teach.

I always listen to the opinions of K's therapists, however, I have come to rely on my mother's instincts as well as other opinions, research etc, to help make my final decision.  I am realizing that my instincts are rarely wrong. Go with your instincts - if you are noticing more words and your instincts tell you it is helping then go for it!

If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask away and good luck!

Another Question Post on Reading

Hi, I have a 3.5 year old son with DS that we adopted last year. He spent the first 2+ years of his life in an orphanage. Where do I start teaching him to read? He loves books, and loves to learn. His attention span is amazing for all things educational. My problem is knowing what to do and having the right amount of material to cover. I feel inadequate, the more I read, the more confused I get. I just need the bottom line, Thanks!

Congrats on your adoption! 

Don't worry about doing it "wrong".  Any extra stimulation he gets is going to be beneficial. I am so busy, especially in the winter that very often I am not able to be nearly as consistent as I would like, however I am still so thrilled with K's progress. 

If he already loves books, that is a big help, & a good attention span in wonderful.  Just make sure you quit when he is still enjoying it so that learning stays fun. When you read to him, run your finger under the words to help bring his attention to the text as well as to help him become familiar with the individual words.  

Flashcards are wonderful for a visual learner, which most kids with DS are, so of course I would start there. Have you tried Little Reader yet? Their flashcards have wonderful, clear concise pictures & many are free. The above link sends you to the details of their special needs discount which they are VERY generous with. 

As for the amount of material to cover, I don't think there is an exact right or wrong.  You have to consider his interests, enjoyment & as you mentioned, attention span.  In the beginning, when K was only about 6 months old, I did sets of 10 or 12 flashcards (word & pic) & showed them  about 3 times a day, but as K seemed to learn faster, I gradually moved up to an average of 45 words per week. 

If you haven't been to the Unlimited Potential forum yet, this is a great resources thread.  There are lots of resources mentioned that will be very helpful.

Have you checked out my important posts page yet?  It's a work in progress, but I'm trying to compile a section on teaching reading tips.

Lastly, have very high expectations for your little boy. Give him lots of input, lots of exercise, explain things, & most of all enjoy him!

If you want anymore specifics, please ask away:)

My Reasons For Teaching My Child to Read

 The question "If you had only the length of an elevator ride to explain why you are teaching your child, what would you say?" was asked on a forum which does have some other parents of kids with Trisomy 21, but is mainly composed of parents of typical children who are keenly interested in all areas of early learning.

My reply is probably going to be very different than many of the parents here.  When I first started teaching my daughter, my goal was for her to be able to read at a beginning level by grade one.  She has far exceeded my expectations & taught me so much more than I have ever taught her.

When K was born with Down syndrome 4.5 years ago, several well meaning doctors & nurses told me that she would probably be very happy & love music.  They tried to be encouraging, but their expectations were very low.  It wasn't until I got home & started researching on the internet that I learned about a very small minority of parents who were teaching their kids with DS to read.  I honestly found it difficult to believe & more than once I have admitted   that if, 5 years ago, you had told me that your child with DS was reading at almost a 4th grade level at 4.5 years, I would have politely said " Oh, that's wonderful." & probably walked away snickering. As I said, my daughter has taught me a lot!

I really didn't believe it, but I was intrigued enough, that by the time K was 8 months old, I had built her a Doman style crawling track & to that same doctor's surprise & disbelief (he had to see it before he would believe it), she was crawling! I was so excited by that success, that at around the same time, I started showing K the large, red, Doman style flashcards. Of course, ever the skeptic, I really had my doubts, so I was a "closet flash card Mom" for the longest time, but sure enough, just a few months after K's first birthday, she began showing me that she was learning some of the words!  She knew many sight words & had self taught herself all of the letters & sounds of the alphabet by age 2. She read her first commercial print book that we had not practiced at age 3.5.

Back to my goals - I had originally hoped K would read by grade 1.  I had 2 reasons for this:

1. I wanted the teachers to see a little girl who had potential to learn just like the other students in her class & I wanted them to have very high expectations because the higher the expectations, the more success a child will have.

2.  I wanted K to be able to pick up her books & read the directions, so that if she didn't understand or hear the teacher properly, then at least she could read & try to figure it out for herself.  She is already doing this by the way - she reads her math workbook instructions all the time.

Now, at age 4.5, my concerns have changed.  We have always planned to hold K back in school (as we did her older sister who was born in December), to allow her to have one more year of maturing as well as physical growth because she is quite tiny.  Rather than worrying about her keeping up, at least in the early years of school, I am worried about her being bored - it is a funny dilemma & one that I look forward to working on.

My reasons for teaching her are still the same though.  I want her teachers to see that she has just as much potential as any other student & therefore, they need to have very high expectations. Also, although K speaks well for her age, she is not speaking as well as most typical kids her age. When the other kids in kindergarten are learning that the letter A say aaa, & she is already reading novels, I anticipate that she can work on catching up on speech.

I hope it's a long elevator ride, because I wrote a bit of a novel!

Laura

I just wanted to add to this a little bit. When I talked about goals, I missed at least one. I also was hoping that by teaching K to read from an early age that she would become proficient enough that reading wouid be a joy - not a chore for her. All 3 of her older sisters, as well as myself love reading. To the point where my daughters, like their mother before them, often get caught reading in bed. The subject of reading in math or science class has also come up recently during a parent-teacher conference(thankfully, we are not dealing with any worse behavioral issues:), & I turned to my dear husband & told him that he would have to be responsible for speaking with the offender. As a not exactly reformed sneaking a book into my desk offender myself, I just didn't feel I was responsible enough to deal with the situation. LOL! This is what I wanted for K, a true joy & voracious appetite for books & thankfully, I am confident already that I'll be confiscating her flashlights at bed time one day too!

Huge Big Brag! Drum Roll Please..................

 As I write this post, I find myself in awe of my little girl once again.  I think I have said before, that I only learned about early reading when K was a baby, so I was never able to try it with my older girls.  I had never seen a child a 4 year that could read even very simple books.  It still seems so amazing even to me & I see it every day. 

Anyways..............here is the big news:

K had her neurodevelopmental evaluation yesterday. Back in September, K was evaluated as reading at a 2nd grade level. She is now reading at grade level 3.9!  Meaning 3rd grade, 9th month! That's almost 2 grade levels in 4 months!

I should explain though, that this doesn't mean that she would willingly pick up a 3rd grade chapter book & read it from cover to cover - she has the ability to read the majority of the words, but she prefers not to. She does easily read shorter grade 3 level stories though. She can read at that level of vocabulary, she just chooses not read that length of story. Although I think K has a good understanding of what she reads, I'm not sure if she would follow the storyline of a long chapter book, but at this point, I have learned not to underestimate her either.  She  also still prefers to read books with larger print. This could be vision related though, & I am planning on trying to get her in with the pediatric opthamologist a little sooner if I can.

Happy New Year Everyone!

We've had a wonderful start to our new year & been incredibly busy.  Too busy to blog!  The alpine ski racing season has started for my older 3 girls, & the oldest 2 are both on the Jr. high basketball team.   My 2nd oldest has also qualified for the winter games in our province in alpine skiing, so we have been running from practise to race or game & on to the next practice.  K has also had another neurodevelopmental evaluation recently, so that & her program as well as preschool has kept us busy!

The other reason that I haven't blogged until now, is that just before I hit publish on anther post, I got thinking that maybe K should have the first word in 2012.  I have a whole list of other blog posts that I have been working on in the meantime & will post soon, but first, here is her Happy New Year's message from our family to yours!  This is the first take - no practice runs because with our busy schedule, we may not find time again until June!  I think my sleepy little girl (it was bed time - she yawns 1/2 way through) did a great job!

Oh, & my other news for the New Year is that I am now on Facebook! You can find me here: Down Syndrome Up Up Up & Away

Hope you enjoy the video!

31 for 21 - Can you guess what kind of book we're reading this week?

These are some of the words K has been learning this week.  In anticipation of Halloween, we are reading a cute book about 5 little ghosts who keep getting in trouble at school.  It is a pretty simple book, but although we often challenge K with her reading, I think sometimes,  it is good to have her read books that are simple& fun to help build her confidence.

31 for 21 - Reading Comprehension

 These neat little cards from Discovery Toys are another  50 cent rummage sale bargain!  

They have short phrases & many of them are actions.  Most of them are really easy for K to read. Although we were very careful to avoid testing when K was young, we are much more relaxed about it now as she willingly reads out loud to us all the time.  I often read that kids with Down syndrome learn sight words, but that their comprehension lags behind their reading level.  I have always thought that k understood basically everything she reads, from simple words to more complex sentences. I purposely never taught her any of the words on these cards & have only had her read them to me.  They are a simple way for me to understand K's comprehension of what she is reading & I am very happy with how she is doing at this.  It is really confirming my thoughts that she is understanding what she reads.

K thinks it is quite a fun game to act out these cards:)!

31 for 21 - Everyday reasons that teaching K to read has been helpful

This was supposed to automatically post yesterday, but something went wrong, so it's a day late, but that allowed me to add the cookie story to the end of this post:)

I have only wonderful things to say about teaching my dd to read. Even at just 4 years of age, it is already opening up doors for her. People often recognize that she has Ds & usually have a preconceived notion of what it is like & often judge her before they get to know her. When they find out that she has been reading books since she was 3.5, it shatters a lot of stereotypes & allows them to learn that she is a unique individual & get to know her for who she really is.

At this point I don't think my dd even realizes that it is unusual for kids her age to read, but once she gets to school & sees other kids just learning to read I'm sure it will be a great boost to her confidence. Even if she ends up being behind in some areas such as gross motor, she will have one area that she really excels beyond the other kids. I think it will be great for her self confidence.

Another great thing about being able to read it helps her understand things. For example, at the pool, she can read the sign saying "pool closed" . It sure saves me a lot of fights when she can read the rules or herself.

Early reading has also helped her be more independent. She can read a simple kids menu & choose her own meal & make other decisions by herself.

I think I could go on & on about the positives of early reading, but I guess I should have a negatives list too. For a little while, K insisted that she was a boy like Daddy.  Being able to read at a young age allowed her to choose the "appropriate" bathroom.  It wasn't too big of a deal the day she entered the wrong bathroom when we were at a neighbor's wedding surrounded by friends, but the day she was one step ahead of her sister at a large department store was a little scary.  Thank you Mr. Security Guard!

This morning at the Tim Horton's donut place, K read the sign saying chocolate chip cookie & chose that for a treat.  The cashier said that the sign was in the wrong place & that they were sold out of that type of cookie.  K insisted that she could have one because it was written on the sign.  I had just managed to talk her into oatmeal raisin when they announced that the latest batch of chocolate chips cookies were done, so she got her way after all!  They funny thing is that I am always telling her that it must be so if it is written on the sign - that sure backfired today!

31 for 21 - BrillKids Little Reader Program Review & Giveaway

I have been asked by BrillKids to review their Little Reader program.  Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while already knows that I love this program!

Of course K loves it too!

Little Reader is a computer based program which is intended for kids from around 3 to 6 months & up Little Reader Basic starts at $149. This program allows a parent to customize a play list of words & images to suit the needs or interests of their child. We have been using this program with their print function to make wonderful, clear, concise flashcards as well as by using the computer program since a little after K's first birthday. With this program you are able to flash the words quickly. Before we found out about BrillKids, we were fast flashing anyways, so it is nice to carry on with that as we have had so much success with it. Words & pictures are flashed on the screen & the word is spoken at the same time. You can choose between available pictures or add your own.  Fonts can be changed or set to display randomly.  You can even record your own voice if you wish. Little Reader has a set curriculum, or you can choose between thousands of files that are available. We are now using Little Reader as a computer program as it is intended, but in the past, I printed out & laminated many files to make wonderful, high quality flashcards.

 This is a picture of K reading a small selection of her Little Reader flashcards that we used when she was about 2 years old.

We are currently working on stories, various science, geography & other subjects, while doing several sets of phonics/word families each week as well.  The focus on phonics is really paying off as I am noticing that K is finding it easier & easier to decode new words. I am so impressed with the versatility of this program!

Besides teaching our daughter to read, we have noticed a number of other wonderful benefits as well!

We have found Little Reader to be excellent for working on speech. Because a word is spoken each time a picture of word is flashed, K also speaks the word.  Recently, we have been recording more of our own words. I have been having K do this herself & she loves to hear herself speaking on the computer!  The more I am able to get my daughter talking, the better! This is in addition to the proven benefits of teaching sight words to help strong visual learners like K learn to speak. 

Although I got the Little Reader program for K, her eight year old sister, KJ is also benefiting from it.  She is not using it for reading practice as she has been reading chapter books for quite a while now, but  this summer, KJ expressed interest in learning a little french.  For the past month or so, she has been using little reader too.  The wonderful thing is that, although I do speak the limited amount of french that I learned in high school, I do not speak with the accent of a native speaker & the wonderful french files I found at BrillKids are really helping me to teach her.  We are both very excited about her progress so far!

I have even used Little Reader for my oldest two daughters on occasion!  They are avid, actually advanced readers for their ages, but I have occasionally found some files, often science related that were relevant to what they were doing in school.  We have viewed them on the computer as well as printed them off to take to school for everyone to enjoy.

 I could talk all day about this program!   The biggest benefit to me is again, the versatility.  This is the only program that has been able to keep up with K as she progressed from learning a few words, to last night, being able to pick up a 3rd grade reader that KJ brought home & read it with ease. I can happily credit BrillKids credit for a huge part of my daughter's reading success.

Click on this link for lots of information, links & details on how to sign up for the Little Reader free 14 day trial: Little Reader

BrillKids has a wonderful forum: BrillKids Forum 

BrillKids also has a blog which you can find here:  BrillKids Blog

This review was written in exchange for a free copy of Little Reader's first semester, which all of you, my fabulous readers can enter in a draw to win! I was not paid for this review, nor was I required to write a positive review.  This is my honest, unbiased opinion on this product.

If you are interested in entering the draw to win a free copy of Brillkids Little Reader program, stay tuned for tomorrow's blog post for details  on how to enter.