Longvida Curcumin Update

We started K on Longvida Curcumin (LC) in mid December. Within a week, I really thought I noticed a difference in her speech & in fact my husband & even my older dd's commented on the same thing.  The kids ( & probably my husband :) ! ) had no idea that LC is supposed to help with speech. We recently ran out of LC and K went a few weeks without it. I did not notice any regression during that time, however I am seeing another jump in her speech, again within a week of starting her back on it. I am very critical of new things & try to only use natural products that I feel are safe.  Rarely do I think a new product or supplement has noticeable benefits, but I am very excited about the results I am seeing. Again, the rest of the family is also commenting on K's speech.  The other day she said to me:  "I get in truck, go to town."  - 7 words!  I love the fact that she is using all the little words in this sentence too, not just the important ones.

Here is a link, but like everything - do your own research first and check with your child's doctor to determine if it is right for your child.

http://longvida.com/index.php

Exciting announcement from Brillkids!

I have been talking with KL over at Brillkids about giving a discount to kids with special needs. I am very excited to announce that he has generously offered to give discounts ranging from 30% all the way up to 100% off!  The discount is available to Brillkids forum members who have been posting on the forum for at least a month and have a child with a disability.

Unlike the regular sponsorship program, the special needs discount is not based on parental income.

Here link to their forum.  Remember to join now & start posting so you can apply for their discount in a month:

brillkids

Here is a previous post that I did to explain more details about the Little Reader program:

http://downsyndromeupupupandaway.blogspot.com/2011/03/brill-kids-little-reader-program.html

Here is my review of the Little Math program:

http://downsyndromeupupupandaway.blogspot.com/2011/09/brillkids-math-program.html

Here is a link to a form where you can fill out the necessary  information. Make sure you include the fact that your child has a disability, state the nature of that disability, and include a scanned copy of a note from a medical professional or therapist and remember to get started posting on the forum!

BrillKids sponsorship

UPDATE: So far everyone I Have talked to who has applied for this discount has gotten a VERY generous discount on both Little Reader & Little Math!

Other reading programs

There are various other reading programs that we haven't tried. Some that I can think of off hand are:

Monki See Monki Do - http://www.monkisee.com/

e Reading Pro (formerly known as Out of the Box reading) - http://ereadingpro.com/products.php

Preschool Prep Company has a series of DVD's, books, etc. - http://preschoolprepco.com/h/i/index.php

If anyone has tried these and would like to share, please leave a comment about your experiences.

Will you pray for Kirill?

This is a copy of Christie's post over at T-cubed: 3 boys, twins, & Trisomy 21. Please feel free to pass this on.

Will you pray for Kirill?

The Davis family (Greg and Tesney and their oldest son) love Kirill VERY, VERY MUCH. They are adopting him from an Eastern European country and are in the fight for his life right now. The judge in his region of his country denied them their adoption plea. They are appealing the decision.

The reason?

"socially unadaptable" with reasoning that an institution (just like where Alexander is now) made him unworthy of a family. The judge did not have the wherewithal to stand up for Kirill against the prosecutor in the court that day, March 17th. They left him, heartbroken but steadfast in their faith in God and with love in their hearts for the woman that denied their baby a home.

They have asked for prayers for the judge, who has said she will not fight an appeal, and prayers for all involved in court during the appeal. They want to bring Kirill home, they love him. THEY LOVE HIM DEARLY.

Please. I beg you. PRAY. PRAY. PRAY. His life depends on it, he is WORTHY. All of the children we are fighting for ARE WORTHY.

Please re-post this, share this. Please do not slander the judge or this situation. Is it horrible? Yes, in my opinion it is. Is it wrong? In my opinion, yes it is. But slandering her or this situation will not help Kirill. PRAYERS will. COMPASSION will.

Thank you.

BrillKid's Little Reader program

This really is my favorite of all of the early reading programs that I have found. Little Reader is the only  program that has grown with K from the time she read her first words until now and is still growing with her.

Little Reader is a computer based program which allows a parent to customize it to suit their child.  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. I am so impressed with the versatility of this program. Now.........time for my confession...........I have not utilized this program even close to the full extent that is possible.  There are two main reasons for this.  1. Lots of computer problems! and 2. To repeat what I said earlier, you really need to teach your child in the way that suits them best. When she was younger, K really didn't seem to learn as well with a TV or  computer screen  she seemed to learn best with a flashcard - and she insisted it had a picture on it. In fact, it has only been in the last 6 months that she willingly reads a flashcard without a picture. Having said that, Little Reader has still been a huge time saver for me. The vast majority of her flashcards are from Little Reader and thanks to all of those great features, I can customize the flashcards. I could never have kept up to her if I had to make all of her cards myself. To be honest, I probably still don't really keep up to her! I have a hard enough time keeping up when all I had to do was print and laminate! It would have taken endless hours to source all of the pictures, then make and laminate the cards. I have so much respect for the moms and dads who had to do it this way! Thankfully, now that K is doing well with reading, she seems to learn just as quickly from a computer or TV screen as with flashcards. As soon as I get my new computer rather than having to borrow my husband's work computer or my kid's iPad, we'll get back at it again!

Update as of Aug/2011: Other than doing a set of "Fleschcards" (phonics flashcards based on Rudolph Flesch's book & created by Larry Sanger), we are solely using LittleReader.  K is picking up new words more quickly than ever & it is so much easier for me now.  A Little Reader weekly program takes literally a few minutes to set up - a far cry from the time it took to do a 45 word per week program with laminated flashcards!
BrillKids also has a math program called Little Math. Look forward to some blog posts about our experiences with it soon!

BrillKids

UPDATE: BrillKids is now giving a discount to parents of children with Special Needs.  Click on this link for more info:
  Exciting Announcement From BrillKids

Starfall

Starfall is a great phonics based Internet computer  program. I like that this program is interactive.  All of my kids have played and enjoyed this program at one time as our school sometimes allows kids to play on it as a treat if they are done their school work. It starts with ABC's and continues to increase in difficulty. I really feel that while younger kids will learn some things from this program, it is better for teaching older kids. I'm starting to experiment with teaching phonics using a sight word approach, but still think that phonics taught in the traditional way needs to be taught to 5 or 6 year olds who have a longer working memory.  

http://www.starfall.com/

How to Teach Your Baby to Read

How to Teach your Baby to Read is one of a number of books written by Glenn Doman of IAHP (Institutes for Achievement of Human Potential) and is co authored by his daughter Janet. It was this organization that first started teaching children with Down syndrome and other brain injured children to read.  This was the first early reading resource I found, and a many of the ideas we use came from this book. Even when using other programs, I often use methods from this book rather than what is suggested by the particular program. Some of these ideas include fast flashing, using huge flashcards with red lettering to make the words easier to read and more visually appealing and most importantly, that teaching your child must always be done joyfully. This book goes step by step through the process of creating a reading program for your child. I would highly recommend reading this book even if you choose to use an already made program. It is often available at local libraries or can be bought at the IAHP bookstore at the link below, or on Amazon.

http://www.gentlerevolution.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=G&Product_Code=0201-40