I started this blog hoping to inspire other parents to help their children with Down syndrome reach for the sky! My daughter was reading words, before she was 2 years of age & reading books by 3.5 years. I believe kids with Down syndrome can do amazing things if we give them the right tools. I truly believe high expectations can make a tremendous difference in the lives of our children!
This book is quite an easy level for K, but I wanted to show her reading a new book that she has never seen before. She is a little distracted by pictures, & has trouble with a couple of words, but again, it is a new book. Because she doesn't show off in front of the camera while reading very often, I'll take it! Anyways, here she is, & as always when she chooses to read in front of the camera, in jammies & with messy hair!
When I explain to people that we use the fast flash method to show K her cards, I don't think that people always understand quite how quickly we do them, so I thought I would put up a video of a flashcards session. It really is fast! The 12 cards in this set took 24 seconds to show both the words & pictures.
There are a number of reasons for going so fast. Here are several of them:
1. Kids learn incredibly fast - by going too slowly, kids get bored & lose interest. If your child won't sit for flashcards, try going much faster, using a very small number of cards, & doing them in very short sessions.
2. K would never have learned enough words to be able to read books unless we went quickly.
3. Showing the words & images quickly helps with instant recall.
Between camera & computer difficulties, & "out in the country" speed internet, it took longer than expected to get this up ( I'd promised a couple of people that I would be posting it). Even loading the YouTube page to upload it took 15 minutes. I left my computer running from midnight last night until 9 am & only 60% had loaded. By 65% at 10:00 this morning, it timed out & I got an error message. Grrrrr. I realized later that I didn't turn the title card in between the words & pics - I guess I'm out of practice because we have been doing words only for over 6 months now. After all of the computer problems I'm having, I finally decided that I'd better just put it up as is.
We flashed through the words as fast as we could say them, then we flashed through the pictures as fast as we could say them. This video is what our typical flashcard sessions looked like. The only thing I usually do differently is to switch the title card in between the words & pictures rather than at the end like I did here - that's what I would change if I could get the other video up.
I can't believe how grey my hair looks from this view, but here it is:)!
We also used this method sometimes. We would show the word and read it, then flip the card over and show the picture and say it, then turn the card over again and say the word again.
K learned equally well with either method & was able to associate the word with the picture regardless of how we showed the cards.
This last video is of K flashing through & reading the cards herself. Isn't it cute how she organizes the cards after each session?
We loosely follow the method in Glenn Doman's Book, How to Teach Your Baby to Read. I highly recommend reading it. Here is a link if you are interested in purchasing it:
I'm not sure where I got this idea from. Maybe my friend Emily who does such neat projects with her kids, or perhaps the No Time for Flashcards website? Sorry, I'd love to give credit, but I just don't remember.
And........for those of you who know me and are aware of my artistic limitations - I think I cut out a pretty fine dinosaur - free handed! Not that it is an outstanding piece of art by many people's standards, but I was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out. Maybe helping K with her neurodevelopmental exercises has been organizing my brain too!
I bought the clothes pegs to help with fine motor skills and this was a fun way to try them out. All of the other supplies that we used are pretty common in most people's craft drawers.
K was so proud of her dinosaur & showed it off to her Daddy & sisters as soon as they got home!
I am so excited to post a happy ending to Kirill's story! The judge has awarded custody to his adoptive parents. What a blessing for a little boy (& his parents) who was destined to spend the rest of his life in an institution. I can only imagine the joy his family is feeling now after all they have been through!
Here is the update on his family's blog - check out his picture there. Isn't he a cutie?:
