31 for 21 - Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop

A while ago, another mom commented on her blog thatso far everything was going quite well with her little one with trisomy 21 & that she was "waiting for the other shoe to drop".
This was my reply:

This sounds so familiar. At first it was medical & health. By the end of the 1st year, & certainly by the 2nd, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief that, besides very minor concerns, we are fortunate that my daughter has been very healthy.

Then my concern turned to fine & gross motor. So far at age 4.5, K is doing quite well with gross motor & rocking fine motor. She is reading well & doing simple math.

I am so grateful to be 4.5 years into this journey & still wondering why people say life with T21 is hard. I'm sure for some people it is, but I think most of us feel like you - It really is a thrill, a joy & a privilege to parent my daughter.

Well,  now I'm over 5 years into this journey & still feel the same way.  It's true, I'm a optimist, a glass half full kind of a gal but still I just don't see that other shoe coming.

31 for 21 - Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!!!!

 I was the parent volunteer at K's school today.  It was drizzling a little when we arrived & we were so busy that we had no idea that it had snowed until we stepped outside. I did have the forethought to look out K's winter coat but she does happen to be wearing her barney rubber boots still.

 There's talk about skiing at my house already!

...............but I feel bad for my daughter T who has cross country running finals tomorrow!

31 for 21 - Fun Memory Building Game.

The Fist Full of Coins game was recommended to me by a member of the BrillKids forum.  I purchased it this spring & have been enjoying it ever since.

 We originally purchased it as a memory building game & it is great for that but we've also found that it is really good for helping K practice her reading comprehension skills.

The game starts out with very simple instructions & builds in difficulty from level 1 pictured above to level 4 cards in the two pictures below - level 4 cards are quite challenging even for my older girls & myself. Coins are given out after each attempt with the player receiving more for a success. If necessary, you could adjust this game in many ways to either target different skills such as having the instructions read out loud to the player rather than read it themselves or to modify it to be easier for younger players.

It actually looks easier when you see it already done below but as you can tell from the card above, there is a lot to remember.

The great thing about this game is that all of my kids can play together & even the older ones are challenged - very few games can cover the ten year age span between my kids.


Has anyone got any other great games to suggest?

31 for 21 - Sailing to Solutions

I just realized that I haven't posted about this cruise yet. Sailing to Solutions is a 5 night cruise which leaves Florida on February 25, stops in Haiti & Jamaica then returns to Florida on March  2nd.

This cruise has the most incredible line up of speakers!

If you have a child with T21, in my opinion, this is the most informative event you  will find. In the 5 years since K was born I haven't seen a line up of speakers that can compare to this.

I want to go so badly but I'm not sure if it is going to work out. By the time we pay for flights to Florida we are already doubling our cost. Hopefully it will work out & l'll see you there!

If you are interested, there are more details on Andi's blog here:

http://dsdaytoday.blogspot.ca/2012/02/2013-ds-conference-cruise.html?m=1

31 for 21 - A Quick Update

Today will just be a quick update because we are on day 4 of a quick trip to visit with some of my family.  We are heading home tomorrow & I'll be posting some pictures & videos in the next few days but in the meantime, a few highlights:

We've met up with a couple other moms of kids with T21 & had a great visit with both of them.


We tried out a high ropes course. K was too small for the big course but did great on the little course & did the zip line by herself!

Today my older girls & I tried out a surf simulator for the first time. I had a blast! Again, K couldn't join in as she was about 6 inches too short but she enjoyed the wave pool,  & the river. Although the water on the river was way over her head, she did a great job of holding on to her pool noodle as she bobbed along the river.

Tomorrow we'll have breakfast at what I'm told is a fantastic breakfast spot but if you linger too long, the owner boots you out the door so he can free up the table for the next group! I'll have to see if the food is worth it!

Then the long, long trip home. The sad part is that it'll probably be me that starts complaining about how long it is before the kids!  Thankfully, they have always travelled well.

31 for 21 - Sharing our successes publicly

I wrote this when K was about 4.5 & never published it because I just didn't feel like I was getting the words right.  It has been almost a year & I find that I am already starting to share more.  I still don't often start the conversation because like I stated later in this post, how do you start a conversation without blurting out "My kid has been reading since she was a baby."? However, kids K's age are now starting to do a little early reading so it comes up in conversation.   Anyways, here is what I wrote:

I never really planned to be public about our family life. Really, honestly, I am pretty content to just enjoy my family all to myself.  Early learning isn't the sort of thing that I even talk about much with people in our community, because really, how often does the subject of how well your 3 or 4 year old can read come up in conversation ? Only occasionally do I talk about it & sometimes it does lead to wonderful conversations. Like the lady this morning, who was also looking at books at the 2nd hand store (I'm sure I've mentioned before that I have to buy 2nd hand to keep up with K's voracious appetite for books:)!  We were both choosing very carefully,  & got into a conversation about the reasons why.  As it turns out, her soon to be granddaughter, through adoption, is facing some big challenges . I shared my blog addy, & hopefully, we'll get to chat again one day soon. I even have lots of early reading materials to share if that would help. But, back to my point. Unless I feel it will help someone, I  usually don't feel it is appropriate to blurt it out, so I don't bother. People are already noticing, but I feel that i have time to slowly change perceptions....& honestly, without carrying around video proof for people to see, I really truly don't think they fully understand. Their kids didn't learn to read until age 5 or 6, how believable is it that my kid started closer to her 1st birthday?  Often, I think when I say that K is reading, people think she can recognize a few words, or that she talks about the pictures when she looks at them. Slowly, as K is getting older, people are noticing anyways, & before she enters school, we will make sure that her teachers & anyone involved are aware of her abilities. It is interesting though, perhaps because of her sisters, most of the kids at school already often comment that she is the  "smartest little kid I know."

I have done a couple of public talks too, & really enjoyed it but both were to very small groups & one was in a community that is 3 hours away.


 K's accomplishments have amazed me enough that I think it is necessary to share which is why I started my blog.I think other patents of kids with Down syndrome should hear tye fantastic possibilitues not just the negatives of DS.  f I hear of any local babies with DS or other reasons for needing this knowledge, I am excited to share also, but in the  meantime we'll just slowly carry on, quietly changing stereotypes one person at a time.

So, how do you feel about this.  Looking back I think I'm starting to realize that I need to share a lot more than I am, but then again, how & when do I approach the subject? I'm only starting to get more comfortable sharing online!

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.