Category: Down Syndrome Education at Home

Resources for teaching children with T21 and other special needs

Phonics for Children with Down Syndrome: A FREE Long Vowel CVCe Practice Book

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Here’s a free resource to help your child with (or without) T21 learn the concept of silent e in long vowel words. Most phonics programs require children to practice word families by reading long, drill-like lists of words. Early on, I knew that was not going to fly with my little guy. So, to help him understand silent e, I adapted the word lists to make them colorful, interactive, and full of pictures to boost comprehension and to make reading lists of words more meaningful and interesting.

Take a look:

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A Life Worth Living: One Family Embraces Four Children with Down Syndrome

Published on by Mary Cooney1 Comment

A few months ago, my oldest son told me he has a friend who has seven siblings, four with Down Syndrome. As a mother of a large family who has one child with Down Syndrome, I was astounded. Five biological children, three adopted, four with Down Syndrome and homeschooling? “Peter,” I said to my son, “Please get me her number. I need to talk to that mom and tap into her wisdom.”

It took us a while to connect — Sonia McGarrity is, after all, a little busy. But once we did, we could have talked for hours about family life, homeschooling, and Trisomy 21. As we spoke, I realized that the story of this extraordinary family needed to be shared. So I asked Sonia if she would do an interview for Mercator. She graciously and generously agreed.

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Teach Me to Read Duets: Another Free Adapted Reader for Children with (or without) Down Syndrome

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For those of you who have used my free Short Vowel Stories to practice phonics with your emergent readers, here’s an easy next step: a FREE and adapted version of Teach Me to Read Duets.

Fifteen years ago or so, I wrote these little stories for my daughter when she was learning to read.

Then, about two years ago, I adapted them for my son with Down Syndrome. Compared to the original version, the font size is larger, there are two spaces between each word, and there are larger gaps between each line. I also broke this book up into three smaller books (A, B, and C), all of which are included in this file.

Well, my son whizzed through them nearly as quickly as I could adapt them. Just recently, I pulled them out again for a young boy in our Down Syndrome Co-op, who had just completed the Short Vowel Stories. Easy-peasy! He read several pages in one lesson. So I thought I really ought to post this one.

Take a look:

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The Articles of the Mass: Three-part Cards

Published on by Mary Cooney1 Comment

This year, the boys in our little T21 co-op are preparing to receive First Confession and First Communion. We are so grateful that a trained catechist has been coming to run a little Catechesis of the Good Shepherd class just for them.

They have been learning the names of some of the articles of the Mass, and so I made these Montessori-style three-part cards to teach them words such as monstrance, chalice, paten, and purificator.

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Winter-themed Number Line Addition

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Here’s a FREE set of winter-themed number line addition worksheets. These focus on the +1, +2, +3 and doubles facts within ten. They’re designed for children with Down Syndrome and other special needs.

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Winter Words for Tracing

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Here’s a set of winter words for tracing. Tracing words of high interest is way more fun than writing repeated letters for my son. So I make sheets like this to motivate him. We intersperse copying letters with tracing high-interest words. And that keeps him going.

Take a look at these winter words for tracing, offered here for free.

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Our Favorite Toys for Young Children with Down Syndrome

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With Christmas around the corner, I know many of you are thinking what to get your kids for Christmas. So today I’m sharing with you some of our favorite toys with a focus on building problem solving skills, fine motor skills, and independent play. Helping our children develop problem solving skills and teaching them to persist at a task is so important. Many of our kids need extra practice with fine motor skills, and doing so in the context of play is always the most fun way! And finally sometimes we just need our kids to entertain themselves. Since I don’t give Junior any screen time at all, finding the right toys that will keep him independently occupied is such a big help.

So, here are some of our favorite toys for problem solving, fine motor skills, and independent play:

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FREE Worksheets for Tracing and Spelling CVC Words

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Is your child learning to read and/or spell short vowel words? Here are some tracing and spelling pages to reinforce short vowel words. It’s a perfect complement to Short Vowel Stories, also free on this blog.

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