Tag: education

Teaching Children with Down Syndrome to Read: Phonics or Sight Words?

Published on by Mary CooneyLeave a comment

Parents and teachers of children with Down Syndrome may wonder how to start teaching their students with Down Syndrome. Should they start with sight words or phonics?

Currently, the educational trend is strongly in favor of explicit phonics for children at large. However, many experts, such as Sue Buckley, Natalie Hale, and Terry Brown, and many reading experts in Europe who have extensive experience teaching children with T21 recommend starting with sight words first. This is true even in countries such as Spain, where the rules of phonics and pronunciation of Spanish are much more straight forward than English.

Here are five reasons why you should start with sight words, especially if your child is just starting kindergarten:

Continue reading “Teaching Children with Down Syndrome to Read: Phonics or Sight Words?” →

How to Teach a Child with Down Syndrome to Sound Out Words

Published on by Mary Cooney2 Comments

For all of you trying or wanting to teach your child with Down Syndrome to read, I have:

exciting news!

Scroll to the bottom of this post for that.

But first, this post….

Recently, one of the boys in our co-op was really struggling with reading. He was having a hard time matching and memorizing sight words. Furthermore, practicing letters and their sounds did not interest him at all. In fact, during our reading lessons, he was becoming increasingly inattentive. So I wondered, “What if he just can’t see the letters? And what if he knows his letters but is bored with them?” After all, he had been learning the letters and their sounds since kindergarten, and he was now in second grade.

So I made extra-large word and picture cards to go with First Steps with Phonics, Book 1. We began decoding words that only have TWO sounds as opposed to CVC words (ie. cat and dog) which require blending three sounds. And, by golly, he’s learning to decode!

Here’s what we did:

Continue reading “How to Teach a Child with Down Syndrome to Sound Out Words” →

Simply Subtraction Level 1 Games

Published on by Mary Cooney2 Comments

Here are the Games for Simply Subtraction Level 1, which covers the subtraction facts within ten. These FREE games can help bring some fun into your math lessons! Our kids need a lot of review to build confidence and fluency. Games a great for sparking interest and motivating our kids to practice those facts.

There are eight games that align with most of the lessons in Simply Subtraction Level 1.

Here are some sample pages:

Continue reading “Simply Subtraction Level 1 Games” →

Simply Subtraction Level 1 – a Math Workbook for Children with (or without) Down Syndrome

Published on by Mary CooneyLeave a comment

Does your child need extra help with the addition and subtraction facts within 10? Here is a subtraction workbook I made for my son with T21 to help him master the subtraction facts within ten.

Similar to Simply Addition Level 1, this workbook uses a rekenrek (meaning “counting rack”) to make the process of subtraction visual and kinesthetic. After searching high and low for the ideal math manipulative for children with Down Syndrome, I think the rekenrek hits the mark. It’s an effective tool for developing number sense and making math concrete and meaningful. It is with this simple and inexpensive tool that my son has been making slow and steady progress in math.

Unfortunately, there are no Down Syndrome – friendly math workbooks that goes with a rekenrek… so guess who had to go and make one. Yours truly.

Continue reading “Simply Subtraction Level 1 – a Math Workbook for Children with (or without) Down Syndrome” →

Ten Tricks for Motivating and Engaging Children with Down Syndrome

Published on by Mary CooneyLeave a comment

How many times have you called your child/student with Down Syndrome to come and do some school work and that child balked or refused to co-operate? Sigh. Yes, in our little homeschool and co-op it’s a common occurrence. But necessity is the mother of invention, so I’ve learned many ways to motivate my son and his little friends. I really believe that what most hinders our children with DS from learning is not intellectual delay/disability, but non-compliant behaviors. So to help elicit co-operation, here are my latest tricks for motivating and engaging children with Down Syndrome:

Continue reading “Ten Tricks for Motivating and Engaging Children with Down Syndrome” →

Simply Addition Level 1 Math Games

Published on by Mary CooneyLeave a comment

For those of you who are using Simply Addition Level 1 to help your child master addition facts within ten, here is a set of FREE Math Games. After all, playing games is the fun way to practice math skills.

This set contains a variety of games that align with most of the lessons in Simply Addition Level 1.

Take a look:

Continue reading “Simply Addition Level 1 Math Games” →

First Steps with Phonics, Book 4: A FREE Phonics Workbook for Children with (or without) Down Syndrome

Published on by Mary CooneyLeave a comment

Here’s the fourth and final book in the First Steps with Phonics Workbook series, designed especially for children with Down Syndrome.

While most phonics programs begin with CVC words, this introduction to phonics begins with something even easier: the phonograms that make one and only one sound. Book 1 teaches children to sound out and spell words that have the phonograms AY and AI. Book 2 teaches the phonograms EE and IGH. Book 3 focuses on the phonograms OA and OE. And Book 4 teaches the phonogram EIGH.

Here are samples from Book 4:

Continue reading “First Steps with Phonics, Book 4: A FREE Phonics Workbook for Children with (or without) Down Syndrome” →

First Steps with Phonics, Book 3: A FREE Phonics Workbook for Children with (or without) Down Syndrome

Published on by Mary CooneyLeave a comment

Here’s Book 3 of First Steps with Phonics!

This is an incremental, picture-based introduction to phonics designed for children with Down Syndrome. It’s both Orton-Gillingham and Montessori friendly! Read more about this program and watch some videos here.

If your child is struggling with phonics, give these workbooks a try!

If your child hasn’t started with phonics, here’s an easy way to start for both parent and child.

Continue reading “First Steps with Phonics, Book 3: A FREE Phonics Workbook for Children with (or without) Down Syndrome” →

Construction Vehicles Three-Part Cards

Published on by Mary CooneyLeave a comment

About this time last year, my son was really into all the Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site books. We read them over and over again. So I decided to make him Construction Vehicles Three-Part cards.

Continue reading “Construction Vehicles Three-Part Cards” →

Educating the Whole Child

Published on by Mary CooneyLeave a comment

Our school year is beginning to wind down. Yay! So this is also the time when I begin to think about the coming school year. And while my homeschooled kids take standardized tests to help me assess their overall progress, I also take time to think of the big picture.

After all, a real education is much more than just academics. Indeed, a real education entails educating the whole child.  There are many great thinkers who ascribe to the idea that a real education is more than book learning:

  • Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he has learned in school. – Albert Einstein
  • Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of true education. – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 
  • The primary goal in the education of children is to teach and give an example of a virtuous life. – St. John Chrysostem
  • A good school provides a rounded education for the whole person. And a good Catholic school, over and above this, should help all of its students to become saints. – Pope Benedict XVI

While that all sounds good and true, what does it actually mean to educate the whole person, and how do we go about doing that?

Sitting in a rocking chair and musing over this while waiting for Junior to get sleepy, I envisioned this little diagram (Thank you, Holy Spirit!):

Continue reading “Educating the Whole Child” →