Tag: motivation

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:

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How to Motivate Young Children with Down Syndrome

Published on by Mary Cooney2 Comments

Once a week, three little boys with T21 and their moms come to my house for a Down Syndrome Coop. It’s so much fun, as these little guys are so funny and lovable. But keeping them engaged and motivated is a major piece of work. Sometimes one of the boys will wander off in the middle of a story or activity. Sometimes one will lie on the floor and space out. Sometimes a child will flat-out refuse to try an activity. So behavior management and motivation has become a vital aspect of our work.

I think it is important not to underestimate the amount of effort our children have to expend to complete what we perceive to be basic and simple tasks. We need to remember that children with T21 often have several health issues including poor sleep and low muscle tone, which make them tire easily. Our children are not lazy; in fact they have to work harder than most people to complete ordinary jobs.

However, it’s also important not to underestimate their potential for learning, especially if we can motivate them. 

So we work really hard to elicit cooperation and engagement through motivation.

Here are some of my most effective strategies for keeping my son and the boys in our T21 co-op engaged and motivated:

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Three-Syllable Word Cards for Articulation… and Teaching Ornery Kids

Published on by Mary CooneyLeave a comment

Does your child need practice articulating three-syllable words? For many children with T21, difficulty with phonemic and short term memory is one of the causes of language delay. This really becomes evident when they try to remember how to say multi-syllabic words or construct sentences.

As a former piano teacher, I am noticing the similarity between teaching the language of music to typically developing children and teaching language to a child with Down Syndrome. For typically developing children (and adults!) learning to improvise on the piano can only occur after *a lot* of practice with scales and chord progressions. Similarly, it seems that for Junior, learning to “improvise” in speech only occurs after lots of practice with carrier phrases and repetition with words that are hard to articulate. Frankly, I’m hoping that at some point something will just “click” and he’ll start talking in complete sentences. But I’m still waiting for that to happen.

In the meanwhile, we’re working on articulating difficult sounds such as /h/ and /y/, and we’re working on three syllable words. We practice these at the word level and at the sentence level. And we practice them in scripted conversations. Moreover, because the written word has become a very powerful visual prompt, Junior is also learning to read these words by sight and partly by sounding out.

Of course we want to practice words that he will actually use in daily life. So, for this summer I made this set of flashcards for articulation practice and sight reading.

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Four Ways to Make Your Homeschool Run on Auto-Pilot

Published on by Mary Cooney2 Comments

Three years ago, I was at the peak of my homeschooling load. I was homeschooling five kids, and I had baby with Down Syndrome. (Think lots and lots of doctors’ appointments.) It was a joyful year, but it was also intense. On the one hand, I had a kindergartener who needed help with almost everything. On the other hand, I had an eighth grader who was preparing for the momentous HSPT (High school Placement Test). And in between, I had three high-energy boys.

Sometimes homeschooling all five kids felt like a juggling act. But in reality, it was more of a choreographed dance, with everyone doing their part. Such choreography allowed our homeschool to run on auto-pilot: the kids knew what they had to do without being told, they usually started their school work without having to be prompted, and they continued to do their school work even when I had to be elsewhere. This is not to say that our days were always smooth and the kids were always co-operative… we certainly had our moments! But, overall we had a rhythm to our day which allowed for much autonomous learning.

For those of you who are wondering how to structure your homeschool day, here are four ways to make your homeschool run on autopilot:

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