Here’s a collection of ALL my spelling worksheets made especially for children with Down Syndrome and other special needs. I use them to supplement All About Spelling, but they can be used with any Science of Reading aligned phonics or spelling program.
Continue reading “Spelling Worksheets for Students with Special Needs” →
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?” →
Today I’m sharing how my son with Down Syndrome is learning to spell. Surprisingly, there is very little information online on how to teach children with T21 to spell, and particularly how to spell beyond the CVC words. So here’s a post about my favorite methods and materials for teaching spelling to children with Down Syndrome.
For those of you using First Steps with Phonics, here are decodable readers that give your students extra practice with reading. Decodable readers use phonetically controlled vocabulary to give students targeted practice with whatever phonogram students are currently learning. They are a great tool for developing fluency in reading. These particular decodable readers are designed for children with Down Syndrome and those with visual impairments.
Continue reading “First Steps with Phonics: Decodable Readers” →
Here’s a set of extra large picture and word cards to help children with (or without) Down Syndrome learn to sound out words. Children with DS have poor visual acuity, which means they see everything in soft focus, even when wearing eyeglasses. This can impact their ability to read, especially if the font is too small. I made these for a student in our Down Syndrome Co-op who really started to make progress once he could see the letters.
Continue reading “First Steps with Phonics: Blending Cards” →
For all of you trying or wanting to teach your child with Down Syndrome to read, I have:
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” →
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” →
I’m so excited to share the news about a newly released podcast: Get Down to It! by Tara Boogaerts. In two episodes I talk to her about the Homeschooling Option for Children with Down Syndrome and Teaching Reading and Learning Phonics.
Continue reading “Get Down to It! A New Podcast About Down Syndrome” →
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” →
Here’s Book 2 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! Unlike most phonics programs that start with CVC words, this series begins with vowel teams that make one and only one sound, which helps to prevent frustration and confusion in the early stages of decoding.
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 2: a FREE Workbook for Children with (or without) Down Syndrome” →