preschool - Mercy for Marthas

Stop and Go! FREE Sight Word Cards and Readers

Published on April 16, 2026April 16, 2026 by Mary CooneyLeave a comment

Did you know that many children with Down Syndrome as young as 3 years old can learn to read sight words?

If you’re wondering whether or not your child is ready, here’s a free way to try.

I made this set of car-themed sight word cards and readers for a boy in our co-op who just wouldn’t sit at a desk.

So, we sat on the floor and played cars. And snuck in some sight-word learning. When I showed him the word “Go”, we’d yell “Go!”, and he would zoom a car across the floor. Then I’d show him the word “Stop” when the car stopped. Next I took out a car ramp, and I showed him the word “Car” or “Truck” before he could let a car or truck go down the ramp. Eventually, he had to read “car” or “truck” before zooming down a vehicle.

Some of the best learning happens when we incorporate play.

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See and Learn Phrases 1 Practice Workbook

Published on August 29, 2024January 31, 2026 by Mary Cooney3 Comments

Are you looking to teach your child with (or without) Down Syndrome to read? Or looking to build your child’s expressive vocabulary?

As many of you know, I’m a great fan of the See and Learn Kits from Down Syndrome Education. It was the See and Learn Phrases 1 Kit that launched my son with Down Syndrome into the wonderful world of reading. I began using See and Learn with my son when he 3.5 years old and discovered that 1) learning to read sight words was a great way to build his expressive vocabulary and 2) reading was a very enjoyable activity for him. To see videos of how we used See and Learn, check out this post: Teaching Preschoolers with Down Syndrome to Read with See and Learn.

Naturally, we also used this with the boys in our Down Syndrome co-op. So, to help the busy moms practice See and Learn daily with their kids, I made this homework packet/workbook. And now, with the generous permission of Down Syndrome Education, I’m sharing it with you for FREE.

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Construction Vehicles Three-Part Cards

Published on July 23, 2024 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.

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More FREE Preposition Practice Cards

Published on April 30, 2023 by Mary CooneyLeave a comment

In my last post, I shared a set of Preposition Practice cards to help our kids understand and use words such as on top of, under, and beside. However, acting out these prepositions is an important way of helping them generalize the use of these words to real life. So here is a set of cards to help your child understand and use prepositions using simple props and acting.

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Free Picture Cards for Teaching Prepositions

Published on April 21, 2023January 31, 2026 by Mary CooneyLeave a comment

Learning to understand and use prepositions in speech has been one of Junior’s speech therapy goals for quite some time. Naturally, we practice using prepositions in our daily living. For example, shoes go in the cabinet, and the book is under the bed. We practice them during purposeful play: The train goes over the bridge, and the red car is behind the green car. Playing Hide and Seek is another fun way to practice prepositions. However, it is also helpful to practice them with flashcards so Junior can see and read the prepositions. So I made him three sets of picture cards to help him learn some of the most basic prepositions.

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More Handwriting Worksheets for Children with (or without) Down Syndrome

Published on March 7, 2023March 22, 2023 by Mary CooneyLeave a comment

Teaching my son with Down Syndrome to write letters and numbers has been a long, slow process. But little by little we’re getting there! Many schools and homeschoolers use the wonderful handwriting program by Learning Without Tears (formerly Handwriting Without Tears.) But I have needed to adapt some of their materials in order for Junior to be successful.

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Let’s Learn Letters: Lowercase !

Published on February 23, 2023 by Mary CooneyLeave a comment

Here’s a cute set of handwriting worksheets that will help your child learn to write lowercase letters. Similar to the uppercase set, these have dots which show your child where to begin forming each letter. In addition, each worksheet comes with verbal prompts to help your child learn the order of strokes.

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Around the House and Food-Themed Picture and Sight Word Cards

Published on November 14, 2022 by Mary CooneyLeave a comment

Here are more FREE picture and sight word cards for those of you teaching your kids to read words by sight. This is a set of thirty-eight pictures of items around the house, some clothing, and favorite foods. Use them to build vocabulary, teach sight words, talk about word function, and for sorting.

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Teaching Children with Down Syndrome to Read: Our Top Ten+ Resources for Beginning Phonics

Published on October 31, 2022October 26, 2024 by Mary CooneyLeave a comment

Last fall, I began teaching Junior how to decode words. Having taught my five other children to read, I knew that I would have to make each step along the way very incremental and use materials that were hands-on and visual. I was ready for the process to be slow and bumpy, so I was pleasantly surprised to see how quickly Junior learned to decode CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words.

So today I’m sharing with you some videos of Junior at work and the resources and methods we used that worked best.

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FREE Short Vowel Stories Adapted for Children with Down Syndrome

Published on July 5, 2022January 31, 2026 by Mary CooneyLeave a comment

As promised in my last post about our top ten resources for teaching beginning phonics, here is a collection of Short Vowel Stories adapted for children with T21. I wrote these for my oldest child when she was learning to read. Since I’m all about adapting materials for children with T21, of course I had to adapt these stories for Junior. I spent a fair amount of time adapting the stories for him, increasing the font size, putting double spaces between each word, and adding a lot more visuals to help with reading comprehension. So, when he buzzed through these stories, I have to admit I was pleased, but I also had that unsettling feeling you get when you spend two hours cooking up a wonderful meal and then your teenage sons devour it in five minutes.

Anyways, I think this collection of very short stories will help your children (with or without Down Syndrome) enjoy success as they first read phonetically. And yes, for you they’re free.

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