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” →
When teaching my son with Down Syndrome to spell, I have found spelling frames to be an extremely helpful tool. Spelling can be challenging for children with Down Syndrome who struggle with short term memory and handwriting. There is so much involved in spelling: students need to hold the word that they are supposed to spell in their working memory, segment the word into its phonograms, remember the sequence of those phonograms and hold that sequence in their working memory while recalling how to write each letter.
Spelling frames, accompanied with pictures for each word, are a great visual support. These, along with phonogram tiles, have allowed my son to make progress in spelling with confidence and to become increasingly independent.
Here’s how:
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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.
Is your child ready for phonics? Here’s a free and easy way to try it out!
A year ago, I came across the newly published book Phonics the R-igh-t Way for Children and Adults with Down Syndrome by Judy O’Halloran and Marilee Senior. My son with T21 was already a fluent reader, but I was interested to see if there were any ideas that might help the boys in our Down Syndrome co-op.
What the authors presented, among several great ideas, was a very unique and clever order of teaching the phonograms. Almost all other phonics programs teach the CVC (Consonant-vowel-consonant) words first, such as cat, pig, and dog. However, each of the vowels produce several different sounds. For example, think of the different sounds of A in the words apple, cake, and father.
Judy O’Halloran and Marilee Senior recommend teaching the seven phonograms that make one and only one sound first, to avoid early confusion and frustration. These phonograms are as follows: ay as in say, ai as in rain, ee as in bee, igh as in night, oa as in boat, oe as in toe, and eigh as in eight. Starting with these phonograms also helps a child get used to the idea that multiple letters can make one sound.
Very clever indeed!
Continue reading “First Steps with Phonics: A FREE Phonics Workbook for Children with (or without) Down Syndrome” →
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.
Continue reading “FREE Worksheets for Tracing and Spelling CVC Words” →