Down Syndrome Reading

A mom messaged me recently on Facebook. Her 10-year old daughter with DS, in a fully inclusive setting, has had great teams for several years and her reading level was assessed at Level O (on the [...]

the gift that gives twice We all know that we open the world to our children when we teach them to read. I felt that wonder first-hand when I taught my son Jonathan to read 29 years ago. And I [...]

I’ve been where you are. When my son Jonathan was 5, I was busy with PT, OT, ST, and a 3-year-old daughter with severe asthma. The idea of me teaching reading to my 5-year-old with Down [...]

Speaking of Boxing… At the NDSC Conference in Pittsburg last month, the Phonics Or Whole Word (POWW!) issue attacked me personally in the form of one attendee who voiced the opinion that, [...]

What’s the Sandwich? “Sandwich Style Teaching” is simple. It means making a reading sandwich where Fast Flash are the two pieces of bread and the middle, the PBJ layer, is the [...]

Part 2 Note: If you read last week’s article, skip down to *Undiagnosed Vision Issues. If you didn’t, keep reading because you need this initial information! Parents often ask me, [...]

Parents often ask me, when they use my Special Reads curriculum, “How long will it take for my child/teen to master this? And can he learn to read?” The answer is twofold: that [...]

HERE’S ONE STORY… If you’ve read my latest book, “Whole Child Reading,” you know that my premise for teaching reading to our offspring with Down syndrome is, [...]

Here’s one for the books (pun intended) My “significant other” seriously disliked reading as a child. He avoided it. Then in third grade, he discovered Mad Magazine. OMG! The [...]

CUT THEM OFF AT THE PASS… I recently got a wistful email from a mom that said, “He really wants to read, but I know he’s just pretending.” This mom was talking about a [...]