WHY HASN’T MY CHILD/TEEN LEARNED TO READ?
Why Not? What’s Wrong?
In the ordinary case of a child/teen/adult with Down syndrome who hasn’t learned to read, you’ll typically see this scenario: may have started off pretty well at age 6 learning some sight words–got transferred to another school–then another–learning stopped–his educators hadn’t been trained in how kids with DS learn best–he got discouraged–turned off, tuned out–still can’t read today. If that’s the case, all you need is access to the most effective methods and materials for teaching that child. (See my blogs for methods and my site for materials to get you started.)
Other Factors
But there are other factors which need to be ruled out before we can safely assume that his educators simply didn’t have the information they needed to teach your child effectively. Here are a few problems we need to check for:
- Visual Problems: tracking problems, poor sight, forgets to wear glasses to school, constantly loses glasses, fakes it as a result, doesn’t learn.
- Fluctuating Hearing Problems: this also muddies the reading waters.
- Working Memory Deficits: this is ‘way common with our kids, and needs to be strengthened through simple memory games along with teaching reading.
- Secondary Diagnoses such as: ADHD, ASD/Autism, Dyslexia (Yes, of course, it can occur with DS. Get a qualified evaluation done; start by googling International Dyslexic Association.)
- Start-Stop Reading Support: over the years, reading support was there sometimes, sometimes not; there is absolutely no way to create an independent, fluent reader without uninterrupted “Pedal to the Metal” until that’s achieved. No way.
Rule Them Out
It’s especially important to go over this checklist and rule out these other complications before you press your child/teen further in the reading task. Why? FOF Syndrome. Fear of Failure Syndrome, which most of our kids with DS have. We don’t want them to fail right off the bat; we want them to have early reading success and build confidence that way. If that hasn’t happened yet, let’s eliminate other stumbling blocks before we put Pedal to the Metal again.
Keep Sleuthing!
