How to test what they know/Progress diary

[Sonshine]

Hi!  My son Justin and I are brand new to the Little Reader Program.    Justin is 6 yrs old and has Down syndrome. Developmentally and cognitively, he would compare with a typical 3 or 3 1/2 year old. I believe Little Reader will be a good program to teach him to read, because of his short attention span, his propensity to get distracted, his difficulty with storing, retrieving, and integrating information, yet his visual memory is one of his strengths. He loves videos and computers. I'm excited about the editing features and have already begun to do a little inputting of close-up, cropped pictures of family members for the body parts - head section. Such fun!   
    Question 1: How do those of you with toddlers/preschoolers go about finding out what words your child knows?  I mistakenly thought the Little Reader Delux kit would include flashcards. But, now I find that I have to make my own. I'd already done the Color card set and the Animals 1 set, prior to ordering the Little Reader program.  Now, I'm working on making flashcards for the body parts and action words in the first 2 or 3 lessons, as well as additional animal name cards that are in the Little Reader program but were not in the set I already downloaded.  To ensure their longevity, the cards need to be laminated.  I don't have access to a laminating machine, so I do it by hand with clear contact paper.  Not much fun for a perfectionist who is bothered by wrinkles!    And if I do a new lesson each day, I will be constantly needing to make new flashcards.  Also, Justin needs a variety of approaches. If I "test" him every day with flashcards, he becomes resistant and uncooperative.  He has sufficient language to tell me the words, but sometimes he just will get an attitude and refuse to say the words he knows.  How can give hims extra practice on the words and "test" him in less direct and/or varied ways, so that it will seem a fun game to him, rather than an interrogation by his Gestapo Mom?   
    Qestion 2: the Progress Diary of the Little Reader Program?  I don't know what I should write/record there.  Do other moms use it?  What kind of things do you make note of there?  Thanks!   Justin's Mom

[Sonshine]

Well, it does help to formulate a specific question to post on the forum, even if it is only to focus my mind on finding my own solution!     
Today, I started over with Day 1 Lessons, because I want to see what Justin has learned, after 2 weeks of alternating between Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 lessons. 
We did the Word Flash, as usual, and I reminded him that it's really fast, so he has to say the words fast. Which is great speech practice! 
Then, for the Multisensory lesson, I turned the sound all the way down so there was no audio, and waited for him to say the word on the screen, after which I clicked to the picture and then to the video clip with appropriate sounds and/or actions of our own.
He read every word in every catagory (except one)!!!    And no resistance whatsoever!  YEAH! 
The only word he didn't read correctly was "chin"  (he said "chicken")    I turned the sound back up for the Picture Flash lesson. 
Then, we went right on with Session 2, again turning the sound all the way down for the Multisensory lesson.
Once again, he read every word except one!!!     
This time, after misreading "chin" as "hair" (because of the h?), when I put the mouse cursor under the ch and said the sound /ch/, he then said "chin."
No need to do the printed-out flashcards, today!    Justin's Mom

[kizudo]

Yay for Justin!  And Yay for you to come up with a new thought.  I agree.  A verbalized question can often focus your thinking. 

A few things we do here:
1.  my son "races" with Daddy to see who will read the word first as I flip through the flashcards. 
2. I lay the flashcards around the room and a puppet asks him to bring him ___
3. I have his words posted in a line on the fridge on individual pieces of paper. I write one of the words down on a whiteboard or paper without him seeing and he has to guess which of the fridge words it is.  As he reads each word they get moved to the opposite side of the fridge until he guesses my word - then we compare my written one to the fridge word and we're done! 
4. (pictures attached)  I found a "picker upper" at a dollar store.  I wrote out his words on paper towels (they have a nice curve to them).  First round I ask him to pick up ___. Second round, he picks up what he wants but has to tell me the word when he gives me the paper.   

I call this "Sneaky Fun!"

[Sonshine]

"Kizudo", I like your ideas!    And I like your term "Sneaky Fun"!      I haven't tried them yet, but I sure will keep the ideas on file for down the road...

Thank you for responding to my post.  Are you using Little Reader to teach an older child with special needs to read?  How long have you been using it?  And how is your child doing with it?  I love surprising my son with close up shots of big brother's nose and chin, big sisiter's teeth and lips, another brother's ear and smile, and Justin himself standing and sitting.  (Surpises them, too)   

Except for me reading/telling Bible stories out of his Bible Story book, which he enjoys, Little Reader is the only part of home school, so far, that Justin does willingly!    We are starting kind of low key, to get him used to the new routine... that Mom has schoolwork for him to do every morning, and he needs to do his school work, before he has free playtime.  It is a challenge to keep him on task long enough to color a picture or make a picture craft to go along with the Bible story and do a few simple worksheets (4 or 5) to do with basic skills (colors, shapes, size, matching, selecting, tracing, etc.)  His fine motor skills need the practice, but he would rather clear the table by bumping/pushing the worksheets on the floor and announcing, "All done!"      Justin's Mom 

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Sonshine,

I just wanted to verify that you are printing the cards off using the Print feature in LR? Rather than writing them by hand. I assumed so, but I wanted to be sure! If you are writing, printing will save you a lot of work. You can then load the cards into the flap binders and just switch them out whenever you like (available in the LR store). https://user.brillkids.com/onlinestore/tls-presentation-binder-set.php

-TmT

[kmum]

MY dd was quite a bit younger when I started - less than 1 year, but we did not test her at all at the start. I was more concerned that she would not enjoy it if we tested, so for the first year or so, we had very little indication if she was learning at all.  We just continued to input, input, input. My daughter is now able to read books, & often does read out loud to us,  but we still have to be careful not to test too much or she will shut down on us.

As for laminators, we have a very inexpensive one that we bought at Walmart. It was well worth buying - I like perfect looking flashcards too:)!

I haven't used LittleReader with an older child with SN, however my typical 8 yo has expressed an interest in learning French lately & is enjoying her LittleReader French lessons.

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