Teaching reading when my child is not speaking very much

[tboatwright]

Hello.  I am new here.  I am currently using the trial version of Little Reader with my daughter who is 2 years old and has Down syndrome.  She talks some, when she wants to.  Mainly just single words, but not very many.  My question to you all is, how do I know that a program like this one is working when she isn't talking?  Is it worth doing right now?  My trial is almost up and I want to make a decision about this.  Your opinions would help me out very much.

Sincerely,
Tina (Olivia's mom, 2 years old with DS, and I have 4 older children)

[Mae_Jakob_Ka]

Hi Tina,

I started using LR when my son was 17 months old. He did not speak at all when I first used LR. I just kept showing him the lessons and tried to follow the curriculum. He read his first word when he was 23 months old and still spoke only a few words.

When he was 2 years and 1 month old, he started reading simple sentences on LR. He could speak less than 25 words at that time.. He could read sentences but could not talk in full sentences. 

He started talking full sentences when he was almost 3. He surprises us with new words every day. I do believe that he learned lots of new vocabularies from LR.  He completed the English curriculum but I am still using LR to teach him other subjects.

LR works for me. My son loves it and so do many other children

Elle

[tboatwright]

Elle,

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question.  Do you know if there is something that I can read that explains how to use the curriculum as a whole?  Maybe I should read over that.  So far, I have only used the software.  I could probably get more benefit by using everything together.  I have read that teaching your child to read will help increase vocabulary, I just wasn't for sure.  I want to spend the time and money wisely and make sure that I am doing things that will really help her.

It sounds like it really has helped your son.  I would be so excited for Olivia to be speaking in sentences at 3.  That is very encouraging to me!!

Thanks,
Tina

[TeachingMyToddlers]

When he was 2 years and 1 month old, he started reading simple sentences on LR. He could speak less than 25 words at that time.. He could read sentences but could not talk in full sentences. 

This has actually been true for me too. My son reads more words than he spontaneously speaks, for whatever reason. He is starting to talk more now and I know that reading and vocabulary exposure must have sped up this process on some level. All kids are different, but I fully expect that when he can finally express himself with ease, all of this reading and knowledge will just come bubbling over.  

As far as how you know if it's working, you can play no-pressure games like "which can says tiger?" or "Can you point to your ______?". If you look under Little Reader Testimonials on the home page, click Owen and you will see my son demonstrating he can read although he was pre-verbal (and still is to a somewhat lesser degree). Best of luck!

[TeachingMyToddlers]

From the Little Reader Software, if you click "support" you will see some guidelines that might help you out. You can also download the free teaching e-books by scrolling to the bottom of the page on www.brillkids.com. There are also many tutorials posted on the www.youtube.com/brillbaby channel. Hope that helps!

[Mae_Jakob_Ka]

Hi Tina,

You may want to check this post;

http://forum.brillkids.com/little-reader/pdf-version-of-little-reader-manual/msg77251/?topicseen

You will find the links where you can download LR manual.

Elle

[tboatwright]

Thank you for the links.  I was able to find and download the manual as well as the free activity sheets, flash cards, PowerPoint files, etc.  There is so much more to the program than I realized.  I am going to look through it all today and print out cards to begin using.

Tina

[luvn4]

Hi Tina,  My daughter is two and a half and also has down syndrome.  We have been using the program for about 6 months and I have seen great results.  I believe this program has helped her more than speech therapy.  There are many studies how early reading is benifical for children with down syndrome.  Some of this information can be found on the Downs ed web site.  Also Glen Domans books and Children of Hope Children of Dreams is helpful. 

My daughter is does not speak every thing that she can read but if I ask her "where is dog"  holding up a few cards she can choose the correct card.  Some times she will point to her body part of do the action word. 

[kmum]

Welcome Tina!

My daughter, who also has Down syndrome is now 4. We started when my dd was an infant, & of course nonverbal.  We did not test.  We just assumed she was learning.  If you have ever read any of Glenn Doman's books, where most early reading programs have developed from, you will see that any sort of testing is strongly discouraged.  We only ever tested her maybe twice before she spontaneously started reading outloud a little before her 2nd birthday.  It was very difficult for an impatient person like myself to take such a blind leap of faith, but it paid off very well in the end.  In September, she was evaluated at a 2nd grade level for reading.  She has another evaluation soon, & I will be back to post results - her reading has improved quite a bit since then, so I am excited to hear how she is doing!

[krisdr]

Thank you for this post!

[temteach]

My daughter is 33 months and has Down Syndrome. She has some speech but primarily uses signs. We started Brillkids 2-3 months ago. When we do LR she will either sign the word, say the word or do the action. She can read many of the words covered so far.

[Lovelightlaughter]

  I haven't started on Lr yet and our trial run out before  i could get bootcamp on my mac. however I have also noticed that she will talk back to the screen when there are words that she recognizes. Our use of flash cards has been very erratic but the words she has learnt are the ones that she can pronounce better. So I am excited about geting Brillkids and adding it to our home schooling tools.

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