Welcome Michelle! Congrats on your baby boy!

You may have to be a little more aware of his needs & a little more cautious because of his heart but there is still a lot that you can do. Here is a list of suggestions:


http://downsyndromeupupupandaway.blogspot.ca/2011/04/baby-days-how-can-you-stimulate-newborn.html

I like what FrukC said about creating files just for him. The more interesting it is the more he will want to pay attention. High interest information also aids in reading comprehension.

Do you teach with only with videos or the computer screen?  When my dd was younger I printed off all if her BrillKids flashcards laminated them then fast flashed them because I found that she learned much more quickly from a printed card than when seeing them on the computer or tv.

We used 5 to 10 cards at the start but we did not wait until dd showed signs of recognition. We just showed them about 4 times per day for a week then replaced them with a new set. With the Doman method you would show new words every day & keep retiring old words a you replace them with new ones. I found this too confusing though so just did a new set ech week.  Babies learn very quickly & can become bored if you show the same thing over & over.

We could tell that Dd was reading words by 15 months. At first new words came more slowly but soon she began to learn them faster & faster. T that point we started showing more words & got up to about 65 a week age 3 - & we likely could have taught her much more than that!

Thanks to Rema for messaging me the info I was looking for. I ended up making one & writing up a tutorial. I posted it on m blog if anyone wants to check it out:

http://downsyndromeupupupandaway.blogspot.com/2013/10/brachiation-ladder-tutorial.html?m=1

Thanks again!

I didn't have time to read the other responses so may be repeating but here's ever worked for us.

Starting when teaching reading we tried to make it really fun. Dd started reading books at age 3.5 years & I always tried to have very interesting & age appropriate books for her.

I also tried to have easier selections available for her to read to herself.  Even now I do this. dd is reading at around a 3rd or 4rth grade level so that's what we read at bedtime. When she reads to herself she enjoys 1st or 2nd grade level stories although she does read much higher levels at times as well.

I also make sure that we have loads of books available for her. This doesn't have to cost a lot. I often pop into the thrift store & buy a couple dozen books at a time laying 10 to 25 cents each. I'm pickly too - these are good quality books chooses specifically for my dd's needs. I think we are lucky to have pretty generous donors to our local store.

I have been wanting to build a brachiation ladder for quite a while but found it pretty complicated.  Thanks to the help of some other moms brainstorming with me I came up with an idea to build one much more simply.  Here is a link to t he tutorial:

http://downsyndromeupupupandaway.blogspot.ca/2013/10/brachiation-ladder-tutorial.html

I'm glad to hear the program is working so well for many of you!

I think one important thing to remember (& sorry if I'm repeating myself but his is soooo important) is that you need to trust that your little one, even those with a label, is very smart & taking in more than you can imagine! 

Thanks   I'll check those links out.

Quite a while ago I think someone scanned a copy of Glenn Doman's brachiation ladder plans onto this forum. It's from the Physically Superb book. I've searched & searched but can't find it. If anyone knows where it is I'd love a link 

I actually have a copy of that book  but I've recently misplaced it. 

thanks

I agree. Go as fast as possible. Use laminated flashcards because you can flash them much more quickly than card stock or index cards. M

Here is a video - & you can even go faster than this!

http://downsyndromeupupupandaway.blogspot.com/2011/05/fast-flashing-method.html

You're welcome

10 times per day is a good goal to shoot for but remember. If you can't get that done don't worry just try again the next day. It is a goal to shoot for but don't put too much pressure on yourself to always get done. 

Welcome to all of our new members!

AiAi - have you tried raising the end of the crawling track so the incline is steep enough that gravity helps her to move?  We watched dd very carefully but kept it at a very steep incline so that even a small amount of movement allowed her to move down the track.

ilovebooks - We started teaching words & doing encyclopedic knowledge when dd was a baby & not very verbal. She has trisomy 21 (Down syndrome).  It was a giant leap of faith but we always tried to assume that she understood everything.  She is now 6, doing great in kindergarten while she is behind in some areas she is the most academically advanced kid in the class.  She is able to talk well enough to tell me all about her day, is doing grade one math, is pretty good at finding places on the map & is reading at a 4th grade level. I really believe thta fact that we always assumed she was learning everything helped us to remember to be constantly teaching her. It would have been easy to assume everyone else's low expectations of DS were true but by having crazily high expectations we are helping her to really reach her full potential. Your little guy is probably soaking in way more than you think!

I've read that book too - it is a good one 

As for these ideas being expensive, yes some of them are however we have a great thrift store around here & annual community rummage sales & I've been able to pick up some really great things that way for little cost.  Even Kijiji or Craig's list can be really economical ways to do these sorts of things.

My dd did this also. What I discovered was that she found read much faster than she could speak so she would skip words so she could go  faster. The words she skipped were always the less important ones like the, a, was, etc. so she was still getting the point of the story across.

I didn't want to slow down her reading so I allowed her to do that a lot but each evening when she read to me I would have her "read clearly so mommy can understand the story"

She is 6 now & I still have to remind her to read slowly to me