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EARLY LEARNING / Teaching Your Child to Read / Re: Reading to your children/babies
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on: August 04, 2009, 07:03:03 PM
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My son at a very young age developed a love for books. We started before he was born. My wife and I made it a daily routine to read out loud together and this interest is definitely seen in our son.
Children are particularly observant of things that we may not always see. If they see an interest in a specific area, a lot of times through copying or imitating it will be carried on. Now as for reading to your children this is definitely a step in preparing your child for reading readiness. As a parent, we need to show our interest if we want them to excel in what we see as important. So, as a parent, am I taking my time to read, or better yet spending the time to read? Your little one is going to pick up on that. It is always a great joy to see your little one copy you. I mean they pick up whatever you do very quickly. In fact it is a little scary at times because you find them imitating things you don’t want them to imitate (and I mean at a very young age), but what a thrill when you are seeing them copying the very thing you want them to copy.
If you have certain books that you really like, most likely that will be expressed in the way you read or tell the story. So in getting started I would recommend any books that you would consider fun and exciting to you. At first we read the Bible, marriage books, and parenting books together (before birth). And then after birth we continued with those for ourselves, but went to books that were more age appropriate for him (hopefully you have a few favorites). I would recommend coming up with a variety of different books, and as you find his or her particular interests. For example, our boy really likes dogs and other animals. You will find out that there will be certain books that they will want to hear over and over again. Great! Don’t stop! Keep that interest and keep it going by making reading a habit in the home. Make a set time for reading DAILY, even if it is for only a short time. Let it become a habit.
It is important to keep reading to them even after they have mastered it. Those stories I heard as a kid in the classroom still remain in my mind and have become some of the books that I find myself using in the classroom myself. In other words let them read on their own as they learn to do so, but also read to them as well.
When I was teaching first grade, I remember one student in particular who picked up reading very quickly. In that class I had a homework requirement of reading with or to your child at least 5 minutes per day. Well this turned into a problem, as when she went home it turned into hours of reading, and the mother seemed to be quite upset when she came to me and told me about the problem. Then I explained to her, the idea of forming a habit, and that she did not have to spend the whole time listening or reading to her daughter. I told her that I just wanted to make sure the children really developed an interest in reading and that only 5 minutes were required.
By the way, I believe that she tested at the 7th grade level by the end of her first grade year in school. Who knows what she would have scored if she had the LR program or someone would have taken the time to teach her to read before 5. But I am secretly glad that mother took the hours to listen to her daughter. She was the one who really helped her child blossom.
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BrillKids Software / Little Reader - General Discussion / Re: Important POLL - What's your Internet connection speed? (Please help answer!)
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on: June 09, 2009, 07:49:47 PM
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1. My connection is Tri-band which comes through an adsl router.
2. My internet connection speed is 256kbps. The connection is up and down. Lately is has been much better, but the monsoons are coming and I am sure that will effect the connection here.
3. I think that 200mb would be a problem unless I had a way being able to download it in smaller pieces. I have never had sucess so far with anything over 100mb, but I have not really tried lately.
4. I would be willing to download during the night while sleeping, so time is not a major factor.
5. Since the mail is not always dependable here, downloading would be my choice.
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EARLY LEARNING / Teaching Your Child to Read / Re: Would you prefer teaching British English than US English?
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on: May 21, 2009, 06:38:08 PM
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I personally would prefer American English, only because that is my mother tongue, but I think both should be taught.
I am in India and we follow British English here, but in reality it is Indian English. I will say both accents and phonics both have differences. I can listen to someone from the UK and have no problem understanding, but at times I still struggle deciphering what is actually being said when I speak with some Indians (and I have been here for more than 10 years).
So we might even include a spot for Indian English, because, as our society becomes more global, we will see a greater need to know the variations in English.
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Parents' Lounge / Coffee Corner - General Chat / Re: B'Day party idea??
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on: April 18, 2009, 07:28:12 PM
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Here are some tips that help in making any party or activity more memorable.
1. See what your child wants and fulfill their requests as best as possible, even if it is not your favorite choice. This is only a short time that will be remembered for a lifetime.
2. Most parties are best limited to no more than two hours (exceptions: might be sleepovers, amusement parks, etc.)
3. As for activities, quit when the children are still having fun (They will remember this activity and will want to do it again.).
4. 11 year olds like lots of action. Make sure you have every minute planned for; over planning won't hurt.
5. Find activities that are more cooperative in nature instead of competitive. In other words play games where the children will have fun and be involved.
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Parents' Lounge / Coffee Corner - General Chat / Re: Looking for other parents of children with Down syndrome
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on: April 06, 2009, 08:02:51 PM
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This was our first child and we really had no idea of how fast he should develop. But when he was not able to hold up his own head for a longer period of time than the average child, then I started wondering. But even though I had some suspicions that something was different, I did not do or say anything because I felt others would treat him more like a normal child. Finally, one pediatrician suggested he suspected DS because of the single crease in the palm of the hand. At that time it finally dawned on me that he was right. Since he seemed quite healthy we didn’t feel a need to act quickly. Finally around a year old we had his chromosomes checked which showed the trisomy 21 in 100% of the samples. However since he still showed no signs of any other problems physically other than the low muscle tone, we decided to wait to give him a thorough checkup when we came for a visit to the US which was around 2 years 8 months.
But now knowing what I know about DS, I would have not done it that way at all. We were just blessed that there were not other problems other than his low muscle tone. I can only thank God that we prayed over and over for a healthy child, and I feel that God protected us especially knowing all of the other health problems that a DS child can have.
Another reason DS was not detected was because the doctor did not even give us a hint there was anything wrong. But I can guarantee that if he were born today that we would have known because this hospital does genetic checking for all at birth. Things are really changing here in India.
As for a physical program, we are just working on his interests. At first he was exposed to a lot of physical stimulation, we read to him a lot and showed him a lot of love. By the time he was one he had traveled to a number of places in India from south to north receiving a lot of different stimulations from train travel, to bus travel, riding in rickshaws, etc. In the church everyone would want to hold him and they would say how he is such a bright boy always giving him positive affirmations; they had no idea. And we continued that same positive upbeat attitude towards him, and continued to constantly have books in front of him stimulating his mind.
He loves music and dancing so we had him listen to a lot of music. When we got the thorough checkup in the US, the physical therapist gave us a set of exercises for us to do. Now we continue to have him do daily exercises which he seems to enjoy because he loves mimicking his older sister doing her daily exercise.
Now he likes to walk (He did not walk until 2 years.) and go outdoors and play in the park (Sometimes it seems impossible to get him away.). He still loves books and is reading a little.
His speech is delayed, but his comprehension is quite high. He has always loved books since he was tiny. But as parents we always reading to him and because it was important for us it was important to him. The avatar I have is showing Sunny around 7 months. He has always shown a good attention span. And if given a room of toys and books, he chooses the books over toys.
LR is very helpful as when he goes through the play lists, he tries to mimic each word which is good for his speech. What is nice is when he reads you know what he is saying.
By the way keep up the high expectations and have a positive attitude.
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Parents' Lounge / General Parenting / Re: Favorite Children's books
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on: April 05, 2009, 10:01:35 PM
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Here are a few others I would add to the list:
The "Dear God Books" by Annie Fitzgerald have been a favorites for my family. "Little Bear" by Else Minarik is a lot of fun. The "Frog and Toad" books by Arnold Lobel are also favorites. The "Carl" books by Alexandra Day are great picture books. The "Franklin" books by Paulette Bourgeois have been very well liked.
As a child, I always loved the books written by Bill Peet.
And even though it has already been mentioned I would also give an extra thumbs up for the "Berenstain Bear" books.
As for slightly older kids I would recommend "The Boxcar Children," the "Little House on the Prairie" books. And I really like Ruskin Bond's books especially, "The Blue Umbrella."
Wow! there are so many good books out there.
One thing in preparing your child for reading is spending quality time reading to him or her. If they see your love for books, they will copy you. Make sure you read the children's stories that you love the best because they will see your enthusiasm and there is a good probability that story will become one of their favorites.
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Parents' Lounge / Coffee Corner - General Chat / Re: Looking for other parents of children with Down syndrome
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on: March 11, 2009, 08:15:13 AM
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Hang in there! Our boy Sunny is now 5 years and he is progressing nicely. At first we did not have little reader, but we always read to him. He is still not speaking clearly, but he seems to have good attention span and loves books. He is reading some words. We can give some of the credit to the LR program, but I know one other thing that has helped him a lot is that we don't treat him like a disabled person. Another helpful thing is that since Sunny was our first child we had no idea that he was different in any way so we just treated him like a normal child. We did not find out until he was one year old. He is a unique, but typical boy in so many ways. One thing that is different is that if he was given a room full of toys and books, he would choose the books first. Of course we have to remember not every child has the same likes and dislikes. Does he have any particular interests? Really work in those areas. My advice is continue to give him as much attention and stimulation as possible especially in his areas of interest.
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BrillKids Software / HOW TOs and FAQs / Re: How to Install Additional Language Packs
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on: March 07, 2009, 08:29:26 PM
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Wow this is great! I have finally figured out how to change the font to Hindi (हिन्दी). I am able to make it work for Little Math and other applications. But I am not sure if it will work on my old machine yet because when I followed the given instructions earlier on that computer, it did not work. Now that I have figured this out... Is there a way that I can use another Hindi font other than the one given in the language pack? I would be most grateful for anybody who can help here.
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EARLY LEARNING / Early Learning - General Discussions / Re: Puzzles
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on: February 14, 2009, 05:37:30 AM
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...wonderful post on puzzles.
A puzzle can be a great activity for all family members. It not only encourages positive interaction between siblings, but more important, it is an easy way for parent(s) and child to interact. And, as it is well put, the many educational aspects of a puzzle adds to that quality time spent with the child.
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