{31 for 21} Reader.

I recently posted some videos on Instagram of Ellie reading.

She's reading at a pretty typical early kindergarten level.  (For my teacher friends, about at a DRA level 1.  I'm pretty sure she would dominate the DRA level A book and be instructional at a 1.)

So I must be magic, right?  Or use my amazing teacher skills to help my kid with Down syndrome read?

Not quite.

Here's what we've done from the start:

Baby - Age 2:

* Read a lot of books
* Use See and Learn for Vocabulary
* Point out environmental print (Words you see around - i.e., Cheerios)
* Pointed out letters
* Baby Signing Time DVDs

Age 2 - Age 4:

* Send Ellie to school
* Rachel and the Treeschoolers DVDs, Signing Time DVDs
* Listen to all the Dr. Jean songs and try to maintain calm
* Read lots of books
* Learn letters and sounds (thanks school!)
* Use letter flashcards to help with letter and sound ID
* Watch sight word videos on YouTube while doing hair each morning

Age 5:

* Kindergarten!  Yay!  Thanks, IEP team! (They do so much for Ellie.)
* Read Ellie's "Book Bag" books each day after school.
* Point out sight words while we read
* Let Ellie "read" challenging books she has memorized
* Touch under each word when we read


And we talk a lot.  To her, about her, podcasts, words, words, words.

But here's the thing.  This isn't prescriptive.  It's descriptive.  It's what works for Ellie with her strengths and weaknesses and interests.  So take it as my story and not what you should do, although you're welcome to try!  I just read a study about phoneme blending for kids with Down syndrome and I'll probably attempt to tackle some of that next!

Now with sound!

A video posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Sep 23, 2016 at 1:19pm PDT

* Aff links.

KINDERGARTEN.

Dear Ellie,

You start Kindergarten in five days.  Your excitement level and anxiety level are both though the roof, although you'll only talk about the excitement.  We see the anxiety play out in ways only your parents know.  We will meet your teacher today, and I've been praying for him.  As a teacher, I can imagine that you are fun to have in class but not always easy!

You'll spend most of the school day with your typical peers.  This makes me so excited and so scared.  I want you to have good friends.  I want you to continue to love school.  As hard as your last day of preK was, I hope I again have to drag you away from friends, sad because school is over.  I'll take that over first-day tears any day.

You've done well with school so far.  You love it.  You talk about school every single day, and you have since your first day of school when you turned two and a half.  Kindergarten will be your fourth year in public school, so in some ways you have a big advantage.

I'm not worried about you being gone all day, although I think Caroline will be a little lost at first.  I'm not worried about you speaking up for yourself, other than concern you'll over-do it!  (Last night you told me you would be putting your teacher in time out.... again, praying for him!)  I'm not worried about you running off or getting lost.

I worry about you finding that quality group of friends, especially because you'll be at a different school from all your preK classmates.  I worry about you being away from your best buddy from school after three years together.  I think you'll miss him a lot.  I worry about you trying even when writing or math is hard, and I worry that you'll be overwhelmed with lots of kids and afraid to read in class or raise your hand.  

I worry a little bit about you being made fun of, but mostly I worry about you getting overlooked.

The only concern you've voiced is being away from some specific friends from preK.  I am so proud of how hard you've worked to communicate clearly, but I also know that there are things you don't have the words for or don't want to talk about.  I can tell you're worried about other things, too.  Transitions are hard for you.

But I also know YOU are ready to soar.  You walked into summer school without saying goodbye to me.  You know a few kids from summer school who will be at your school, and I hope in your class.  

Just over five years since your heart was repaired, you're starting "real" school.  My current concerns seem so little when I remember that tiny baby in a hospital bed about five years ago!  

Lately we've been fundraising for your Buddy Walk team, which benefits our local Down syndrome group.  We raised enough to get a sign with your picture on it.  The signs all say "I am ____."  I asked you what your sign you say and you confidently yelled, "I AM SO BRAVE!!!!"

You're going to do great.  I'm sure there will be bumps along the road, because there are for any kid starting kindergarten.  I love you.  I have a feeling you'll bounce into school Tuesday while your mommy sheds a little tear or two.  (And we'll see how Daddy does!)

I love you, Ellie.  Be kind.  Enjoy learning.  Have fun.  And please try to listen.

A photo posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Aug 31, 2016 at 1:44pm PDT

A photo posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Aug 31, 2016 at 12:21pm PDT

A photo posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Aug 26, 2016 at 7:13am PDT

Some Video Fun.

A few videos from the last week or two...

A video posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Feb 2, 2016 at 12:26pm PST

A video posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Feb 2, 2016 at 12:23pm PST

A video posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Jan 30, 2016 at 10:23am PST

Caroline is teething.  Ellie is back in school, and so thankful for a routine to routine.  On Tuesday morning, she was running around singing, "WE GO TO SCHOOL ON TUESDAY!"

And me?  I'm just trying to catch up on life, and in shock realizing that Ellie turns FIVE a month from tomorrow.

Five.

Matt and I asked Ellie what we should get for her birthday.  She said a cake.  I asked what kind of present and she said a hippo.  We all laughed and I told her that we needed a real answer, because I'm not buying a hippo.

Totally deadpan, she looked at Matt and said, "Okay, you can get me a penguin."

Is this the girl whose birth I feared?  Who I worried wouldn't talk?  Who I feared wouldn't have personality?

Ha.

Ellie, I'm so glad my fears were so silly.  You are wonderful.

Reading.

It's been ages since I posted about Ellie and early literacy.  At her school, they do a lot of phonics work, and she knows all of her letters and sounds.  She's been working on blending the sounds together to form words, which is a challenge for her.

I decided it was time to start working on sight words with Ellie.  Some parents of kids with Down syndrome start much younger, I waited for a few reasons.  They do phonics at school.  I wanted Ellie to comprehend what she reads.  And I didn't get around to it until last week, with the exception of family names and a few random words.  For a few months, Ellie has watched sight word videos while I do her hair, but I got serious the other day and made flashcards.  I did our family names, some animals, and "see" so we could make the sentence "I see my ...."

She loves it!  I didn't type the cards, but I used my good teacher "Handwriting Without Tears" printing.  On the word "baby" I darkened one line of the "b," because I noticed Ellie struggling to differentiate between "b" and "p" and that was an easy way to draw her attention to the letter's features.

So, a week or so in?

Ellie loves her words.  Caroline sits with us while we practice.  Ellie often gets the words out herself to practice, so I know she really does enjoy it.

And other than that?  The weather alternates between warm but rainy and cold, and my girls and I have been crafting, cooking, and dance-party-ing.

Here they are:

Ellie: Dirty glasses and big smile.

Caroline's face here... sisterly love.

She looks worried a lot.  Ellie might be the reason!

Although Ellie errs on the side of loving too hard, she really is the best sister.  She fetches diapers for me but more importantly, she plays sweetly with Caroline.  It's beautiful to watch.

{31 for 21} Phonics.

According to basically everyone, sight-reading (recognizing words) comes more easily than phonics (sounding out words) for children with Down syndrome.

So of course, I'm teaching Ellie phonics.  My reason is very simple - they learn phonics at school.  We also work a little bit on sight words, but not a ton.  Ellie can read "Ellie," "mom," "dad," "Caroline," "up," and a few other random words.

Thanks to preschool and the flashcards I mentioned yesterday, Ellie has learned her letters and sounds (at least the short vowel sounds.)

A video posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Oct 13, 2015 at 1:25pm PDT

{31 for 21} Favorite Tools and Tricks.

When it comes to learning activities for Ellie, I have tried almost everything.  As a special education and elementary school teacher, I own a lot of this stuff and owned much of it before Ellie was born!

Math:

Junior Learning Rainbow Numbers Magnetic Set - We use this to work on number sense and matching digits to the number of dots.

Reading and Math:

Everything from DSFOC.  Seriously.  Click here.  You have to make an account but they don't spam you at all.  It all includes directions.  I love this stuff and use it with students who benefit from a visual approach.

Here's Ellie "reading" a book she sort of memorized.  (She had it memorized it and outgrew it.  Now she's "reading" to sister.  She has the gist of it right but not all the words.  It should be "A cow says moo.  A sheep says baa.  Three singing pigs say LA LA LA.  No no you say.  That isn't right.  The pigs say OINK all day and night.")

A video posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Sep 30, 2015 at 4:00pm PDT

Reading:

See and Learn is one of my favorites, although we've fallen off that track a bit after Ellie learned the vocabulary.  She never did sight reading with these cards, mostly because we got busy.

For learning letter sounds, it's super annoying, but google "Dr. Jean."  Ellie loves every song and knows her sounds.  Awesome, right?  Now go buy earplugs.

Speech:

This is what I get asked about most frequently because Ellie has great speech for a kid with Down syndrome.  I also have the least number of speech tips and tricks.  Ready?

What worked for Ellie?
* Go to preschool.
* Have great Early Intervention.
* Have a mommy who talks a lot.
* Have a natural strength in speech.
* Read a lot of books.

What tools do you love?

Final Countdown/Summer Learning Goals.

We are in the final countdown... One more week of school for Ellie and me, then summer vacation is upon us.  You can catch my countdown on my photography Facebook page.

No big travel plans await this year, and days stretch out wonderfully ahead of us.

Ellie didn't qualify for extended school year (ESY), and I didn't sign her up for summer school.  Instead, Ellie and I will be doing "Mommy and Ellie summer school," a.k.a, staying home and doing some learning activities.

I figured that posting this publicly would be good accountability.  Here's what we're working on.  Please ask how it's going so I stay on track!

MATH:

Ellie has been in love with this Rainbow Number set recently.  Of course, half the time she uses the dots (counters) to build a snowman, but the rest of the time, she tries to count and she identifies the numerals.  I love the visual and it's cheaper than Numicon, which I would love to invest in at some point.




The link above is from Amazon, but I got our set on Zulily.  I just don't know how often it's up on Zulily - I usually find it in a special needs type collection.

Other early math skills include sorting and of course 1:1 correspondence.  I've been counting everything.  Ellie has, too, but her 1:1 correspondence and even rote counting need some help.  We often watch letter and sound videos when I do her hair, but we may switch to counting songs.

"More and less" is an early math concept that I think Ellie is developing, but I want to be more intentional this summer.

LITERACY:

I've dropped the ball on the DownsEd materials, but I still love them and the concept.  Ellie has the readers and can "read" and point to the words in some of the books, but has trouble identifying the words out of context.  I also printed up a bunch of readers from DSFOC in both English and Spanish for some of my students who don't have Down syndrome, but who are visual learners.  I'll be bringing those home this summer to read with Ellie and work on sight words.

In terms of phonics, Ellie knows her letters and sounds, so we'll just keep building words with her favorite flashcards and making the sounds for each letter.  She loves that activity.  I spell a word (i.e., "CAT") and we make the /c/, /a/, and /t/ sound.

Here's the uppercase version of the flashcards.  They also have sight words.  Again, I've found cheaper on Zulily (but you have to pay shipping, so it's kind of a wash unless you have Zulily credit).



Ellie LOVES her flashcards.  I think the textured letters help keep it interesting.  We won't use them for handwriting as our school district uses Handwriting Without Tears and I love it!

BOOKS:

Although books fall under literacy, I need to add this as a separate section.  Ellie has already gotten ahold of baby sister's books and is memorizing them!  I'm going to encourage this so Ellie can "read" to Caroline!  Her current favorite is "10 in da bed and the little one said ROLL OVER ROLL OVER and they all roll over and one fall out OUCH!"  (Which is almost what the book says.)

"Reading"

A video posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Jun 13, 2015 at 3:27am PDT

LIFE SKILLS:

Ellie is continuing to take gymnastics this summer and is also signed up for four 1:1 swimming classes.  Wish us luck.  She isn't always agreeable in the water, although she seems to be turning over a new leaf this summer!

In our spare time, we need to get our house ready for baby sister, and Mommy wants to learn more about using a speedlite for her camera.  So I have a feeling this summer will fly by!  We also have yet to hit the spray ground, which I plan to correct very soon!

Happy Summer!  What great learning do you have planned?

P.S.  There's affiliate links here, and everything is a link to a product I own and like.  

It's a .....

Well, I'll let Ellie tell you.

A video posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Apr 14, 2015 at 2:37am PDT

Caroline Grace, we can't wait to meet you.

(Although NIPS testing had suggested a girl, the accuracy for gender hasn't been published with a positive predictive value study.  But yesterday, we had a surprise doctor's appointment because Caroline was causing trouble.  She is okay, and while they checked on her, they confirmed the gender!)

A Numbers Game.

Although for the first two years of my teaching career I taught math almost exclusively, I've recently been teaching reading.

This shows up in my parenting.

Ellie and George.  Just because.

I don't have a ton of early number games, and I don't think to use the games I know naturally.  I have made some printable books, we try to sort, we count, but that's as good as it gets.  Ellie gets far more math at school than at home.

But I decided to get a little more intentional.  I found a set online that has magnets and great visuals.

Here's what I learned:

Ellie knows to touch each thing as she counts.
Ellie can rote count.
Ellie cannot combine the two skills.
Ellie can recognize most of the digits. (This was a big surprise!)
Ellie cannot correlate the digit to the number of items.

And another photo just for fun.

I know what Ellie needs to learn!  This little set is super fun.  Minor detail is that since it's on Zulily, it won't last long.  However, it looks like you can buy direct (for a bit more) here.

Image via Zulily

So let's see how long we can go before Ellie either a) learns her numbers and gets bored, b) loses all the pieces, or c) turns the pieces into food for her stuffed animals.

Betting on c)

At Home Learning Activities for Kids with Down Syndrome.

I recently was going through some old posts, and found this one, in which I state my intentions to work on a few things with Ellie.

An excerpt:

A Look Ahead….

Maybe if I share this publicly, I'll do a better job of teaching Ellie some skills that are next on the list, including:* Getting dressed with more independence* Potty training (which can be really hard for kids with low muscle tone)* Cutting soft foods with a knife* Responding appropriately to questions* Counting to ten by rote* Counting objects with 1:1 correspondence

I've been diligent with some goals and a slacker with others, but Ellie has continued to grow in her abilities at her own pace.

Of the list above, we've spent the most time on questions and answers.  Verbal skills are Ellie's relative strength, but answering questions can be hard.  We model, model, model question and answer skills.

I wasn't sure how much progress we were making until Ellie and I went out to dinner Friday night. (In the conversation below, the cashier was speaking to me, not Ellie.  She couldn't even see over the counter, so it wasn't a big deal.)

Me: Ellie, do you want a turkey sandwich or a quesadilla?
Ellie: Quesadilla!!!!!
Me, to cashier: I guess we'll take a kids quesadilla.
Cashier: OK, chicken on that?
Me: El, chicken?
Ellie: NO!
Cashier laughs.
Cashier: Fruit or chips as the side?
Me: Fruit, please.
Ellie: CHIPS!
Cashier laughs again.
Me: Oh, that's a mom decision, and mom picked fruit.
Ellie: CHIPS!!!!!!! I want chips!

A photo posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Jan 23, 2015 at 2:48pm PST

So at least she is making choices, even if I disagree.  I didn't cave, and we ate fruit.

Other (less verbal) skills are tricker for Ellie.  She needs a helping hand with shirts, even if they're big, although Ellie is getting better.  She puts her jacket on using the "preschool flip."  She can put her Uggs on her feet, although getting them on the correct feet is inconsistent.  Giving her time to simply play with her boots helped with that self-dressing skill, but the shirts will require a bit more work on Mommy's part.

On the list from my previous post, I mentioned counting to ten.  We worked on that skill by sending Ellie to school.  Yay, teachers!  Now we just need to work on 1:1 correspondence.

A photo posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Jan 7, 2015 at 2:07pm PST

Ellie has been working on her coloring and writing, too.  She got these crayons for Christmas and loves them.  Almost every day, she sits at her little table and tells me she is going to "color on the paper."  I love that the crayons promote a tripod grasp and Ellie loves that they look cool.

Art time is also time we work on letters.  I write words, we draw pictures of the words, we point out letters, we make faces on the paper with "two eyes and two ears and one nose and one mouth."  We add stickers to promote fine motor skills.

***

To work on other pre-reading skills, we just read!  Ellie loves books. If I say "no" to reading a story, she'll give me sad eyes and say, "Can you try?"  She copies my reading, pointing to the words in her books as she makes up her own words, adorably starting every story with "Onceuponatime!"

As in, "Onceuponatime Elephant and Piggie driving.  Do you have a car?  NO!"

Elephant and Piggie fans know that she skipped straight to the end.

Finally, I decided to make Ellie her own predictable text book.  I used all images she's familiar with (as they're all photos I took.)  You are welcome to download and use as you like, but only in your own home and I retain copyright.  So print it out and have some fun!

Affiliate links are included in this post.

Dollhouse and Music.

Ellie recently received the best hand-me-down ever - a dollhouse.  The first day, she played with it for about three hours straight.  When she got in the car and spotted it in the backseat, her eyes lit up and she exclaimed, "A dollhouse!  For Ellie!"

A video posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Jan 23, 2015 at 1:43pm PST

She knows what she loves.  Receiving the dollhouse on a rainy/sleety Friday couldn't have been better timing.  Ellie is currently operating the dollhouse oven telling the dolls, "It super hot.  Be careful!"

I will credit school for doing a great job - Ellie's letter and number identification are improving.  I was shocked the other day when she handed me a puzzle piece of the number 8 and said, "Hi mama.  Here's a 8!"  No clue she knew that!

Below is her abbreviated version of the Dr. Jean letter sounds song.  If you can't catch it or you aren't familiar with the song, the portion Ellie sang is "A for apple, a a a, B for bounce, b b b b b b, C for cut, c c c c c" and then she skipped to "Z for zigzag!"

As a Kindergarten teacher, I hear too much Dr. Jean at work.  As a mom, I hear WAY too much Dr. Jean at home, but at least my kid knows her letters.  (If you want to see how the song really goes, here's a link.  Have fun.)

A video posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Jan 20, 2015 at 3:03pm PST

Stay tuned later this week for a post about some specific skills we are working on at home!

Counting.

Ellie's early reading skills (letter identification, the idea that books have words, etc) are on track.  Her early math skills are a bigger challenge for her, which is fairly typical for kids with Down syndrome.  I also tend to work with her on reading skills more, because I happen to be a Kindergarten English teacher.

School has been working on counting, so when Ellie's daily Christmas book was 10 Trim the Tree'ers, I wondered how it would go.  Good news - she counted to ten.  The less good news - 1:1 correspondence needs some work.

A video posted by Megan Landmeier (@meganlando) on Dec 12, 2014 at 2:34am PST

And just now, she was holding a candy cane ornament and insisting "It's a big 2!"  Not quite, but I'll take it.

Have a great day.

Flashcards for High Interest Words.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I made Ellie some new flashcards.  In this video (which is terrible quality, sorry) she'd decided she was done with flashcards, but her baby doll could do them.



Who knew baby dolls could do so well at word recognition?

Summer Learning.

Ah, summer.  A fantastic time of year to be a teacher or a student.  Last summer, Ellie still received therapy services through Early Intervention.  This year, however, she was unable to attend the Extended School Year program offered by the district due to our travel plans.

So today, a few of the things we are doing at home to work on some school-type skills but still have fun during summer vacation.  Let me know if these are helpful to you, and feel free to share any other great tips!

Physical Therapy

Ellie has taken up running.  After the whole family was sick for a week, and then vacation, I've been a little on the slow side.  I've been taking Ellie in her stroller while I run, but the other day, she insisted on running herself.  I encouraged her.  Even if my road back to race shape takes longer due to my little shadow on the run, seeing Ellie run is worthwhile.

Ellie is also participating in a summer gymnastics class and going to the pool almost daily.  When we were in Florida, she spent a lot of time walking on the beach, building up her muscles and improving her balance on the uneven surfaces.  Since summer is a good time to slow down, I encourage Ellie to walk in stores independently more often - I'm not as rushed trying to get to the next place on time as I am during the school year.

The World Cup provided some encouragement with kicking skills.

"I kick it!"

Educational

Ellie loves flashcards, so we've begun to work on some word identification.  The words are all high interest.  I just opened a word processing document and wrote the names of familiar people and dropped in a photo of each person.  That's one side of the card.  The other side has the name only.  I cut them out and taped each to a scrap of leftover scrapbook paper.  I should laminate them.  I haven't yet.

Teacher tip: Look for a font that doesn't have the fancy "a."

Since Ellie loves the Treeschoolers DVD about plants, we planted some carrots, onions, and radishes in a "root viewer" toy I bought on zulily.  Ellie's favorite part of that activity was stirring the dirt (adding water to the peat to make it expand.)

Stirring dirt.

We're also counting everything.  All the time.  And yet Ellie still counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11…  So that's our next project!

Occupational Therapy

Fine motor skills are one of Ellie's biggest challenges.  This summer, I'm trying a little bit of everything.  We're coloring a lot on big paper, sticking stickers, and playing with play dough.  My dad and stepmom got Ellie this sticker book with reusable stickers, and that seems to be a favorite.  I'm drawing circles and asking Ellie to add eyes, nose, and mouth.  We're making letters in the sand.  Fine motor skills are so important for school - cutting with scissors, writing, tracing, coloring.

Sensory activities have been playing in the sand and playing with bubbles, especially at our neighbor's birthday party, which had a bubble theme.  Anything to help her feel different textures and strengthen hand muscles is good, including the spray ground and the pool!

Note the glasses on her neck.

And of course, the other big concern with fine motor skills is making sure Ellie can see whatever she's working on.  At this point, she will wear her glasses on her neck.  The glasses journey continues to be one of baby steps.  (If you're on Instagram, I am documenting these baby steps with #elliegetsglasses.)

Speech

Full sentences.  Now, expecting a three year old with Down syndrome to speak in full sentences at all times is probably a lofty goal.  However, I've been using chaining to help Ellie use full sentences for requests.

Example, Ellie wanting me to open a lid on a cup.

Ellie: Help cup!
Mom: Help me open the cup, please.
Ellie: Help open cup, pwease.
Mom: Good job.  Help me open the cup please (and I open it.)

Ellie loves to sing, so we expose her to music when we can and encourage new words to her favorite school song.  Where is _____, where is ____?  We sing about cars in the street, baby dolls in the backseat, hats on our heads, you name it.

Otherwise, we continue to expose Ellie to new language experiences (in English and Spanish) and to praise her for new words and phrases.

A Look Ahead….

Maybe if I share this publicly, I'll do a better job of teaching Ellie some skills that are next on the list, including:
* Getting dressed with more independence
* Potty training (which can be really hard for kids with low muscle tone)
* Cutting soft foods with a knife
* Responding appropriately to questions
* Counting to ten by rote
* Counting objects with 1:1 correspondence

They key in all of these activities has been helping Ellie learn through normal summer play, but intentionally working on areas in which I know she needs a little boost.

I hope you're enjoying your summer vacation!

More Fun with Learning.

It's been awhile since I posted an update on learning activities we're doing with Ellie.  To be honest, since school has been wonderful for her and I spent so much of this year swamped with National Boards, I haven't created any new learning activities lately.

However, I am good at using what we have, and I'm good at shopping online.  Here's my lazy mom version of a learning post!

Flashcards: I know everyone is big on sight reading for kids with Down syndrome.  We have used various word flashcards, but Ellie suddenly is into letters.  We have this textured set in lower and upper case, and Ellie loves it.  She knows almost all of her uppercase letters, but gets a lot of the lowercase (p/b/d/q) confused.  I purchased these on zulily.

The park: Gross motor skills and following directions are my two favorite things for Ellie to work on at the park.  Add in some sensory play with dirty park sand and you're golden.  And a bath afterward.  Why is park sand always so gross?  But Ellie loves the park to work on balance, digging, and even social skills.

Stickers: Ellie's fine motor skills aren't fantastic.  She gets glasses soon (possibly this week!) and I'm hoping that will help.  In the meantime, we have been working a lot with stickers for fine motor skills.

This is supper fuzzy, but it's sparkle stickers.

Repetitive books: Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  Polar Bear, Polar Bear.  Ellie recites them and I think the  phrasing helps her speech, and in the case of Brown Bear, her color knowledge.  I point to the words.  Although Ellie doesn't have concept of word yet, she will point randomly as she "reads."  We have recently become fans of this fantastically interactive book, Arlo Needs Glasses.

Pretend play: We encourage a lot of pretend play with a toy grill, plenty of dress up clothes and dolls, and just giving examples.  Ellie's current favorite pretend games are being an animal and pretending it's a birthday.

Art: Art projects are great for sensory play and fine motor skills.  We love to paint with water on the sidewalk on warm days.  We use an easel, we paint on big paper, we color on little paper…. we try to vary materials and surfaces as much as possible.

Taking a walk with her art.

Mostly, I try to put Ellie in a language-and-number rich environment, give her lots of visuals, and model over and over again.  We take advantage of local events and resources such as free music class, visiting the bookstore to check out the books and toys, and running around outside, in addition to school-based therapies.

What activities do you love?  Are there any areas of development you'd like to learn more about?

ABCs.

{31 for 21} Twenty Nine.

Oh frequent readers, you know that my child does not count out loud during calendar time at school.

Did you know that she also is standing next to me as I write this on Monday night, holding a calendar and saying "one, two, thwee" over and over?

Speech is a funny thing.  Ellie loves people, but can be shy around other kids.

Today she knocked over her caregiver's baby and said, "Mine Kelly.  Go home.  Bye baby."

So I guess she isn't shy around babies.  Rude, but not shy.

Anyway, Ellie has been working on her ABCs.  Although she's not great with the written letters (she knows about five, and is inconsistent) she loves to sign her alphabet!

Enjoy this little video!

Ellie has her first field trip today, and I can't wait to get a full report from her teacher!

{31 for 21} Day Eight.

Early learning..... did you know the methods are actually kind of a big debate in the Down syndrome community?

Making art at an art fair.

When I got Ellie's diagnosis, I went into full research mode about reading, speech, and education in general.  My plan is to teach Ellie to read with the same milestones as her peers, but with a bigger emphasis on sight reading, which research shows is beneficial for kids with Down syndrome.

I try to keep our environment print-rich and full of books, magazines, and educational materials.  We often discuss shapes and colors, as well as letters and numbers.  We use flashcards, which I use specifically because Ellie has Down syndrome and I know she benefits from visual learning.  I show her lots of words and hope they sink in.  Signing Time is exposing her to sight words as well.

I was surprised by the number of letters she identified recently!

Ellie "reads" her books by quoting memorized words and describing pictures.  "Penguin quiet sleep" is one example of an Ellie description in her current favorite, Penguins Penguins Everywhere.

Along with working on specific school and academic skills, I want Ellie to be a kid.

Sometimes, the balance of "Down syndrome mom" and "toddler mom" is a hard one to strike.  I want Ellie to reach her fullest academic potential, but not at the cost of missing typical life experiences.

So we go to the playground and run and slide and swing, but while we're there, we also work on following directions and core strength.

We try to expose Ellie to as many activities as possible - gymnastics, an art fair, the playground, museums (when the government is open), the zoo (when the government is open), small music festivals, and playing outside.

Sand art = big mess.

Where does Ellie currently stand?

Her gross motor was her biggest weakness for a long time.  She's got decent speech for a kid with DS, speaking in two-word phrases more and more each day.  And she loves school.

If you have a child with Down syndrome, will you share your approach to early learning?
If you have a toddler without Down syndrome, will you please share as well?

Ellie is growing and thriving, but I always want to learn more!

I Wonder....

In teaching reading comprehension strategies, as I teacher, I model "wonderings."

"I wonder if seahorses have any predators..."
"I wonder if the character acted that way because he was scared/happy/angry/sad.."
"I wonder what would happen if..."

In the world of parenting a child with Down syndrome, I have wonderings as well.

I have a question for you...

I wonder if a greater understanding of congenital heart defects in children with Down syndrome could help us find a way to determine the cause of CHDs....  Is there something that can be done to help reduce the odds of CHD in pregnancy?  At this point, CHDs "just happen," but they happen to half of kids with DS.  No one knows why.  Same thing for duodenal atresia, although less common.

Right after Ellie's first "Heart Day" - a celebration of one year past OHS.  Her second Heart Day is almost here!

I wonder what teaching techniques are most effective...  DSE International is hard at work on this one, and I anxiously await each research paper they produce.  Nerdy?  You bet.  But what causes a group of people with the same genetic condition to have a much greater success with visual learning?  And how can we take advantage of that relative strength to ensure our children learn well?

I wonder what the rest of us, those of us without Down syndrome, can learn from our children and family members and neighbors and friends with DS....  Although it's a stereotype that people with Down syndrome are "so loving" and "so happy," 2009 research shows that people over 12 with Down syndrome are happy with their lives at a rate of nearly 100 percent.  Without data in front of me, I can guess with confidence that number is higher in the population with Down syndrome than the typical population.  Why?  For all of the "challenges," what strategies do people with Down syndrome use to live happy lives?  After all, we all want happy lives for our children.

Just don't go around claiming Ellie is always happy.  If you do, I'm happy to let you babysit.

My friend Becca is hosting a blog hop on the topic of DS questions and research.  Check it out.