teaching reading skills to children with down syndrome

62Down Syndrome News and Update 6(2), 62-65

Teaching reading skills to children with Down syndrome

© 2006 The Down Syndrome Educational Trust . Copying for personal use only is permitted . ISSN: 1463-6212http://information .downsed .org/dsnu/06/02

ResearchsupportstheviewthatallchildrenwithDownsyndromewillbenefitfrombeingreadtoandfrombeinginreadinginstructionfromanearlyageastheseactivitieswillimprovetheirspokenlanguageandmemoryskills.ChildrenwithDownsyndromelearntoreadinthesamewayastypicallydeveloping

children.Theybuildontheirgoodvisualmemoryskillsbutfinditmoredifficulttousephonics.Inotherwords,theybenefitfromlearn-ingtoreadthrougha‘whole-word’learn-ingstrategyinitially,

bringinginphonicsknowledgeatalaterdate.Whilechildrenwhoareintroducedtoreadingintheirpreschoolyearsshowthehighestlevelsofachievement,studiesindicatethatteenagersandyoungadultscancontinuetodeveloptheirreadingabilitiesifgivenappropriateinstruction.

Benefits of reading instructionReadingisafundamentallifeskill.Printisallaroundusinourdailylivesandweacquireread-ingandwritingskillsforpracticaluse(streetnames,signposts,adverts,instructions)andforpleasure(writingacard,makingashoppinglist,lookingupatelevisionprogramme).Read-ingwillhelpchildrenwithDownsyndrometodevelopvocabularyandgrammarknowledgeandwillgiveaddedpractice,andthere-foreimprovespokenlanguageskills.Readingpracticewillalsohelptodevelopworkingmemoryskills.Theabilitytoreadandwritefacilitateseasieraccesstogeneralknowledgeandtheschoolcurriculumanditsupportstheskillsnecessaryforproblemsolvingandthinkingstrategies.

Thereisalsoevidenceforthebeneficialeffectofreadingonspeechandlanguageskills.Casestudyrecordssuggestthatearlyreadingactivitiesencour-ageprogresstolongerutter-

ancesandimprovedgrammarinspeech.Theyalsosuggestthatreadingimprovesarticulationandspeechintelligibility(theabilitytobeunderstoodbythelistener).FormostchildrenwithDownsyndrome,languagecom-prehension(understanding)isbetterthanlanguageproduction(talking/signing).ThismeansthatchildrenwithDownsyndromeunderstandmorethantheycansay,probablyduetoavarietyofissues,whichmayincludeproblemswithwordretrieval,sentencestructuringandspeech-motorcontrol.

WorkingmemorydifficultiesmayalsocontributetothespeechandlanguagedelaysthatchildrenwithDownsyndromeoftenface,limitingtheamountthatachildcanorganiseandsayclearlyinasentence.Readingprovidesopportunitiestopractisesayingsentencesthatachildisunabletogeneratespontaneouslyeventhroughheorsheunderstandsthem.Whenchildrenarereadingaloud,thesentenceisorganisedforthemandtheprintisavaila-blewithouthavingtorememberit,sothedemandsonthework-ingmemorysystemarereducedanditscapacitycanbeusedtoplanandarticulateeachwordmoreclearly.

Teaching reading skills to children with Down syndromeJulie HughesSpeech and Language Specialist, The Down Syndrome Educational Trust, UK

This article was written for

and is reproduced with permission to copy

http://www ican org uk/

63Down Syndrome News and Update 6(2), 62-65

Teaching reading skills to children with Down syndrome

© 2006 The Down Syndrome Educational Trust . Copying for personal use only is permitted . ISSN: 1463-6212http://information .downsed .org/dsnu/06/02

Principles for learningReadingstoriesdailytochildrenfrominfancyrightthroughchild-hoodwillhelpthemtolearntoread.Childrenwhoarereadtoknowthatbooksarefunandprovideentertainment.Childrenwhoarereadtooftenhavelargervocabulariesandtheywillknowthatthewordsonthepagehavemeaningandtellthestory.OneofthemostimportantwaysinwhichparentsofchildrenandteenagerswithDownsyndromecanhelpthemtobereadytoreadandbeinterestedinbooks,istoreadtothemandtalktothemaboutthestoriestheyhaveread.

Itisimportanttoteachwholewordsandtodevelopreadingformeaningasthefirststep–learn-inglettersoundswillcomelater.Allchildrenlearnavisual‘sight’vocabularyofwords,remem-beredandrecognisedaswholewords.Astheystarttoread,theyslowlydevelopthephonicskills(lettersoundsthatmakeupwords),whichwillleadtothembeingabletosoundoutunfa-miliarwordsandspell.Achildshouldhaveasightvocabularyofatleast50words,whichcanbereadandunderstoodwithconfidenceinsimplesentences,beforeteachinganyphonics.

Hearing lossTheincidenceofmildtomoder-atehearinglossinchildrenwithDownsyndromeishighandrememberingsomesimpleguide-linescanhelptocompensatefortheirdifficulties.Manychildrenmayonlyhaveasmallamountofhearingloss,althoughhear-inglevelscanfluctuate,butevenasmallamountofhearinglossaffectslisteningandcanaffectbehaviour,performanceandlanguagelearning.Therefore,itisadvisabletotakeaccountofpossiblehearingdifficultiesat

alltimesbygainingyourchild’sfullattentionbeforestartingandworkinginenvironmentsthatdonothavecompetingbackgroundnoise.

Getting startedChildrencanonlyreadwithunderstandingiftheyalreadyknowandunderstandthewords,thegrammarandthesentencestructuresusedinthetext.Therefore,itisimportanttointroducereadingactivitiesateachchild’scomprehensionlevel.ChildrenwithDownsyndromewillusuallybedelayedinlan-guagecomprehensioncomparedwithotherchildrenofthesameageanditisimportanttobeginwithvocabularythattheyunder-standandwithshortsimplesentencestructures.AschildrenwithDownsyndromeprogressandbegintoreadsimpletextwithconfidence,usinglanguagethattheyalreadyknow,readingthenbecomesapowerfultooltousetoteachnewvocabularyandgrammar.

Readingactivitiescanbeginwhenachildunderstands50-100wordsandcanmatchandselectpictures(e.g.picturelottogames).Thesamemethodusedinthesetypesofactivitieswillbeusedtoteachsightwords.

Picture matching

Readingactivitiescanstartbyusingpicturestomatchona2or4-picturelottoboard.• Chooseapictureandsay

“Thisisa….(cup)–whichoneisthesame?”

• Guideyourchild’shandtocompletethetasksuccess-fully,evenifthatmeansphysicallymovinghis/herhandtoguidethepicturetothecorrectmatch.

• Provideasmuchsupportasyourchildneedstobesuccessfulandtakeawaysup-portasyourchildbecomesfamiliarwiththeactivity.This

iscalled‘errorlesslearning’.Itisimportanttorememberthatthisisnotatestandyourchildismeanttosucceedeachtime.

• Practisethisgameuntilyourchildcansuccessfullymatchallthepicturesontheboardwithminimal,ifany,support.

Picture selecting• Usingthepicturesthatyour

childhasjustmatchedwithminimalsupport,askhim/herto‘giveme(orshowme)the…..(cup)’.

• Guideyourchildthroughthecorrectresponse;continuetopractisewiththesewordsuntilyourchildcanselecteachpicturewhenitisnamed.

Picture naming• Childrenmaynamewords

usingsignsorspokenwords.• Articulationproblemsmay

meanthatspokenwordsarenotclear.Praiseandencour-ageapproximationstoword-reading,aspracticehelpschildrentomaketheirspeechclearer.

• Showyourchildthepictureandsay‘Whatisthis?It’sa……(cup),canyousaycup?’

• Encourageyourchildtoimi-tatetheword.

• Repeatwordsaftertheyhavebeensaidorsigned,providing Picture matching

64Down Syndrome News and Update 6(2), 62-65

Teaching reading skills to children with Down syndrome

© 2006 The Down Syndrome Educational Trust . Copying for personal use only is permitted . ISSN: 1463-6212http://information .downsed .org/dsnu/06/02

amodelforcorrectpronun-ciation.

• Use‘errorlesslearning’andpromptchildrenwiththecorrectanswer,untiltheycansaythewordwithouthesita-tion.

Onceyourchildcanmatchandselectpicturesconfidentlyinthisway,writtenwordscanbeintro-duced.Wordsforreadingcanbechosenfromyourchild’sownvocabulary(thepicturestheyarematchingandselectingcorrectlyeachtime).Onceyourchildcanmatchpictures,itisimportanttogobacktothebeginningandteachthesamewords,butinthewrittenform(withnopicture),playingthesamematching,selectingandnamingactivitieswiththewords.Allchildrenarelikelytobegintolearntoreadwithsomeofthewordsthatareveryfamiliartothemandareheardandusedthroughoutdailyroutines,suchas‘Mummy’,‘Daddy’,child’sname,brother’sandsister’snames,importantpeopleorpets.Theyarethenmorelikelytobeinterestedinreadinggamesaboutwordsfortheirfavouriteanimals,favouritefoodanddrink,favouritetoysandplayactivities,socialwords,andfavouriteplaces.Colourwordsand‘big’and‘little’canalsobetaught,asthesecanalsobeusedtoteachchildrentojoinwordstogetherinspeechandsign.Readingcolour,shapeandsizewordsoftenseemstohelpchildrentounderstandthem.Itisimportanttobeginread-ingwithwordsthatarenouns,verbs,andadjectivessothatyoucanmovefromsinglewordstowordcombinationsquitequickly.Childrenneedonlylearnasmallsightvocabularytobegintojoinwordstogethermeaningfullyandusefully.Chooseafewnouns,afewadjectivesandafewverbstomakeuptheirfirst8-10words,sothatyoucanbuildshortphrasesandsentencesandmakeindi-vidualbooksrightaway.One

exampleofawordlottoboardcouldbe‘Mummy’,‘Daddy’,child’sname,andsleeping.Onceyourchildcanmatchandselectthesewrittenwords,youcouldthenmakealittlebookwiththesimplesentences‘Mummyissleeping’,‘Daddyissleeping’,‘child’sname…issleeping’,withcorrespondingpicturesofeachpersonsleeping.Youcouldthenmoveontoeating,jumping,drinking,etc.Mostchildrenlovelookingatphotosoffamiliarpeople,sothisactivityisanidealwaytomaintainyourchild’sfocusandattentionwhilelearn-ingtoread.

Recommended order for matching activities• Picturetopicture.• Wordtoword(matching,

selectingandnaming)–nopictures.

• Wordtopicture(thiscanbeusedtomakesureyourchildunderstandswhathe/sheisreading).

Additional activities• Onceyourchildisableto

communicateexpressively,takewhathe/shesaysandmaketheshortestcor-rectsentenceoutofit.Forexample,ifyourchildsays“sand”or“playsand”whenasked“Whatdidyoudotoday?”thenwrite“Iplayedinthesand”inalittlebookanddrawasimplepictureofyourchildplayinginthesand(simplestick-figuredrawingsarefineforthis).Thisisanexampleofexpansion–thetermusedwhenwespeaktoyoungchildrenandexpandtheironeandtwowordutter-ances.Inthisway,wearemodellingsimple,grammati-callycorrectsentenceuseandyourchildispractisingspeakinginsimplegrammati-callycorrectsentenceswhenreadingthesentencealoud.

• Maketheaboveactivitymoreformalbyusingitasalinkbetweenschoolandhome–aconversationdiary.Attheendofeachnursery/schoolday,anadultasksthechild“WhatwouldyouliketotellMummyandDaddyaboutschooltoday?”Takewhat-everthechildsaysandmakeitintoasimple,grammati-callycorrectsentence,withapictureaddedformeaning.Whenthechildgetshome,he/shesharesthediarywithmumand/ordad,eitherbyreadingitorparticipatinginsupportedreading(imitatingwordbyword,orpointingtothewordsastheyarereadbyanadult).Thenparentsmakeentriesathomeforthechildtotaketoschool,tobereadwithanadultatschool.

• Makepersonalbookswithphotographsorpicturesthataretailoredtoyourchild’sparticularinterests–usingwordsandsimplesentencestolabeleachpicture.

• Makepersonalbooksaboutyourchild’sdailylife–‘Myfavouriteanimals’,‘Mydayatthezoo’,‘Ican…’,‘Ilike…’,etc.

• Actiongameswheretheword(verb)orsentencewithaverbinitisread,andthentheactionisundertaken.

Learning about soundsYoungchildrenwithDownsyndromelearntoreadbyrememberingwholewordsandtheirmeaningsbeforetheyareabletoseparateoutthesoundsinwordsandapplytheirlettersoundknowledgetothetaskofreading.Theyare,however,abletolearnaboutletters,thesoundsassociatedwiththelettersandtheirnames.Therefore,youngchildrenwithDownsyndromeshouldhaveaccesstoandenjoytypicalpre-school(andschoolage)learninggamesaboutthelettersandsoundsoftheirlan-

65Down Syndrome News and Update 6(2), 62-65

Teaching reading skills to children with Down syndrome

© 2006 The Down Syndrome Educational Trust . Copying for personal use only is permitted . ISSN: 1463-6212http://information .downsed .org/dsnu/06/02

guage,participatinginphonicsteachingactivitieswiththeirpeers.

SummaryThevalueofteachingreadingandusingreadingactivitiestodevelopthespokenlanguageskillsforchildrenwithDownsyndromecannotbeunder-estimated.Childrenshouldbeintroducedtoreadinginafunway,firstlearningtoreadwholewordsbyplayingmatching,selectingandnaminggamesandthenmovingontoreadingshortsentencesandlongersentencesintopicbooks.

Alltheactivitiesandreadingshouldbebasedonyourchild’sinterestsandexperiences,andneedstobelinkedtoyourchild’slanguagecomprehensionlevels(understanding)andlanguagelearningneeds.Childrenwhohavenotmaderapidprogresswithreadingwillstillhavebenefitedfromthesereadinggamesandactivities,astheyarepowerfulandenjoyablewaysofimprovingtheirunderstandinganduseofspokenlanguage.

Recommended readingReading and writing for individu-als with Down syndrome – An overview(2001).SueBuckley.Down Syndrome Issues and Infor-mation,TheDownSyndromeEducationalTrust.

Reading and writing for infants with Down syndrome (0-5 years) (2001).GillianBirdandSueBuckley.Down Syndrome Issues and Information,TheDownSyn-dromeEducationalTrust.

Reading and writing for children with Down syndrome (5-11 years) (2001).GillianBird,JaneBead-manandSueBuckley.Down Syn-drome Issues and Information,TheDownSyndromeEducationalTrust.

Reading and writing for teenag-ers with Down syndrome (11-16 years) (2002).GillianBirdandSueBuckley.Down Syndrome Issues and Information,TheDownSyn-dromeEducationalTrust.

Memory development for indi-viduals with Down syndrome (2001).SueBuckleyandGillianBird.Down Syndrome Issues and Information,TheDownSyn-dromeEducationalTrust.

Additional information1.www.downsed.org

2. Addressenquiriesto:enquiries@downsed.org

3. AllDown Syndrome Issues and Informationbooksareavaila-blefromTheDownSyndromeEducationalTrust.Pleasevisitthedownsedonlineshopathttp://shop.downsed.org/

Other reading resourcesBooks

Interactivereadingbooks.Greenhousepublica-tions.

Teaching Reading to Children with Down Syndrome - A Guide for Parents and Teachers.PatriciaLoganOelwein(1995).WoodbineHouse.

Classroom Language Skills for Children with Down Syndrome - A Guide for Parents and Teachers. LibbyKumin(2001).WoodbineHouse.

Software

First Keys 2.EarlyLiteracyskills.WidgitSoftwareLimited.

On the Farm.Earlyliteracyskills.InclusiveTechnol-ogy.

abc-CD.Talkinganimatedalphabet.SherstonSoft-wareLtd.

Oxford Reading Tree, Stage2 and 3.Word,sen-tenceandtext-levelactivities.OxfordUniversityPress.

Speaking for Myself.Earlylanguagedevelopmentineducation.TopologikaSoftwareLimited.

Making Tracks to Literacy.Earlyliteracyandpre-readingactivities.WidgitSoftwareLimited.

WordShark 2.Readingandspellinggames.WhiteSpaceLimited.

Wellington Square.Readingskillsforschool-agechildren.Semerc/GranadaLearning.

Clicker.Talkingwordprocessorwith‘on-screenkeyboard’.InclusiveTechnologyLimited.

All the resources above available from downsed at http://shop.downsed.org/

Popsbooks.PublishedbyDanethLimited. www.pops-resources.com