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62 Down 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: 1463-6212 http://informationdownsedorg/dsnu/06/02 Research supports the view that all children with Down syndrome will benefit from being read to and from being in reading instrucon from an early age as these acvies will improve their spoken language and memory skills. Children with Down syndrome learn to read in the same way as typically developing children. They build on their good visual memory skills but find it more difficult to use phonics. In other words, they benefit from learn- ing to read through a ‘whole-word’ learn- ing strategy inially, bringing in phonics knowledge at a later date. While children who are introduced to reading in their preschool years show the highest levels of achievement, studies indicate that teenagers and young adults can connue to develop their reading abilies if given appropriate instrucon. Benefits of reading instruction Reading is a fundamental life skill. Print is all around us in our daily lives and we acquire read- ing and wring skills for praccal use (street names, sign posts, adverts, instrucons) and for pleasure (wring a card, making a shopping list, looking up a television programme). Read- ing will help children with Down syndrome to develop vocabulary and grammar knowledge and will give added pracce, and there- fore improve spoken language skills. Reading pracce will also help to develop working memory skills. The ability to read and write facilitates easier access to general knowledge and the school curriculum and it supports the skills necessary for problem solving and thinking strategies. There is also evidence for the beneficial effect of reading on speech and language skills. Case study records suggest that early reading acvies encour - age progress to longer uer - ances and improved grammar in speech. They also suggest that reading improves arculaon and speech intelligibility (the ability to be understood by the listener). For most children with Down syndrome, language com- prehension (understanding) is beer than language producon (talking/signing). This means that children with Down syndrome understand more than they can say, probably due to a variety of issues, which may include problems with word retrieval, sentence structuring and speech- motor control. Working memory difficules may also contribute to the speech and language delays that children with Down syndrome oſten face, liming the amount that a child can organise and say clearly in a sentence. Reading provides opportunies to pracse saying sentences that a child is unable to generate spontaneously even through he or she understands them. When children are reading aloud, the sentence is organised for them and the print is availa- ble without having to remember it, so the demands on the work- ing memory system are reduced and its capacity can be used to plan and arculate each word more clearly. Teaching reading skills to children with Down syndrome Julie Hughes Speech and Language Specialist, The Down Syndrome Educational Trust, UK This article was written for and is reproduced with permission to copy http://wwwicanorguk/

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Page 1: 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/

Page 2: Teaching Reading Skills To Children With Down Syndrome

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

Page 3: Teaching Reading Skills To Children With Down Syndrome

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-

Page 4: Teaching Reading Skills To Children With Down Syndrome

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:[email protected]

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


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