“Knowledge of how students with ID take in, interpret,store and retrieve information is crucial for teacherswhen planning literacy assessments and instruction.” Check out our article on Teaching Foundational Reading Skills to Students With Intellectual Disabilities, recently published in TEACHING Exceptional Children.
Category Archives: early literacy
I’ve got reading on the brain
I took a seminar once called “The Reading Brain.” It was a required part of my Orton Gillingham training. I remember being a bit concerned when the instructor handed out a two-page “Brain Word Bank” and I didn’t recognize 90% of the terms, but I was reassured when the first activity was coloring in differentContinue reading “I’ve got reading on the brain”
Is my child reading on grade level?
We often discuss reading achievement in terms of grade level, but we rarely acknowledge how imprecise the term “grade level” is. What exactly does it mean? How are “grade level” skills determined? In fact, there are no universally accepted criteria for establishing grade level reading skills and there are at least two good reasons toContinue reading “Is my child reading on grade level?”
As fast as you can, as slow as you must
Parents often ask me, “How long will it take my child to learn to read?” I wish I had a nice, neat answer to that question, but the truth is, I don’t know. Children learn at different rates, and my experience in teaching reading to children with Down syndrome is that concepts are often acquiredContinue reading “As fast as you can, as slow as you must”
Summertime reading
Two years ago, Penelope came to our first assessment clinic for a Pre-K literacy screening. Here she is today, enjoying that popular activity: Reading Yourself to Sleep. One of the many little joys in a reader’s life.
Big batch of books!
This week, we will be sending out more than 75 donated books to families all over the world as part of Gabriella’s Birthday Book Giveaway! Thank you to all the people who donated books and a big thank you to R. J. Julia Booksellers for all your help (and the discount!). Most of all, thank youContinue reading “Big batch of books!”
Celebrate reading!
Recently, we received an email from Gabriella, whose 16th birthday is coming up in May. In celebration of this happy occasion, Gabriella wanted to share something with others that brought her joy. Since reading is an important part of Gabriella’s life (and coincidentally, her birthday falls during Get Caught Reading Month), she chose to promoteContinue reading “Celebrate reading!”
Picture of the week
From Mallury Pollard’s blog, where he writes: ” I promise she did not pose like that for the camera. ‘Horton Hatches the Egg’ really is that surprising!”
Techno Bytes!
One of the things I love to do is travel around the U.S. and see what other teachers are up to. I love to share ideas, grapple with challenges, and stretch my thinking. Sometimes, I am lucky enough to land in a place that so buzzes with positive energy, I leave inspired and rejuvenated. ThisContinue reading “Techno Bytes!”
And the survey says…..
Thanks to all of you who wrote in to ask about the results of the survey I recently conducted on the literacy experiences of children with Down syndrome. I am still combing through the volumes of data but want to share some of the preliminary results. The response to the survey was phenomenal–we heard from moreContinue reading “And the survey says…..”
Shanahan on Literacy: Too Fluent by Half
To kick off a series of posts on building reading comprehension, here is a link to Timonthy Shanahan’s blog where he describes a great strategy called “intensive questioning”: Shanahan on Literacy: Too Fluent by Half.
Pre-schoolers with iPads
I want to share a link to a great post about a pre-schooler learning letter identification from iPad apps. His mother writes that he has not been taught letter names or sounds at home or pre-school so it looks as if he may have learned them from “playing” with the iPad. Check it out:Techno KidContinue reading “Pre-schoolers with iPads”
and even MORE free literacy stuff!
A reader just wrote in to remind me of the extensive selection of high quality FREE resources for teachers, parents and administrators available from the Florida Center for Reading Research. Teachers can check out the Student Center Activities for children in kindergarten through fifth grade. In addition to free, printable materials there is also a search tool that allows you to match instructional routinesContinue reading “and even MORE free literacy stuff!”
More FREE Literacy stuff!
The Get Ready to Read! website is a treasure trove of free literacy resources. Designed to support both educators and parents, the site provides online games, activities, webinars, tool-kits, checklists, and more to support literacy development for preschool and kindergarten children. I especially love the Activity Cards , which are divided into levels so you can match activities to theContinue reading “More FREE Literacy stuff!”
Big benefits from shared reading
One of the most effective ways to jump-start early literacy development is to read to children early (beginning by about 9 months) and often (at least 3 times a week). For toddlers and older children, interactive or shared reading is more effective at building language and literacy skills than simply reading aloud. There are manyContinue reading “Big benefits from shared reading”
Free literacy stuff!
One of my favorite sites for free literacy resources is Ed Pubs, the U.S. Department of Education online catalog of FREE publications. They have everything from research briefs to toolkits to DVDs–even bookmarks! Topics include literacy, technology, academic achievement, assessment and behavior, to name just a few. The searchable database is easy to navigate. And, did I say everything isContinue reading “Free literacy stuff!”
Would you mind going over that phonemic awareness thing again?
For the past few days, I have been trying to write a short, simple post on phonemic awareness. I start out fine, but by the third paragraph I am mired in the tongue-twisting vocabulary needed to describe this important area of literacy development, and I give up. Today, I had the great idea to find someoneContinue reading “Would you mind going over that phonemic awareness thing again?”
Myths and realities
People are very open-minded about new things — as long as they’re exactly like the old ones.~ Charles F. Kettering I often find myself spending more time than I want to persuading people to teach a child with Down syndrome to read. There are a lot of myths out there about reading instruction for thisContinue reading “Myths and realities”
What about sight words?
I am often asked about sight word instruction for children with Down syndrome. This can be a touchy topic in the field because, years ago, most children with Down syndrome who were taught to read at all were taught using functional sight word programs. The thinking was that children with Down syndrome were not intellectually capableContinue reading “What about sight words?”
There’s an app for that
Today I was researching iPad apps when I came across an article entitled Confession App ‘No Substitute for the Sacrament.’ Apparently, there is an app for everything (in this case, Confession: A Roman Catholic App). In the article, a church official stresses that the app cannot substitute for a personal encounter, although it may be usefulContinue reading “There’s an app for that”
openbooksopendoors.com 