eReadingPro Reading Program

When I was at the National Down Syndrome Congress Convention, I purchased a reading program for Rachel called eReadingPro.  Listening to the speaker, it just made so much sense. It states children with Down syndrome are visual learners (and Rachel is) To teach them to read with phonics is not the best way.  Also trying to teach a child with Ds sight words such as and, that, the, etc are difficult because the child has no mental picture they can associated the word with.  She stated that showing the child flashcards of words that they can get a mental picture of allows them to quickly memorize the word.  The program works through lots of repetition with lots of flashcards (LOTS of flashcards, the book states that to complete the program I will need 700 sheets of card stock!)  At first the child is just memorizing words, but the program builds and the flashcards get more difficult.  As the child progesses, you add in the site words like and, is, the, etc.  At first the child is just spitting out memorized words, but over time they start to associate the words with meanings and the program states that at that point you can start to work on phonics.

This program seems to be meant for Rachel, because she to love to memorize things.  She loves to watch movies and listen to songs so that she can repeat the lines with them.  I am hoping that she really likes this program.  It gives you a daily calendar that is 14 months long.  I started with the first four cards this morning.  It says to make it fun and only do the cards when the child is happy.  It also says to do each set of cards three times a day........not sure if Rachel is going to be happy every time. As a matter of fact, she was not thrilled with the first round of flashcards this morning.  She is a creature of habit, and I am sure that as it becomes part of the routine, she will be happier to do them. 

Below are a few of the over 100 hundred cards that I have printed out this week.  I did go ahead and change some of the cards, because the program come with ready to print cards with names that Rachel has never heard.  It seems that woud be the same as asking her to memorize the site words that have no meaning to her, so I made my our cards with family and friends names copying the size, font, and color used in the program. 

Here is our beginning schedule.  Seems straightforward enough to start out (you put a label on the back of each card that shows a letter and number on it to correspond to the schedule below)

But it seems to get a little confusing as it progresses.......

Hopefully, it will all start to make sense to me as I work my way through it.  Wish me luck.  It will be REALLY cool if it works.  I am excited to think that a year from now Rachel could be reading.  Another possible plus is an improvement in Rachel's speech.  That would be even better!!