Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Christina read her first word!

I can't believe it!
Isabella casually mentioned to me that Christina read the word CAT on the Starfall website, with the sound off (meaning she had to read it by herself).
In the normal linguistic development of children, listening comprehension is followed by speaking, then reading then writing. But nothing about children with Down syndrome is typical, as we are learning in the toilet training process.
Christina is skipping large parts of speaking and going right to reading!

I obvioulsy have a lot to learn about how children with Down syndrome learn, and I know who my primary tutor will be. Thank you Lord, for my husband Francisco who introduced her to this wonderful free learning tool, spending the time to teach her how to use the mouse, and for buying her a customized tiny mouse to fit her tiny hand.

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever!

6 comments:

love2learnmom said...

How wonderful!

Anonymous said...

Oh, Leticia, how wonderful!

One of these days after Mass at St. Matthew's, we really have to sit down and talk.

My son John does not have Downs, but did suffer a stroke in infancy due to a congenital heart defect.

As a result, he spoke only a small handful of words until he was nearly 5 years old. BUT, at four years old, he could in fact READ a few words, and reading them was helpful in getting him to speak. Needless to say, this was kind of a surprise to us!

As an aside, John's first read word was "MEAT." And if you knew Johnny, you'd know that it wasn't just idle chatter --- that boy is ALWAYS hungry!

Best regards to you,
Jenny

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! How exciting. Your daughter is beautiful. Thanks for participating in this week's Carnival of Family Life, hosted at Write from Karen! Be sure to stop by on Monday, May 12, 2008, and peruse the other wonderful articles included in this week's edition!

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

Oh, this is sweet! Congrats!!

Anonymous said...

how wonderful! Congratulations

Kari said...

This is wonderful! I have a friend whose child with DS learned to read way before he was able to talk. She didn't realize this until he was able to talk. Imagine her surprise when he could read too :) My little guy loves this website too!