31 for 21 Day 12

Reading

I am working with Sawyer on his reading. We are working on sight words and then picking out those sight words in our book.

I have written the words to one of our Dick and Jane books on index cards. (one word per card) Once Sawyer starts recognizing each word on the index card, we work on picking them out on the pages of the book.

He's doing well and I expect over the next few months he'll be able to read all the words on the page. (I will provide a video soon)

I also expect we will have to do some work on tracking. Sawyer has low muscle tone. It is something that affects roughly 80-90% of kids with Down Syndrome. Hence, the need for OT and PT and Speech services. It's easy to understand the large muscle group in the legs and arms. You often notice this in his gait. However, this low muscle tone applies to other areas too, such as the eyes, tongue as well as internal muscles that control bowels, etc. He suffers bouts of constipation because of the low muscle tone in his trunk area. You also notice it in the tongue thrust as he gets tired. And I believe he has issues tracking words (coordinated left to right movement of the eyes) on the pages of books. Tracking issues occur quite frequently in children of all abilities. Most kids just complain that they do not like to read or that their eyes hurt. Usually, it's just chalked up to 'he's just not a good reader' when in fact, it's an eye muscle coordination thing.

So stay tuned for the video of Sawyer reading. My goal is to have it by the end of his kindergarten year!What's this picture have to do with reading? Not a thing.