Tag Archives: Down syndrome

How iPads are Helping Kids with Special Needs

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Years ago, we were acquainted with a boy who couldn’t speak due to birth defects. Thanks to a piece of equipment called a Dynavox, he was able to touch a screen so a computerized voice could tell us what he wanted to say.

It was a very expensive piece of equipment that many families couldn’t afford. Another young man we knew used a wooden board with pictures of faces; he’d point to the sketch of a face expressing the emotion he was feeling.

Times sure have changed. Now there are apps for the iPad that fill the same purpose as a Dynavox for youngsters with special needs. Wish we’d had something like that for our son when he was young.

The advantages of an iPad for kids with special needs go beyond supplying them with a voice. In a recent discussion here about the iPad, read Karen’s comment that explains all the ways she uses an iPad to educate her daughter with Down syndrome.

We do live in interesting times, don’t we?

Where’s Chimpy?

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The next time you buy a picture book for your small children, or for a young relative or a friend, would you consider buying Where’s Chimpy?

It’s the story of a little girl named Misty who can’t find her favorite toy, a stuffed monkey. It’s bedtime but she can’t go to sleep without him. So she and her dad retrace her steps and find an assortment of other treasures she misplaced that day before they finally find Chimpy.

I know this doesn’t sound like an unusually spectacular book, but here’s the thing: Misty has Down syndrome. She’s the main character of the story, and she’s in every photo in the book.

So little children who read this book (or have it read to them) will hopefully see Misty as a little girl, not someone with a disability. You know how little ones like to have books read to them over and over? Maybe after reading Where’s Chimpy? enough times, young children won’t think twice about Misty being any different from them.

And maybe, as they get older, instead of staring at other children with Down syndrome, they’ll smile at them, or maybe not even notice anything different about them. That would be cool….and a nice change.

BTW, we have a well-used paperback copy of Where’s Chimpy?, but I also have my own hardcover copy of this book because I like it so much.  🙂

No More Homeschool Mom?

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I just finished submitting the online form required of homeschooling parents here in Wisconsin…..for the last time.

Our youngest child turns 18 next spring. According to Wisconsin law, we can legally stop educating him after that semester, whether or not he graduates.

Of course, he’s not done learning (is anyone, really?) and we’ll continue to work with him as we always have. But it’s a strange feeling to think that we’ll no longer be officially homeschooling after this school year.

I’ve been teaching my kids for well over 20 years; 27 years this month, to be precise, if homeschooling begins at birth. It’s really hard to think of myself as anything but a homeschooling mom. I guess I’ll have to start adjusting that view.

A Fun New Math Book

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Teaching my son math has been a long process. He finally gets the concepts of adding and subtracting, but only in a very concrete way. Taking it to the abstract is too hard for him, so he doesn’t do computations with numbers greater than 100 as his siblings did when they were learning math.

He also tends to lose what he’s learned if he doesn’t review his math facts regularly. So I occasionally pick up new books to use with him. A new book holds his interest even when the concepts it teaches are not new to him.

Recently I picked up a new book for him called “Subtraction Secrets.” It was recommended to me by a clerk in a teacher supply store. This book contains 30 map puzzles that require my son to do subtraction problems, then use the answers to determine how to find a specific point on each map.

He likes these problems because they’re entertaining. I like the fact that he reviews subtraction, he learns very basic map skills, and he enjoys doing the puzzles. This book is reproducible, so I can keep copying the puzzles for him as long as he needs them.

There’s another book in the series called “Addition Adventures.” I didn’t buy it because the addition problems in it require the student to figure out one of the addends instead of the sum. For instance:

Instead of 7 + 5 = ___

It says 7 + ___ = 12

My son’s not there yet; it’s a little too abstract for him. But we’ll work up to it.

Here are sample pages for both “Subtraction Secrets” and “Addition Adventures.” The publisher recommends these books for ages 6-10, but I think the typical 8-10 year old would find them too easy. Six-to-seven year-olds will probably enjoy them as much as my son does.

Facing the Facts

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Josh is in our basement workshop, working on a project with my husband. They’re making an outdoor bean bag game to play outside this weekend when our older kids come home for the holiday weekend.  I can hear his happy banter with his dad as they work. Every so often he says, “Ha-ha! I did it!”

They’ve been sawing and painting for the past day, and Josh is very excited to see the project coming together. Most 17-year-olds wouldn’t get so excited about doing this. But Josh isn’t like most 17-year-olds because he has developmental delays.

When he was a baby, I sometimes wondered what homeschooling him would be like. I’d become accustomed to the pace set by his three older siblings. I wondered how much longer it would take him to learn the things they learned by certain ages. Continue reading →